Time Chapter 2
“Rose!”
I knew that voice. Oh how I knew it. It rocked me to sleep at night. It comforted when the nightmares came. I protected me. But not now…now it terrified me.
“Rose!”
I watched from the shadows as he knelt, as he clung to the bleeding body of my mother. Time it seemed stilled, and for a moment I swore I could feel the very universe cry out it anguish as he did.
“Save her…”
The words were but a whisper and nearly stolen away by the air before they reached my hearing. In that moment I knew that my existence meant her death. My birth singled the end of her existence. I was the reason for the screams in the night. It was me.
“Mummy?”
I don’t remember what forced me from my hiding in the shadows. Only that one moment I was there the next I was crawling from my protective sheath into the openness of the room.
“Mummy?”
He froze in the moment. As if he had to force himself to choose between us. I watched as slowly…so slowly he lowered her still form to the floor and turned towards me. I had never seen him look so…so…lost.
“I’m sorry.”
I didn’t understand. I couldn’t understand. He wasn’t supposed to be like this. Defeated. Lost. Alone. This was not the man I knew. This was not my father.
“We have to leave Ella.”
Leave? No. We couldn’t leave. Not without her. He promised me. We would always be together. He promised! I wanted to scream. Shout. Yell. Cry. Anything to make him stop. But instead I simply stared and silently tears fell and mixed with the blood on the ground.
“Look at me Ella.”
I couldn’t help myself I had to look away and into the same eyes that stared out of my face. Gently…lovingly he wrapped me in his arms. Lifting me away from the shattering of my childhood and into the security of his embrace. And slowly…so very slowly he walked away.
“Mummy?”
I cried and reached behind trying to prolong the finial moments of my connection to her. Begging him to not take me away. I screamed. I kicked. I pleaded. His steps didn’t slow no matter what I did.
“She’s gone Ella.”
“Mummy?!”
“She’s gone.”
“MUMMY!”
* * * * *
Brown eyes shot open and slowly, gradually her breathing slowed as she registered the familiar hum in the back of her mind. She was safe. She was home. And that familiar dream had been lingering in her world since she was four-years-old had faded. Twelve years now it haunted her.
Oh yes she knew that dream so well.
With a heavy sigh she tossed back her blankets and swung her legs onto the floor feeling the well-known vibrations tickle there way up her body. She glanced up as the gentle glow of the walls gradually began to brighten as the TARDIS realized her awakened state.
“Morning.” She smiled as the hum in her mind greeted her happily. “Is he up?” She frowned as the hum paused for a moment then resumed but with a hint of sadness. “What’s wrong?”
Rose…
It wasn’t often that the TARDIS actually formed words in her mind, and this was one she wished it would never whisper to her. “Its today isn’t it?”
Yes
“Great.” She slumped back into bed and sighed. He would be taking them back. He always did on this day. The hum in her mind became insistent. “I know.” She reached under her pillow and pulled out the only photo she possessed of her mother. “I just wish…” She placed the photo back into its normal resting place and pulled herself out of bed. She felt the familiar jolt through the floor as the TARDIS settled into land and quickly pulled on some clothing and shoes before dashing out into the corridor. She felt the draft and smelt the salt air as she entered the control room and knew he had brought them back. She stepped out on to the sands as the wind sent her brown hair flying about.
“Bad Wolf Bay.” She brushed her hair out of her face. She caught sight of him standing just short of the crashing waves, his brown coat billowing out around him in the wind. Quietly she walked up beside him and watched as the sun slowly rose above the horizon setting the sky a fire with color. Beside her he blindly took her hand in his and together they stood in silence as the suns rays slowly advanced across the blue-green ocean.
“I thought you were sleeping.”
She nearly jumped at the sound of his voice, as it seemed to shout into the silence that had been surrounding them. “Kind of hard with your landings.” She saw a small smile etch his face. “You’d think after nine hundred plus years of travel you’d get it right.”
“Why change what works?” He smiled down at her. “You used to love it when you were little, wanted me to land hard enough to knock you off your feet every time. Your Mum would…”
She watched as his smile slowly faded away. “I Know. I remember.” She squeezed his hand. “She would give you that look, and then you’d ramble on about one thing or another…” She paused, “and your daughter apparently inherited that gene.” She reached over and took the small wooden box he clutched in his other hand, plain aside from the small rose carved into the top. “I miss her.”
“I do to, but I’m glad for one thing.” He moved his arm around her shoulders and smiled down into her brown eyes. So like her Mum… “You.” He reached his free hand over and wiped a tear from her cheek before reaching and taking the box from her.
He never had a chance to truly mourn for her, never allowed himself the luxury of the emotion, except for one day. A single day out of an endless amount of time and it was always the same. He came back here, to where he said good-bye, to where he lost part of himself, to where he allowed the emotions to surface if only for a single moment. With shaking hands he slowly opened the box and allowed Ella to reach in and take out the contents and release them into the gentle wind.
Slowly, they danced on the breeze. Light and silky they reflected their red blush in the sunlight. Gradually the petals disappeared into the blue-green waters, so simple an offering that held so heavy a meaning. It was all he had, all he could do.
A simple box of red silky petals…
A rose for his Rose…
As the last petal faded into the distance, he closed the box and took his daughter’s hand in his. As one they turned from the crashing waves and made their way back to the small blue box that was home. Once inside Ella curled up on the command chair and ran a hand through her now tangled strands of hair as her father danced around the controls sending them off into the familiar realm of the vortex.
“Now,” The Doctor turned to face his daughter. “Want to tell me what really brought you out?”
She still hadn’t figured out how her father could change moods so quickly. One moment he was ready to burst into tears remembering her mum, the next he was acting like it never happened. She swore she would never really understand him.
“I told you,” she continued to play with her hair, refusing to meet his eyes. “The landing woke me.”
He shook his head. “This from the girl who slept thorough the great San Francisco earthquake, the eruption of Mt. St. Helens, the super nova of the Sagittarian system, and the snoring of Captain Jack Harkness.” He paused in thought. “Course I still don’t understand how humans can make so much noise when they sleep, you’d think they wake themselves up or something, or at least shatter a window.” He shrugged and again changed moods. “It was something more than a landing. You haven’t willingly set foot on that bay since you were ten-years-old.”
Ella stopped playing with her hair and took a deep breath. “It was nothing really.”
The Doctor stepped forward and kneeled in front of her gently tilting her chin up to look into her eyes. “Iella,” he watched her wince at the use of her Gallifreyan name. “Something made you come to me.”
“I told you it was nothing.” She pulled away and hopped up from the chair. “I’m fine honest.” She smiled and headed down the corridor.
He watched her go and with a sigh turned to admire the center of the room. “What do you think?” He absently caressed the control panel and heard a worried hmm in his head. “Yeah.” He turned and glanced back down the corridor where Ella disappeared.
* * * * *
She had always loved this room, even before she could read, her father would bring her in here and tell her stories and read from the infinite number of books that piled on the wooden shelves. The simple seating and lighting added to the comfort of the room along with the fireplace, that as long as she could remember, had never gone out. She gently ran her fingers along the book edges as she wandered through the selection. She never really came into this room with an idea of what she wanted, she always just allowed herself to be guided to the perfect book. Her hand paused and pulled out an old leather covered book, one that she didn’t remember ever seeing in all her wanderings of the room. She settled into one of the large over stuffed chairs that she preferred and curled up with her treasure.
She flipped open to the first page and nearly dropped the book as the TARDIS sent a sudden jolt through her mind. “What?” She blinked and looked round at the glowing walls. She closed to book and the hmm descended to a more tolerable level. “Is something wrong?” She closed her eyes and concentrated on the flicker of light her father always made in her mind and found nothing to be amiss. “Is he tinkering again?” The sudden mental sigh gave her all the answer she needed. “Well give him a good jolt if he uses the mallet.”
She resettled herself into the chair and again opened the book. She felt the TARDIS again attempting to send another jolt through her mind, but quickly blocked the ship out, something she had never done in her life. “Look if he’s annoying you that much knock him on his rear and leave me alone.” She waited until the TARDIS presence had completely left her mind then turned back to the book.
She slowly read the opening passage and was quickly caught up in the nuances of the author. She was quite ready to settle in for a long read when her eyes froze at the finial line of the page.
I am Iella Nu Dedonoren in the old language. But most know me as Ella Rose Tyler.
And this is my story.
The book hit the floor with a muffled thump as Ella stared down at it in shock. “That’s not possible…” She reached down and carefully picked the book back up, opening it to the first page, only to find it blank. Ok this is just strange…and that’s saying a lot around here. She thought to herself. She closed the book and went to place it back on the self, only to find that her eyes were drawn back to the leather bound volume as soon as her hands left it.
Slowly she forced herself to step away and walk out of the library. With a deep breath she headed back to the control room where she smiled when she caught sight of her father getting knocked on his rear.
“Oi! What was that for?” He pulled himself up and turned when he heard someone giggling behind him.
“When I told her to knock you on your bum I didn’t think she’d take it literally.” Ella laughed.
The Doctor quirked an eyebrow at her and sighed. “So now you’re teaming up on me?”
Ella shrugged as she ran a hand lovingly across the wall as she headed for the captains chair. “Dad, we’ve been teamed against you since I could talk to her.” Ella smiled and flopped down into the chair. “Besides its your own fault for poking and prodding the old girl so much.” Ella deftly caught the dirty rag that came flying in her direction.
“Cheeky,” The Doctor waggled a finger at her. “Reminds me of someone I can’t quite think who though.”
“You?”
“Nah, that’s impossible. I am not cheeky in the least. Nor am I ginger, but that’s beside the point. Not that I wouldn’t mind being ginger, always wanted to be in fact. I was really hoping this time I would be ginger. Anyway where was I? Oh yeah cheeky, well I think you get it from your Gran, she was always a bit full…”
Ella sighed and chuckled lightly as he disappeared under the council his voice muffled as he continued his commentary.
“Course you could have learned it from Jack, although if it is his fault I need to go and do something about that…”
Ella hopped up off the chair and slowly walked round the central column, her fingers idly caressing the controls as she hummed softly to herself.
“…Course there is still no way you could get that from me. Never been cheeky not once, rude? Yeah been rude, but never cheeky…well there was that one time…”
Ella paused as she came to the front of the control council, the very spot her mother had stood at years ago when she looked into the TARDIS. She felt something drawing her, pulling her to the spot, a voice in her mind, a song in her blood. She longingly caressed the spot and felt her mind being pulled towards it.
“Iella!”
The sound of his voice shattered the trance she had fallen into. She blinked and glanced around not remembering moving to the spot. “Wha?”
The Doctor looked at her with concern. “Didn’t you hear me?”
She shook her head, “no. Sorry, must have been daydreaming.” She gave him a shaky smile.
He walked up to her and pulled out the sonic screwdriver. “Let me just…”
She shoved his hand away. “I’m fine Dad, just more tired than I thought.”
“Your sure?” She nodded at him. “Tell you what why don’t I take us somewhere fun this time?”
“Barcelona?” She teased
He reached over and tweaked her nose. “There you see cheeky.” He gave her a gentle shove towards the corridor. “Go get some rest.”
* * * * *
She headed towards her room with the thought of a nice nap settling in her mind, but instead found herself again in the library reaching for the book. She pulled her hand back as if she had been burned and glanced around the room. “Ok, Ella get a hold of yourself.” She stepped back away from the shelves. “Nothing can get to us in the TARDIS.” She swallowed the lump in her throat as her dark eyes scanned the room, but always returning to the spot the book occupied in the mass of shelves. Without remembering she found herself suddenly in her room the book in hand and opening to the first page again.
She felt a pressure building in her mind as she again read the words that had disappeared. She fought to toss the book away but found her body unresponsive to her commands. Her eyes were guided across the written lines of their own will. She again reached the finial lines of the passage and with a sudden jolt felt her mind ripped away.
I am Iella Nu Dedonoren in the old language. But most know me as Ella Rose Tyler.
And this is my story.
She screamed.
To Be Continued…