The Green Soul

Chapter 7

If you guys are going to WizardWorld Comicon in either Ft. Lauderdale or Pittsburgh let me know, I'll be there!

The room, now pitch black and feeling deadly silent, seemed to close in around it's four occupants.  Of course, there were no windows in the dining room, and they were shut off from the kitchen and the parlor, leaving them not being able to see their hands in front of their faces.

Even the Doctor, with his Time-Lordy superior senses, couldn't see much of anything and couldn't even make out shapes.  In the back of his mind this registered as wrong, that he should be able to make out forms.  Panicking just a bit, he felt his respiratory bypass system kick in, giving him a moment to think.

"Alright, roll call!" The Doctor announced in a voice more confident and less afraid than he was letting on.  "Mr. Glasser?"

"I'm here, Doctor Smith," Ben said shakily, seeming just as nervous as the Doctor was feeling.

"Mrs. Glasser?"

"I am present as well," Marie said nervously.

"Rose?"

Rose's body, however, had launched itself into a panic, and she was having trouble breathing, so listening to the Doctor was, for once, significantly low on her list.  She could feel her chest heaving but had almost no control over it, felt her hands grow cold and clammy but couldn't put a finger on why, and nearly cried out but it died a strangled choking sound in her throat.  A cold crept up the back of her neck and she felt her eyes roll back in her head.

"Rose?!" The Doctor asked again, alarmed at how he couldn't feel her presence beside him.  "Rose, are you there?"

She felt her blood pounding in her ears, unmistakable as her own heartbeat.  She could only hear herself, her breathing, and her heart.  She could only see the stars behind her eyes that made so sense and could only feel the way her fingertips were growing unreasonably cold.

"Rose!!" The Doctor was shouting now, and somehow through Rose's fogged mind she barely heard him, and the fear in his voice scared her almost as badly as anything had ever scared her before.

She screamed and stood up, sending her chair clattering to the ground.  Somewhere in the back of her mind she registered standing, and hands against her upper arms, holding her steady.  Her mind was so scattered she didn't know who it was, and why he was touching her, and it caused her to try to fight back against it.

The voice was calling to her, but she felt her consciousness start to be repressed and she felt the panic of being possessed again, like Cassandra had gotten into her head.  She cried out and collapsed against whoever was holding her.

And Rose Tyler was shut out.

The Doctor caught her as she fell, nothing but pure white fear rushing through him, trying to keep her upright.  "Rose?" He asked, his voice alarmed.  He hoisted her up against him.  "Ben, Marie, one of you get a door open so we can take her into the parlor, something's happening to her and I need to figure out what it is."

He heard scrambling around him as he lifted Rose into a bridal carry, grunting with the effort of hoisting up her heavy dress along with her.  He stood behind where heard the rustling of fabric, and sighed with relief when the door opened and light streamed into the room. 

There was no time wasted in getting Rose out of the dining room and into the parlor, laying her along one of the couches that she had admired so much just an hour or so previous.  He braced her head on a few pillows and set her hands on her stomach, trying not to panic or let his hands shake.

"I heard her scream," Marie said nervously, wringing her hands next to the Doctor.  "Do you know what happened?"

"I have an idea," the Doctor muttered, "But it's not guaranteed."