Bad Wolf and the Oncoming Storm [Book One: Back in Time]

.:Chapter Six:. A New Face

     Rose stumbled forward and had to steady herself; it was getting old and extremely frustrated. She has been propelled through time countless of of times, always landing in place with the fear of jumping and not knowing where she was going to end up.

     She had been too preoccupied with her thoughts that she hadn’t noticed the sad sounding humming and the nudge in her mind. Rose’s senses became alert and she looked around, her heating beating quickly in anticipation only for her stomach to drop when she didn’t recognize anything.

     That was wrong: she did recognize the humming of the TARDIS, only it was saddened than the happy humming she was used to hearing. The inside of the TARDIS looked nothing like the one that she had became so used to seeing. It was metal and modern, and most of all, felt cold and foreign to her.

     When the Doctor had regenerated before her eyes, she hadn’t believed he was the same man. He looked different and he spoke differently, how could it have been the same man? She felt the same way towards the TARDIS until she felt the nudging again. It was gentle and soothing. Rose’s body relaxed and she let out a shaky breath that she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

     The actions of the Doctor, the selflessness and courage along with his beautiful mind and story was all the same. This TARDIS, the TARDIS, was exactly the same one she could feel in her mind before she got trapped in the alternate universe. She just looked a little different.

     Rose allowed an easy smile to spread across her face. The TARDIS nudged her mind again, a little more urgently this time and hummed sadly again.

     Rose looked up and found the Doctor sitting with his head in his hands. His shoulders sagged like he was defeated. Swallowing a lump in her throat, Rose took a step towards the Doctor. The closer she got, the more she realized that just like the TARDIS, he didn’t look the same.

     “D-Doctor?” Rose whispered, again clearing her throat of the lump that keeps forming from nervousness. She wiped her palms on her pants before making fists, trying to keep her nerves at bay.

     The Doctor looked up. His face looked spent and his hair stood at odd angles like when he runs his hands through his hair a bit too much. “R-Rose?” he questioned as if the image of her standing before him could just be a trick his mind was playing on him.

     Rose could not move. It wasn’t just because if she would, she would most likely jump, but because she was frozen in place. When she first met the Doctor, he had grown on her, becoming her Doctor; the same thing happened when he regenerated. She had known both versions of the Doctor on a level that not many people got to see. However, with this version of him she had no idea who he was. Did he still love bananas and despise pears? Was he still willing to jump into any situation, not knowing what might await him at the end?

     “When is this going to stop?” Rose asked in a helpless voice. A small sob escaped between her lips.

     The Doctor pushed himself up and walked over to her. He gave her a saddened look before speaking. “Oh, Rose. I-I don’t know... I wish I did.”

     Rose nodded, unable to do anything else.

     A few minutes of silence fell over them. They both just stood there, looking at each other. Rose was the first to finally speak up. “When? What happened?” she furrowed her eyebrows, her question referring to his regeneration.

     “Not too long after you appeared in the Library. After-” The Doctor stopped himself. If what happened with the Daleks and them stealing Earth had happened for her, she wouldn’t be here now. She’d be in the alternate universe with his meta-crisis duplicate. After just losing Amy and Rory, the Doctor needed someone to talk to. Sometimes, even his limits were pushed too far. The Doctor continued on, explaining everything from what happened when the Daleks stole Earth, to whom the Master was and how he came back. He also described some of his journeys with Amy and Rory all up to the point of their deaths.

     When the Doctor finished, he looked even more diminished than before and Rose threw her arms around his neck, hugging her body against his tightly. He hugged her back. “Do a favor for me, Rose?” he whispered into her ear.

     Rose nodded. “Anything.”

     “If you see a past me, tell me two words. Nothing else. I trust you know what they are?” The Doctor pulled back and smiled sadly down at her.

     “I will. I promise.” Rose returned his smile with a small one of her own.

     “Good.” he replied, his voice cracking a little. Amy and Rory were fantastic companions but he had lost them, and now, he would be losing Rose again.

     Rose knew what she had to do. She didn’t want to leave the Doctor in this state, but she needed to. She had to get back in alignment with her own timeline. If she could, she could most likely make a difference and stop some of this from happening. It was a selfish decision her part, but Rose reached up and pressed her lips to the Doctor’s for just a second nonetheless; she said one last thing before she took the few steps backwards, willing herself to disappear. “Goodbye, my Doctor.”

     Rose appeared on a dark street in the middle of the night. She glanced around, trying to find an indication of where she was but she found absolutely nothing.

     She just stood there in the middle of the street for a little before she heard the sound of the sonic screwdriver. Rose spun on her heels and was able to catch a glimpse of light coming from the TARDIS. Vaguely through the darkness, she could see the outline of a version of the Doctor clad in a leather jacket.

     Rose smiled and began walking towards him.

     The Doctor heard the footsteps coming closer to where he was, sonicking the lock on a gate. “Who’s there?” he called out to the darkness.

     Rose couldn’t get any words out at first. She kept walking towards him. The air around her shifted and she could barely speak the words ‘Bad Wolf’ before disappearing.

     The Doctor heard the words spoken from the girl that appeared dimly before him. The shadows of the night casted themselves across her face. He blinked and then she was gone. The Doctor shook his head, passing her off to be a complete nutter.