Fic - City of Elusion - 1/? - Ten/Rose - T
Date Published: 3rd October 2007
Title: City of Elusion
Rating: T
Characters: Ten/Rose, OC Hemlock, OC Jezera Mewlan
Genre(s): Horror, mystery, sci-fi, action, adventure, romance, suspense, thriller, supernatural.
Word Count: This part, 1,393
Summary: Ignorance. Fear. Mistrust. Destiny. The tale of what happens when two worlds collide. TenRose.
Disclaimer: The names, images and logos identifying the BBC and their products and services are subject to copyright, design rights and trade marks of the BBC. Used without permission for non-profit, non-commercial personal use.
Fic Type: Multi-Chaptered. WIP.
Archived: fanfiction.net, my Journal and Teaspoon.
Author's Note: Started as a small project, turned into a large one. Go figure.
Excerpt: “Oh, but Rose,” he complained imploringly. “You... can’t. Not this time. You’re the greatest asset I have, but... It’s dangerous.” He stepped forward and took her hands, looking her right in the eye. She gulped a little, his intense look suddenly overpowering. “I can quite honestly say,” he added, his voice incredibly calm, “that this will be the most dangerous place I’ve visited. I couldn’t let anything happen to you. I made a promise.”
The City of Elusion
Prologue
“Okay - what about this one?”
The Doctor tapped a different piece of paper, then looked up at Rose over the rim of his spectacles. She took a few thoughtful moments to respond before a wide grin spread across her face.
“I know,” she said gleefully, clapping her hands together like an excited child. “‘Excuse me; I’ve lost my time machine.’”
“That’s right!” he affirmed with an equal smile. He sat up in the chair and considered her with pride. “That’s enough for today, I should think, but bravo. You aren’t half getting the hang of this.”
“Well.” Rose shrugged with modesty and averted his eye slightly. “Got a good teacher, haven’t I?”
“Oh, I agree. The best. In fact.” He smiled and stood up. “Tea?”
“Please.”
Rose had been learning Gallifreyan for just over a month now. It had started with a simple questioning of the various post-it notes stuck around the console room, more noticeably on the monitors above the controls. At first she had just been interested in what they meant. Reminders, he’d told her. Shopping lists, notes, complicated maths equations he was trying to remember. And apparently, the pink post-its were the ones that detailed in highly intelligent breakdowns of the universe, about the outcome of alpha squared matched with theta over two when one tended towards infinity... At which point Rose had stopped listening.
However, picking up on her interest like a bee to pollen, the Doctor had soon started lessons in his language for ‘emergency’s sake’. Rose had no idea what type of emergency situation would require her understanding of his first language, but the lessons were fun enough. There were even gold stars.
The teachings had led to yet more post-its stuck around the TARDIS (for which she was not amused), saying things like ‘door’ and ‘kettle’ and ‘Doctor’s bedroom’ in Gallifreyan symbols. It was quite an amusing way to pass the time, if nothing else.
The Doctor was currently stirring his tea in the kitchen, having already handed Rose a sugared mug. In his hand was the psychic paper, its battered leather pouch beginning to crack with age.
“Not real leather, this,” he’d told her once. “Well, not your leather. Comes from the great Jeffile District in the North. Amazing place, good for a date. Came across the wallet in a little antique shop, just sitting there. Impossible to harm. Doesn’t rip, cut, burn, peel - only age can destroy it, really. Fairly useful stuff to have around when you consider the life I lead.”
He was now staring at it with seemingly worried interest, a frown set into his forehead and his thoughts far away.
Rose sipped her tea quietly, watching him.
He took in a loud breath, as though preparing to speak, but simply let it out again and continued his ponderings. His glasses were settled adorably on his nose, unmoved since the lesson, and through them Rose could see the Doctor’s eyes move back and forth across the slip of paper in his hands.
She took another swig of her tea before climbing down from her seat in search of something more interesting to do.
“Rose?” the Doctor inquired suddenly, his eyes still on the leather sleeve. “What do you make of this?”
He flipped it over, showing her the blank page.
Rose shrugged. “It’s the psychic paper,” she responded a bit flatly; after all the time he had spent silent, she had been expecting something more intriguing than that.
“Well yes, I know it’s the psychic paper,” he continued, reaching up and pocketing his glasses. “But look.”
He took a few paces towards her, holding the paper out directly in front of him.
After giving it a cursory glance for a couple of seconds, Rose met the Doctor’s eye. “Is this like... when you do something with your hair and I don’t notice? Have you done something to the paper?”
The Doctor sighed. “Yes. No. Sort of.” He replaced it in his jacket pocket then collapsed onto the seat Rose had just vacated. Leaning on the speckled counter with his elbows, he ran his fingers across his eyes so that they met at the bridge of his nose. Rose perched on the seat beside him.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, worry in her voice.
His fingers slid to his mouth as he bit his nails thoughtfully.
“I don’t know,” he replied honestly. “But when I showed you the paper just now, it was supposed to say that I wasn’t really a time-travelling alien from Gallifrey but that actually this was all just some sort of exotic dream and it was time for you to wake up.”
Rose frowned, confused. “Why would you do that?”
“To see if the psychic paper worked. I would have thought that was obvious.”
“But, hang on.” She plucked the paper from his pocket and waved it in front of his face. “I know this is psychic, so it wouldn’t work on me anyway.”
“Not strictly true,” the Doctor countered, taking it from her hands and holding it up to her instead. “When you see an optical illusion, you know it’s an illusion, but that doesn’t stop your brain from being fooled by it, does it? You still see two faces and a candlestick just the same.”
“So what does that mean?”
“It means...” The Doctor sighed. “It means we’re going to have to go somewhere I never wanted to visit again.”
Rose shifted in her seat. “Why’s that, Doctor?”
He didn’t answer. Instead he jumped down from the seat and chewed his tongue thoughtfully. He then glanced up at Rose with a pleading expression.
“I don’t suppose there’s any chance you fancy staying behind on this one, is there? I’ll only be a couple of hours - ”
Rose put a hand up and stopped him mid sentence. “Oh no you don’t. If you think you’re bounding off into another adventure alone, you’ve got another think coming. I’m coming with.”
“Oh, but Rose,” he complained imploringly. “You... can’t. Not this time. You’re the greatest asset I have, but... It’s dangerous.” He stepped forward and took her hands, looking her right in the eye. She gulped a little, his intense look suddenly overpowering. “I can quite honestly say,” he added, his voice incredibly calm, “that this will be the most dangerous place I’ve visited. I couldn’t let anything happen to you. I made a promise.”
A beat of silence passed as she searched his eyes with hers.
“But we jump into danger every day,” Rose argued at last when the Doctor dropped her hands. “Feet first. That’s what we do. And if it’s so dangerous, what if something happened to you? What if I’m left waiting here and you don’t come back? We once said we’d go down fighting together and I still stand by that, Doctor. You’re not locking me up in here like some child. If you really wanted me safe, you’d never have taken me with you in the first place.”
A guilty expression flickered in the Doctor’s eyes and he felt something sinister twist in his gut.
“Rose. Please.”
“I’m coming with you, Doctor. And that’s that.” She gave a resolute nod to affirm the conclusion. The Doctor let out a beleaguered sigh and ran a hand through his hair. He looked at her with fond impatience, as though he wasn’t sure if he was angry or proud at her persistence.
“Right, fine,” he relented at last, dropping his hand. He then brought it up again to point severely in her direction. “But if anything happens to you, I am going to kick some serious arse.”
Rose’s eyebrows raised inquiringly towards his curse, but she let it go when he pressed on.
“Right then,” the Doctor said, heading towards the kitchen door. “Get your coat and meet me in the console room. We’ve got a bit of stuff to go over if you’re coming with me, and God help you if you don’t listen. It could very well save your life.”
With that he was gone and, with a final swig of tea, Rose darted to her room to find some suitable clothing and a good, sturdy pair of shoes: she had a feeling that this was going to be one of those oh-so-common occasions where she’d end up running for her life.
End This Part
| -->
| Prologue | I | II | III | IV | V | VI | VII |