The Green Soul

Chapter 21

Rose felt herself get more and more fired up as each moment passed. This was going to hurt, it was going to push her body to the breaking point, and if the Doctor were here, he would not be pleased with her behavior. Somehow, that made her want to do it all the more, since he'd taken off without her. How dare he.

"Rose!" Marie cried out, poised as though she was going to run to Rose and grab the sonic screwdriver from her. At the thought, Rose gripped it tighter.

They didn't have time to fool around. Marie and Ben's lives were at stake, and they only had a matter of days. She was going to save them, they had to. Rose leveled her gaze at Marie and studied her for a moment. "You have to promise to help me. Believe me, it's to help you, in the end, we need to protect you and your husband and the rest of your household. Trust me."

Marie watched her, her eyebrows drawn together in concern as she worried her lower lip. "What do I need to do?" She asked quietly, her voice shaky.

Rose smiled softly, trying to calm her, knowing this was probably very frightening for her. "Okay, we've got to get the Entity into this device, and I think I have an idea on how to get it in there. I have to hold the device, you have to talk it into jumping into it, you know how to do that, yeah?"

"Talk to it?" Marie asked. "Yes, I suppose, I could try to talk to it." She said it firmly, feigning confidence, Rose could tell.

Rose nodded. "Okay. I'm going to call it. You can't tell anyone we did this unless it works, alright? Then I'll just lay down and sleep it all off."

"Not tell my husband?" Marie seemed conflicted, not wanting to lie to the one she loved. Rose felt a little bit of resentment rise up in her. Of course, the Doctor never felt conflicted about lying to her. Tonight was the night she'd have to do something, to prove to him that she was worthy of time and space and everything else that he was refusing to offer her.

"Yes," Rose replied tightly, "And not tell your husband."

She watched as the emotions flitted across Marie's face. Sadness, despair, anger. Marie felt trapped. And she should. Rose had backed her into a corner that would anger someone no matter who she chose. She only hoped that Marie would realize she was not the one who needed any further angering.

"Okay," She said quietly, her head lowering in defeat. "I will speak the Entity and do my best to force it into the sonic device.

Rose blew out her cheeks. "Okay," she said firmly, "Then we're going to do it. You can't panic, do you understand me? Don't panic."

Marie nodded, raising her eyes back to Rose's and taking a step towards her. "I will do my best to not be alarmed," she said steadily. "I am ready."

Rose offered her a grateful smile and readjusted her grip on the sonic. "We're calling you back again," Rose said loudly, glancing up at the ceiling. "We can help you now, see?" She lifted the sonic. "We've got the tool! You can get in it, and my husband can run some tests and figure out how to set you free."

It was quiet for a long, terrible moment. Rose huffed in annoyance, whereas before her heart would've stuttered in her chest, but she was just so.. Annoyed. She needed to fix this, all of it. Hopefully before the Doctor was home for supper. If he decided to return at all, that was.

"Alright, don't play games," Rose said, her voice harsh. "Just... Just come on! Get in, 'inhabit' me or whatever the hell it is you do! Make me feel nothing! And then Mrs. Glasser here and I are going to help you get into this thing," she shook the sonic in her hand. "So come on! I'm tired of waiting, I don't have time for this!"

Her heart was pounding in her chest when she started to feel it. This time, the cold crept up from her toes, sneaking up her limbs. She gave Marie a stiff nod while she was still able to do so. The feeling moved up to her torso and coursed out into her arms and up into her neck and head. She trembled and the sonic fell from her hand on top of the crumpled sheet that was on the floor. Her eyes rolled back into her head and her eyelids fluttered, and when she opened them again, they were blank. "You are going to help," Rose's voice came, so hopeful.

Marie's gaze darted to Rose's feet, where she had dropped the sonic, and held it out for Rose (or the Entity, as it were) to take from her. "Yes, we're here to help, and you must take this device. We cannot help you without it, and I think you know this. You have to inhabit this instead of Rose. Can you take it?"

Rose's gaze flitted tentatively from the sonic to Marie's face. "Yes! The device." Rose's brows furrowed, "But what if it were to hurt me?"

"It won't," Marie insisted, her heart thumping wildly in her chest, "It's going to help you, you've got to take it from me, and go into it." She remembered something at the last moment. "But you can't touch me when you do it, you know that too." She moved so she was holding the end of the sonic with her fingertips. "Like this."

"I don't want it to hurt anymore," the Entity said thoughtfully, looking conflicted, "But what if this will also hurt? I will still be alone."

"You have to know what it will do to you," Marie said desperately. "Please just take it, do what you must. Please!"

Her hand was shaking, she was terrified, and she didn't even know what she was holding. She'd never seen anything like it, and it scared her. All of this, it was unfamiliar, and felt wrong, and she didn't know what she was doing. Oh, if only Doctor Smith were here, he'd have to know something. This was his tool after all, whatever it was.

Where had he gone off to, anyway?

Rose's fingers, used by the Entity, were shaky in their own right, and it reached for the sonic and closed fingers around it, pulling it from Marie's grasp.

"I am afraid."

Marie felt her heart go out to this poor thing. "I know, I am too, but I trust Doctor Smith, the man who came up with this. He is very clever, and he can help you. This is how."

Just then the Doctor burst through the door, his eyes and hair wild, his tie loosened. "Rose!" he shouted. His gaze turned to Marie. "What's she doing?"

Marie panicked, afraid she'd done something wrong. "She's called the Entity back, she said she needed it. It has your tool, it's about to enter it."

"She shouldn't have done this without me!" The Doctor shouted, his eyes blazing with a mixture of anger and fear, "She could've been hurt! Not that I don't trust you, Marie, I do, but she is not safe. We can't do this twice in one day, it will drain her body."

The Entity was staring at the Doctor, transfixed by his anger. The Doctor locked eyes with it, and in turn, with Rose.

"Why is she doing it?" He asked lowly.

"She was angry, because you left," Marie replied.

The Doctor stalked up to Rose. "I'll help you tomorrow," he promised the Entity, "But I can't let you damage this body any further today."

And with that, he grabbed Rose by the skin of her upper arms.