who fic: "the Doctor's Rising" (Rose/Nine, NC17, Seeker crossover)
title: the Doctor's Rising
author: fannishliss
rating: NC 17 - adults only!
warning: strong language, sex and violence (possibly triggery)
crossover: Who/the Seeker
length: 4900 words
disclaimer: Inspired by a movie in which Chris wore black leather. Also -- I've loved those books since childhood, and now I've smutted them up!! D: my apologies to the original author, whose name I won't sully here!! mea culpa
Summary: A nice day hike takes a sudden turn for the worse when the Doctor and Rose fall through Time. How will Rose win the Doctor back from the clutches of the Dark Rider? (Hm, how do you think? this is a gutter ficathon after all)
A/N: Written for the Halloween Ficathon at
bad_wolf_rising -- a spooky Halloween story for the wonderful Gutterites!
=?=
"Come along, Rose, it's not that steep," the Doctor chided.
"Says you!" Rose grumbled, panting. She'd never seen him out of breath no matter how fast they ran, and she took it as a personal challenge to keep up with him, but he seemed even more vigorous than usual today.
It was a fine summer's day and they were climbing Cadair Idris - Arthur's Seat - one of the most beautiful day hikes in Wales. The Doctor had their picnic in a rucksack on his back, but it wasn't slowing him down any.
"Can't we just- pause - to smell the flowers?" Rose gasped. There weren't any flowers except tiny little blue things along the path, but Rose grabbed at any excuse to slow down.
"Oh, all right," the Doctor grumbled, but she saw by the happy look on his face that he took a boyish satisfaction in wearing her out.
"Water," Rose said, reaching out a hand.
The Doctor shrugged off the pack and pulled the water bottle from the side pocket. She tilted back her head to drink, savoring the cool water, when a wave of dizziness struck her.
"I feel weird," she said, dropping the water.
"Rose!" he exclaimed, and her vision went black.
When she came back to her senses, everything had changed. The sweet warmth of the summer day had gone. It was night, it was cold, and snow flurries were blowing around her.
"Doctor! Doctor!" Rose called, but he didn't answer. There was no trace of him anywhere. Something terrible must have happened - he wouldn't just leave her there, alone in the middle of the woods. Rose shivered, cold to the bone. She couldn't wait for him to come back - she had to find shelter or she'd soon freeze to death.
She staggered back down the path. Surely the Tardis would still be where they'd left it? Back to the Tardis, don't wander off, that was rule one. The path was steep but clear. The Tardis had to be there.
The bare trees riddled the path with deceptive shadows. She tripped over roots- thankful for her hiking boots - but narrowly escaped falling.
She kept a quick pace, trying to keep warm. She was losing the battle though, and surely she should've passed by at least one trail marker by now? Everything seemed different. She told herself it was only the darkness confusing her, but her instincts told her that something was dreadfully wrong.
Finally, when she thought she could go no further, she saw a light, and hurried towards it.
A huge old edifice loomed out of the misty night. Church? Manor hall? Rose had no idea. Light seeped out from slot windows high up the stone wall, and two mighty oak doors, straight on their hinges, suggested to her that maybe the place was not completely abandoned.
Rose lifted the heavy door knocker, an iron circle divided into quarters by a cross, and let it bang back down.
"Hallo!" she called. "Hallo! I need help!"
The door creaked open, and there, incongruously, stood a young teenaged boy.
Rose stared at him, and he stared back. His look was friendly enough, but so solemn, and somehow old.
"Be welcome in the Hall of the Light," he said, bidding her in.
"Thank you," she said, shaking with cold. She staggered into the hall, praying for a chance to get warm.
A huge fire blazed in an ancient hearth. Gratefully she stood stamping and rubbing her arms in its heat.
"Take this," the boy said, holding out a heavy wool cloak.
"Thanks," she said, draping it around her shoulders. He filled a mug with steaming, savory broth from a pot hanging near the fire, and soon she felt warm enough that her addled wits began to return.
"You must think I'm an idiot to be running around like this," she said, indicating her light summer hiking clothes.
"It's not your fault," the boy said solemnly. "You've fallen through time."
"What?" Rose choked. "But - the Tardis-"
The boy looked at her with ancient eyes, full of sadness and warning. She began to understand that he was more than he seemed.
"Have you seen my friend, the Doctor? Tall, leather jacket - blue eyes?" Rose asked hopelessly. Surely he'd come bursting into the room at any second, and they'd fly together, and she'd feel his strong arms scooping her up in his massive hug, and all the world would be right again.
"Yes," the boy said, looking away. He gave a heavy sigh.
"What?" Rose answered. "Where is he? Oh my god, is he okay?"
The boy turned again to look at her, and the look in his eyes was even worse than before. "No," he said. "He's very, very bad."
"I don't understand," Rose said, trying not to panic. If only the world would swim again, and she'd wake up, and the Doctor would be mocking her for passing out such a short way up the mountain, and he'd give her a biscuit from the rucksack and they'd laugh and be together again on the bright sunny day they'd started out in. Instead she was still here alone in this cold, cavernous room with this strange boy who stared at her so sorrowfully.
"There was a weak spot in time..." he said.
"A rift? Like the one in Cardiff?" she asked.
His eyes widened. "No - weaker - but may I touch your hand?" the boy asked.
Wordlessly Rose extended her hand. Lightly the boy touched it, his eyes closing.
"The Light is strong in you. The echoes of that rift, inside you, tore open that weakened place - but the music of a High, Wild Magic protects you- like wolves, howling, wolves running, their golden eyes glowing...." He shook his head softly. "I had a friend once with eyes like that."
"What about the Doctor?" Rose insisted, almost afraid to ask.
"He is of the Light, but his burdens have borne him down, down into the Dark. The Dark Rider is upon him."
"Where is he?" Rose cried. "I have to help him. How do we fight this Dark Rider?"
"Rose," the boy said, though she hadn't told him her name. "Your Doctor has become the Dark Rider."
"What- what does that mean?" Rose gasped, a chill chasing its way down her spine despite the warmth of the cloak, the fire, the broth in her belly.
"The Dark Rider is a menace, a blight upon the land - a destroyer of all that is Light. The Rider is upon your Doctor - and you must set him free."
"But how?" Rose said. "You said something about Magic. Is there, I don't know, a spell - a charm or something?"
"No," he said flatly. "We are of Magic, but you are human, despite the wolf singing in your soul. You must bring your Doctor back as a human would. Tell me, and do not lie - do you love him?"
Rose felt her heart pound. He was everything to her. "Yes," she answered. "With all my heart, I do."
The boy nodded. "Love is strong against the dark. And does he love you in return?"
Rose hung her head. "I think so.... I hope so.... but sometime the darkness in him, the guilt and fear, makes him close himself off.... " Her head snapped up. "Is that what you're saying? The Rider came upon him because of all he's been through?"
"I believe it to be so," the boy said, in his strange, formal way.
"Of course he can't help but feel sad, and angry - but he shouldn't feel guilty, because he only did what had to be done - and he shouldn't feel alone, because he'll always have me, no matter what," Rose said, mostly to herself. "I can help him fight this Rider - I know I can."
Looking up at the boy, feeling the old Tyler stubbornness straightening her spine, she said, "Tell me where to find him. I can help him." She had to - there was no other option.
"I believe you'll succeed," the boy said. "There is a prophecy:
'On the day of the dead when the year too dies
must bloom fairest rose in dead winter's embrace:
icy heart must thaw, time's storm must rise,
the lost will be found as the wolf joins the chase,
so the Rider will fall, darkness lifted by grace.' "
Rose let the prophecy sink into her brain. She was the Rose, and the poem did say the Rider would fall. But - embrace?
"The Doctor and me - we're not -" Rose stuttered to a halt. She couldn't say what she was thinking to such a young boy.
He looked away. "The prophecy makes no assumptions. It is what is."
"Okay," Rose breathed, trying to get a grip on herself.
"Have you any talisman - any gift he's given you - no matter how small?" the boy asked.
"Of course - the Tardis key!" Rose pulled it out. It was faintly warm and glittering brightly in the firelight.
The boy looked up at her sharply. "You know that this is the key to his heart."
Rose remembered with shame when she'd unthinkingly loaned the key to Adam. How stupid could she have been? And yet he'd forgiven her. And then, when they'd had the big fight over her dad, how he'd taken it back - the key to his heart.
"Yeah," she said. "That's right."
"It's very strong indeed. Let it guide you."
"Huh," Rose said, slipping the precious key safely back inside her shirt. "Now, tell me how to find him."
"That's easy," the boy said. "Go back out and get lost in the woods."
His words struck fear deep into Rose. "What - alone?"
The boy shrugged. "You are the Rose. The Rider will fall. You have the grace inside you to lift the darkness."
"The High Magic?" she said doubtfully.
"Love," the boy answered. "And a key. Follow it. Now go!"
With a strange, twisting motion, he lifted his hand toward the doors, and they opened. Rose expected storm winds to whirl into the room, but they didn't.
Drawing the wool cloak tighter around herself, Rose went back out into the dark.
The night was dark and cold, but it wasn't silent. Wind whipped through the tree branches. Rose held the cloak tightly around herself, forlornly roaming the pathless woods. Every instinct told her to turn back toward the Hall, but she had to find the Doctor.
Suddenly, she heard the pounding of horse's hooves and the scream of an angry stallion. She whirled, only to find the stallion circling her, the Rider on its back all cloaked in black. Though he'd hidden his face behind a cloth, she steadfastly met his piercing blue eyes - the unmistakeable eyes of the Doctor - but cold, and more alien than she'd ever seen. She'd never mistake the Rider for her Doctor in a thousand years.
"Let him go!" she shouted at the Rider.
"Little girl - or should I say - stupid little ape!" the Rider mocked her from behind his scarf. "You have no power over me, especially not in these woods, and not by night, whilst I reign supreme!"
His voice was harsh, his melodious accent flattened. Even when they'd fought, Rose had never heard such scorn in the Doctor's voice. Her heart fell. How could she reach him, when she could sense no trace of him?
His stallion wheeled and pranced, wild and furious. The ice blue eyes glared down at her.
"I do have power over you," Rose shouted. "There's a prophecy that says I make you fall."
The Rider gave a harsh laugh. "Prophecy is notoriously fickle- vague words fitting a thousand circumstances."
"Then why'd you come after me?" Rose asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.
"Curiosity," the Rider said, carelessly. "i wanted this body - it was easily taken, yet superior to humans in almost every way. The Doctor fought me - but his rage and fury at being taken are no match for me. He fell quickly to despair and lies deep within the well of his own guilt and grief."
Rose felt her own rage rise up at the thought of the Doctor, captured by this evil being and imprisoned by his own darkest thoughts. "Let him go, you monster!" she screamed.
The beloved eyes widened mockingly. "Oh, should I be frightened? I, great Lord of the Dark, older by far than this so-called Time Lord - threatened by a girl?" He leaned forward to jeer at her in a whisper, "A girl who would not lift a finger to hurt this vessel? but who would quickly lie down for him!"
"Shut up!" Rose shouted, gritting her teeth. It was true, of course - but it wasn't sordid like he made it sound.
"Oh, how he pities you for your pathetic lusts," the Rider hissed. "But I don't!" He reached up and snatched the dark cloth away, baring the Doctor's beloved face twisted in scorn. "Your debased desires, your romantic fantasies, amuse me. 'He set her on his pacing steed,'" he recited in a singsong falsetto - "'and nothing else saw all day long - and sidelong she would turn and sing a faerie song.'"
"Keats," Rose said coldy. "But it's the knight who fades away in that story, not the lady."
"Oh," the Rider said. "Come then - to my elfin grot," he mocked. He extended his hand, gloved in black leather.
Rose's heart gave a painful twist. How many times had she entrusted herself to that hand?
Surreptitiously, beneath her cloak, she slipped one hand up to test the Tardis key. It was warm. Her instinct, too, told her not to leave the Doctor's side, till she had him safe again.
She reached up and took the hand of the Rider. Even through the heavy gauntlet, for the tiniest fragment of a moment, she could feel the Doctor's presence. Then it was gone, and the Rider was lifting her up, swinging her with inhuman strength onto the saddle before him, even as his horse leapt through the darkness with a terrifying scream.
The freezing wind whipped around her as the horse and Rider bore her at breakneck pace through the forest. Rose shut her eyes, wrapping herself as tightly in her cloak as she could, and it protected her from the cold. She got no warmth from the man behind her- the Doctor's body temperature was naturally lower any way, but the Rider may as well have been made of ice.
The stallion plunged into a dark hollow and at last stopped before the low opening of a cave.
Rose's face twisted slightly in wry amusement. The Rider hadn't been joking about the elfin grot.
He leapt easily from the horse and swung her down, paying no heed to her comfort. He kept an iron grip on one arm, even though she made no moves toward running away.
It was cold in the cave, but at least the winds did not penetrate it. The Rider strode along, dragging Rose with him. In his other hand he held aloft a flaming torch, and the glittering, crystalline walls took Rose's breath away. It was like walking into a fairyland. The Rider turned along so many confusing pathways that Rose quickly lost track. She was at his mercy now.
At last they came to a room where the cavern opened up high above. Great stalactites clung from the ceiling, and glittering crystals lined the walls. Along one edge, a placid stream flowed mirror-like, reflecting the glister of the room in its black surface.
"It's so beautiful," Rose murmured.
"Is it?" the Rider said, mildly surprised. "Hadn't noticed."
"What are you?" Rose asked. "Not human - or you couldn't have possessed the Doctor."
"Not human- no," the Rider responded. "Many beings have walked this world besides humans. Your species, I dare say, is 'the least of these.'"
Rose set her jaw and made no answer to the groundless boast. "What kind of monster are you then?" she goaded.
The Rider looked at her proudly. His eyes seemed to glitter black, though Rose had their beautiful blue stamped indelibly in her memory. "I emanated from these chthonic wastes. I came to being in the darkest strongholds of the earth - and I rose up - and I will never cease rising till the whole world is shrouded in deep, cold darkness."
"Are you a spirit?" Rose asked.
The Doctor's brow wrinkled. "Too many questions!" he boomed. "Do you lack for anything, Rose?" he asked.
It was the first time the Rider had called her by name, and she felt a pulse of heat from the key. Getting him to recognize her - weakening him so that the Doctor might cast him out - that had to be her number one priority.
"I lack a bed, food, and adequate sanitary facilities," Rose said. She and Shareen had volunteered handing out flyers once for Medecins sans Frontiers to get free concert tickets.
"Do you?" the Rider said, eyes wide in pretended shock. "So many little needs, it's so hard to keep track of them all," he complained morosely.
"You may lie wrapped in your cloak - water's there. I'll feed you when I return," the Rider said, and with a gesture, he disappeared and the room went black.
It was horrible in the complete and utter darkness - not knowing if he'd ever return, knowing she could hopelessly lose herself in the grotto's labyrinthine passageways. She closed her eyes, breathing steadily, and tried to rest in her cloak as he'd suggested, but the weight of the darkness pressed in on her eyes like a living thing. Finally the steady dripping of water from the stalactites calmed her nerves - cavern kisses - and the sweet image brought the High Wild Magic into her dozing mind - strong as the dark - or stronger.
She must have drifted off, for when she next opened her eyes, it was to find him crouching beside her on the clay floor of the cavern, watching her sleep.
"Like what you see?" she asked, sardonically.
Startled, the Rider blushed. That was a weakness, and Rose noted it.
She made a show of stretching as she sat up. Her cloak fell away, and Rose noted that the Rider couldn't tear his eyes from the bared skin of her arms and legs, revealed by her summery clothes.
She rubbed herself ostentatiously, as though to keep warm, and huddled in on herself, crossing her arms around her knees. It wasn't really warm - she'd rather have the cloak around her - but it seemed an advantage.
"So. Darkness. That all you want then? Not even, you know, 'exterminate!'"
"I come from the Darkness, and it is the Darkness I serve," the Rider said.
"He telling the truth, Doctor?" Rose asked suddenly.
"Yeah," the Rider answered, reflexively- and that was the first sign that he was still alive in there. The Rider's lip curled.
"I can take what I want, girl - you can't stop me," he snarled, his eyes burning with cold rage.
"You see something you want?" Rose asked, meeting his gaze.
His hand shot out to seize her throat as he stared at her. Rose thought of the Doctor with all her might, the love she knew they shared, though they'd never acted on it. If only she could touch his bare skin. His touch had never failed to bring comfort before.
"If I wanted you, I would take you," the Rider hissed.
"You might take me, but only the Doctor will have me!" Rose swore, staring back at him defiantly.
The Rider bared his teeth in a warrior's grin. "Empty words," he hissed, but Rose could see the lust sparkling in his eyes.
"Try me!" Rose fired back.
In one fell swoop he was upon her. His lips bore down on hers, hard and demanding, his tongue invading her mouth. Cold and cruel as he was, he still smelled like the Doctor, and he tasted of honey.
Rose groaned and she felt the Rider smile. He pulled back to stare down at her in triumph.
"Doctor," she sighed, "I love you!" She sent all her heartfelt feeling into the words, hoping they'd penetrate deep to the good man held prisoner inside his own body.
"Ahh!" the Rider shouted, reeling back, his face twisting with rage.
Rose smiled. "I know he's still in there, inside you. No matter what you do to me, it's him that I give myself to, not you."
The Rider drew back his hand and slapped her hard, right across the face.
Rose gasped in shock - but then realized, miraculously, she'd felt only the impact of the slap, but no pain, no disorientation - only a mild warmth, like the glow of a banked fire. Something - the high magic maybe? - was protecting her.
"I am Lord here!" the Rider shouted.
"Are you?" Rose purred. "Show me!"
He drew back to slap her again - and she turned the other cheek.
His eyes filled with confusion and his hand faltered. "Rose?" he whispered.
"Doctor!" Rose quickly responded. "If you love me - fight him!"
His eyes filled with anger again. "Your so-called Time Lord is no match for me!"
"But I am!" Rose challenged. "You don't even dare to touch me - hiding behind your gloves and your heavy leather. You're no man!"
He stared at her and she saw him falter. If he ran away now, she might be trapped in this cave forever, and the Doctor would be lost. She had one chance, and she took it.
"Is human love so fearsome- so much stronger than you, Rider?" she taunted. She ripped off her shirt, reaching behind herself to undo her bra, and swinging the Tardis key behind her as she did. Meeting the cruel eyes, she bared herself to him. Proudly she showed him her breasts, offering them up to him with both hands.
"If the Dark is so strong, what's the danger in taking what you want?" Rose asked. She almost felt like she was reading from one of Jackie's romance novels - but she had to speak a language the Dark Lord could not resist.
"Do it, if you can! Conquer me, if you're able!" she hissed.
Her shoulders squared, she lay back on the cloak, and lifted her hands above her head, staring into his eyes.
"Rose," he groaned, and fell upon her.
His touch was ice, even colder than the air of the cavern. He sucked one nipple into his mouth, biting, while twisting the other with fierce, gloved fingers. Rose felt a tingling heat spreading through her body, but he wasn't able to cause her any pain. And somewhere, thin but there, was a hint of the Doctor's presence, warming her, giving her strength for what she had to do. And the Tardis key was still safe around her neck, pressed hot between her shoulder blades as she lay back on the wool cloak.
Rose sang to the Doctor in her mind, even as her body reacted to the Dark Lord's touch. If only he would lay bare hands upon her - she knew she could connect with the Doctor to bring him back.
"Is that it?" Rose gasped. "You must really fear me!"
"I fear nothing!" he roared. His face was a mask of fury. Truly, he looked nothing like the Doctor at that moment - but Rose knew the Doctor was still in there.
"You do!" Rose shouted back. "And you're right to! You can't even touch me skin to skin!"
Digging deep for every ounce of her determination, Rose tore open her shorts and pushed them down.
Rose saw his nostrils twitch as the scent of her sex rose up. Doctor, Doctor, she called in her mind, make love to me - don't let him win - I love you - please, come back to me!
"Whore," the Rider hissed, his evil grin baring all his teeth, hurling the most hurtful words at her that he could dredge up from the darkness. "Slut. Are you so desperate for a fucking? Is your cunt so empty?"
"You can fuck my cunt if you like - it's nothing to me, Rider," Rose said, seizing back the power from his words. She'd heard worse, growing up on the Estate. "I'm sure I've had better. It's the Doctor I care about, the Doctor I love. Fuck me," Rose shouted with disdain, "like the animal you are, Dark Lord! and it'll only prove how much stronger human love is than you!"
Then Rose reached up and grabbed the Rider by the shoulders, pulling him down upon her. She kissed him savagely, returning bite for bite and claw for claw, all the while chanting the Doctor's name like a mantra in her head.
The Rider was worse than an animal. She knew that he would have torn her apart if he could, brutally unleashing himself upon her. But nothing he did could mark her - the golden warmth she could feel inside herself protected her - so she let the Dark thing try his worst, all the while trusting that her own dear Doctor would soon find strength to rise up and throw the Rider off.
Finally she felt the Rider soften - just for an instant.
"Take me, Doctor!" Rose pled into the Rider's ear. "Take me now, I beg you -body, mind and soul - freely given to you, my Doctor!"
"Given in vain," the Rider swore, but Rose could hear the strain in his voice. At last he pulled off the heavy gauntlets, threw them down, and pushed down his tight leather trousers.
In one thrust he was inside her like ice. A swirling cloud of cold mist seemed to darken her mind, and the laughter of the Rider echoed through her head.
"It's hot inside you, little slut," he sneered. "What a merry ride!"
The feel of the monster inside her mind was horrible, like a noxious spreading mist creeping poisonous into a closed room. Rose shrank away from him in disgust, but before despair could pull her down, she felt the Doctor's beloved presence gently enter her mind.
"Rose?" he called, uncertain.
"Doctor!" she answered. Her mind seemed to hear the beloved tones of his sweet voice, and instantly, the golden power from deep inside her rose up joyfully to meet him. "Oh, Doctor - come to me!"
"So dark, so cold," she heard him respond, but he was already getting stronger.
"Come to my light, love!" she cried, and she felt him rush to her like the warm breeze before a summer storm.
With a sensation like the chiming of bells, Rose felt the Doctor's presence slip into sympathy against hers. Their spirits seemed to shiver in delight as they touched, the rightness of their holy union filling Rose with glorious, delirious happiness. Their joy grew and spread and Rose felt her awareness flowing back with the Doctor into his own body, effortlessly pushing aside the Dark Rider, knocking the evil spirit loose from his hold on the Doctor's mind.
The Doctor's body froze, paralyzed, as the Rider realized his defeat.
From deep within Rose came a high, wild song - the cry of a wolf, or hundreds of wolves, all baying to give chase to the Dark spirit.
"No!" he screamed - and with a howling of his own, like a cold winter's wind, he tore free of the Doctor's mind and fled, a thousand golden-eyed wolves in hot pursuit.
The Rider was gone, and Rose and the Doctor were locked in an intimate embrace.
Rose beamed up at the Doctor, full of happiness and triumph.
He couldn't help but smile back, though Rose could see the blush staining his fair complexion even in the dim torchlight of the cavern. "Are you all right?" he whispered.
"Course," she whispered back. "Couldn't you hear me calling for you?"
"I thought - I thought so," he stammered.
"Then take me, love," she said.
It was her beloved Doctor who tentatively, chastely tasted her lips - and then, with a growl all his own, he laid claim to her mouth, driving away any lingering traces of darkness, moving sweetly inside her body and mind as they danced in a warm embrace.
The shimmering crystals of the cavern seemed to blur into golden light, and with a dizzying turn, the Doctor and Rose found themselves on a soft bed of moss, warm summer air caressing their naked skin, sunlight beaming down through the lacy treetops.
Laughing, loving, they mingled body and spirit in joy at the Doctor's rising, and the falling away of the Dark.
On the day of the dead when the year too dies
must bloom fairest rose in dead winter's embrace:
icy heart must thaw, time's storm must rise,
the lost will be found as the wolf joins the chase,
so the Rider will fall, darkness lifted by grace.
author: fannishliss
rating: NC 17 - adults only!
warning: strong language, sex and violence (possibly triggery)
crossover: Who/the Seeker
length: 4900 words
disclaimer: Inspired by a movie in which Chris wore black leather. Also -- I've loved those books since childhood, and now I've smutted them up!! D: my apologies to the original author, whose name I won't sully here!! mea culpa
Summary: A nice day hike takes a sudden turn for the worse when the Doctor and Rose fall through Time. How will Rose win the Doctor back from the clutches of the Dark Rider? (Hm, how do you think? this is a gutter ficathon after all)
A/N: Written for the Halloween Ficathon at
bad_wolf_rising -- a spooky Halloween story for the wonderful Gutterites!
=?=
"Come along, Rose, it's not that steep," the Doctor chided.
"Says you!" Rose grumbled, panting. She'd never seen him out of breath no matter how fast they ran, and she took it as a personal challenge to keep up with him, but he seemed even more vigorous than usual today.
It was a fine summer's day and they were climbing Cadair Idris - Arthur's Seat - one of the most beautiful day hikes in Wales. The Doctor had their picnic in a rucksack on his back, but it wasn't slowing him down any.
"Can't we just- pause - to smell the flowers?" Rose gasped. There weren't any flowers except tiny little blue things along the path, but Rose grabbed at any excuse to slow down.
"Oh, all right," the Doctor grumbled, but she saw by the happy look on his face that he took a boyish satisfaction in wearing her out.
"Water," Rose said, reaching out a hand.
The Doctor shrugged off the pack and pulled the water bottle from the side pocket. She tilted back her head to drink, savoring the cool water, when a wave of dizziness struck her.
"I feel weird," she said, dropping the water.
"Rose!" he exclaimed, and her vision went black.
When she came back to her senses, everything had changed. The sweet warmth of the summer day had gone. It was night, it was cold, and snow flurries were blowing around her.
"Doctor! Doctor!" Rose called, but he didn't answer. There was no trace of him anywhere. Something terrible must have happened - he wouldn't just leave her there, alone in the middle of the woods. Rose shivered, cold to the bone. She couldn't wait for him to come back - she had to find shelter or she'd soon freeze to death.
She staggered back down the path. Surely the Tardis would still be where they'd left it? Back to the Tardis, don't wander off, that was rule one. The path was steep but clear. The Tardis had to be there.
The bare trees riddled the path with deceptive shadows. She tripped over roots- thankful for her hiking boots - but narrowly escaped falling.
She kept a quick pace, trying to keep warm. She was losing the battle though, and surely she should've passed by at least one trail marker by now? Everything seemed different. She told herself it was only the darkness confusing her, but her instincts told her that something was dreadfully wrong.
Finally, when she thought she could go no further, she saw a light, and hurried towards it.
A huge old edifice loomed out of the misty night. Church? Manor hall? Rose had no idea. Light seeped out from slot windows high up the stone wall, and two mighty oak doors, straight on their hinges, suggested to her that maybe the place was not completely abandoned.
Rose lifted the heavy door knocker, an iron circle divided into quarters by a cross, and let it bang back down.
"Hallo!" she called. "Hallo! I need help!"
The door creaked open, and there, incongruously, stood a young teenaged boy.
Rose stared at him, and he stared back. His look was friendly enough, but so solemn, and somehow old.
"Be welcome in the Hall of the Light," he said, bidding her in.
"Thank you," she said, shaking with cold. She staggered into the hall, praying for a chance to get warm.
A huge fire blazed in an ancient hearth. Gratefully she stood stamping and rubbing her arms in its heat.
"Take this," the boy said, holding out a heavy wool cloak.
"Thanks," she said, draping it around her shoulders. He filled a mug with steaming, savory broth from a pot hanging near the fire, and soon she felt warm enough that her addled wits began to return.
"You must think I'm an idiot to be running around like this," she said, indicating her light summer hiking clothes.
"It's not your fault," the boy said solemnly. "You've fallen through time."
"What?" Rose choked. "But - the Tardis-"
The boy looked at her with ancient eyes, full of sadness and warning. She began to understand that he was more than he seemed.
"Have you seen my friend, the Doctor? Tall, leather jacket - blue eyes?" Rose asked hopelessly. Surely he'd come bursting into the room at any second, and they'd fly together, and she'd feel his strong arms scooping her up in his massive hug, and all the world would be right again.
"Yes," the boy said, looking away. He gave a heavy sigh.
"What?" Rose answered. "Where is he? Oh my god, is he okay?"
The boy turned again to look at her, and the look in his eyes was even worse than before. "No," he said. "He's very, very bad."
"I don't understand," Rose said, trying not to panic. If only the world would swim again, and she'd wake up, and the Doctor would be mocking her for passing out such a short way up the mountain, and he'd give her a biscuit from the rucksack and they'd laugh and be together again on the bright sunny day they'd started out in. Instead she was still here alone in this cold, cavernous room with this strange boy who stared at her so sorrowfully.
"There was a weak spot in time..." he said.
"A rift? Like the one in Cardiff?" she asked.
His eyes widened. "No - weaker - but may I touch your hand?" the boy asked.
Wordlessly Rose extended her hand. Lightly the boy touched it, his eyes closing.
"The Light is strong in you. The echoes of that rift, inside you, tore open that weakened place - but the music of a High, Wild Magic protects you- like wolves, howling, wolves running, their golden eyes glowing...." He shook his head softly. "I had a friend once with eyes like that."
"What about the Doctor?" Rose insisted, almost afraid to ask.
"He is of the Light, but his burdens have borne him down, down into the Dark. The Dark Rider is upon him."
"Where is he?" Rose cried. "I have to help him. How do we fight this Dark Rider?"
"Rose," the boy said, though she hadn't told him her name. "Your Doctor has become the Dark Rider."
"What- what does that mean?" Rose gasped, a chill chasing its way down her spine despite the warmth of the cloak, the fire, the broth in her belly.
"The Dark Rider is a menace, a blight upon the land - a destroyer of all that is Light. The Rider is upon your Doctor - and you must set him free."
"But how?" Rose said. "You said something about Magic. Is there, I don't know, a spell - a charm or something?"
"No," he said flatly. "We are of Magic, but you are human, despite the wolf singing in your soul. You must bring your Doctor back as a human would. Tell me, and do not lie - do you love him?"
Rose felt her heart pound. He was everything to her. "Yes," she answered. "With all my heart, I do."
The boy nodded. "Love is strong against the dark. And does he love you in return?"
Rose hung her head. "I think so.... I hope so.... but sometime the darkness in him, the guilt and fear, makes him close himself off.... " Her head snapped up. "Is that what you're saying? The Rider came upon him because of all he's been through?"
"I believe it to be so," the boy said, in his strange, formal way.
"Of course he can't help but feel sad, and angry - but he shouldn't feel guilty, because he only did what had to be done - and he shouldn't feel alone, because he'll always have me, no matter what," Rose said, mostly to herself. "I can help him fight this Rider - I know I can."
Looking up at the boy, feeling the old Tyler stubbornness straightening her spine, she said, "Tell me where to find him. I can help him." She had to - there was no other option.
"I believe you'll succeed," the boy said. "There is a prophecy:
'On the day of the dead when the year too dies
must bloom fairest rose in dead winter's embrace:
icy heart must thaw, time's storm must rise,
the lost will be found as the wolf joins the chase,
so the Rider will fall, darkness lifted by grace.' "
Rose let the prophecy sink into her brain. She was the Rose, and the poem did say the Rider would fall. But - embrace?
"The Doctor and me - we're not -" Rose stuttered to a halt. She couldn't say what she was thinking to such a young boy.
He looked away. "The prophecy makes no assumptions. It is what is."
"Okay," Rose breathed, trying to get a grip on herself.
"Have you any talisman - any gift he's given you - no matter how small?" the boy asked.
"Of course - the Tardis key!" Rose pulled it out. It was faintly warm and glittering brightly in the firelight.
The boy looked up at her sharply. "You know that this is the key to his heart."
Rose remembered with shame when she'd unthinkingly loaned the key to Adam. How stupid could she have been? And yet he'd forgiven her. And then, when they'd had the big fight over her dad, how he'd taken it back - the key to his heart.
"Yeah," she said. "That's right."
"It's very strong indeed. Let it guide you."
"Huh," Rose said, slipping the precious key safely back inside her shirt. "Now, tell me how to find him."
"That's easy," the boy said. "Go back out and get lost in the woods."
His words struck fear deep into Rose. "What - alone?"
The boy shrugged. "You are the Rose. The Rider will fall. You have the grace inside you to lift the darkness."
"The High Magic?" she said doubtfully.
"Love," the boy answered. "And a key. Follow it. Now go!"
With a strange, twisting motion, he lifted his hand toward the doors, and they opened. Rose expected storm winds to whirl into the room, but they didn't.
Drawing the wool cloak tighter around herself, Rose went back out into the dark.
The night was dark and cold, but it wasn't silent. Wind whipped through the tree branches. Rose held the cloak tightly around herself, forlornly roaming the pathless woods. Every instinct told her to turn back toward the Hall, but she had to find the Doctor.
Suddenly, she heard the pounding of horse's hooves and the scream of an angry stallion. She whirled, only to find the stallion circling her, the Rider on its back all cloaked in black. Though he'd hidden his face behind a cloth, she steadfastly met his piercing blue eyes - the unmistakeable eyes of the Doctor - but cold, and more alien than she'd ever seen. She'd never mistake the Rider for her Doctor in a thousand years.
"Let him go!" she shouted at the Rider.
"Little girl - or should I say - stupid little ape!" the Rider mocked her from behind his scarf. "You have no power over me, especially not in these woods, and not by night, whilst I reign supreme!"
His voice was harsh, his melodious accent flattened. Even when they'd fought, Rose had never heard such scorn in the Doctor's voice. Her heart fell. How could she reach him, when she could sense no trace of him?
His stallion wheeled and pranced, wild and furious. The ice blue eyes glared down at her.
"I do have power over you," Rose shouted. "There's a prophecy that says I make you fall."
The Rider gave a harsh laugh. "Prophecy is notoriously fickle- vague words fitting a thousand circumstances."
"Then why'd you come after me?" Rose asked, though she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.
"Curiosity," the Rider said, carelessly. "i wanted this body - it was easily taken, yet superior to humans in almost every way. The Doctor fought me - but his rage and fury at being taken are no match for me. He fell quickly to despair and lies deep within the well of his own guilt and grief."
Rose felt her own rage rise up at the thought of the Doctor, captured by this evil being and imprisoned by his own darkest thoughts. "Let him go, you monster!" she screamed.
The beloved eyes widened mockingly. "Oh, should I be frightened? I, great Lord of the Dark, older by far than this so-called Time Lord - threatened by a girl?" He leaned forward to jeer at her in a whisper, "A girl who would not lift a finger to hurt this vessel? but who would quickly lie down for him!"
"Shut up!" Rose shouted, gritting her teeth. It was true, of course - but it wasn't sordid like he made it sound.
"Oh, how he pities you for your pathetic lusts," the Rider hissed. "But I don't!" He reached up and snatched the dark cloth away, baring the Doctor's beloved face twisted in scorn. "Your debased desires, your romantic fantasies, amuse me. 'He set her on his pacing steed,'" he recited in a singsong falsetto - "'and nothing else saw all day long - and sidelong she would turn and sing a faerie song.'"
"Keats," Rose said coldy. "But it's the knight who fades away in that story, not the lady."
"Oh," the Rider said. "Come then - to my elfin grot," he mocked. He extended his hand, gloved in black leather.
Rose's heart gave a painful twist. How many times had she entrusted herself to that hand?
Surreptitiously, beneath her cloak, she slipped one hand up to test the Tardis key. It was warm. Her instinct, too, told her not to leave the Doctor's side, till she had him safe again.
She reached up and took the hand of the Rider. Even through the heavy gauntlet, for the tiniest fragment of a moment, she could feel the Doctor's presence. Then it was gone, and the Rider was lifting her up, swinging her with inhuman strength onto the saddle before him, even as his horse leapt through the darkness with a terrifying scream.
The freezing wind whipped around her as the horse and Rider bore her at breakneck pace through the forest. Rose shut her eyes, wrapping herself as tightly in her cloak as she could, and it protected her from the cold. She got no warmth from the man behind her- the Doctor's body temperature was naturally lower any way, but the Rider may as well have been made of ice.
The stallion plunged into a dark hollow and at last stopped before the low opening of a cave.
Rose's face twisted slightly in wry amusement. The Rider hadn't been joking about the elfin grot.
He leapt easily from the horse and swung her down, paying no heed to her comfort. He kept an iron grip on one arm, even though she made no moves toward running away.
It was cold in the cave, but at least the winds did not penetrate it. The Rider strode along, dragging Rose with him. In his other hand he held aloft a flaming torch, and the glittering, crystalline walls took Rose's breath away. It was like walking into a fairyland. The Rider turned along so many confusing pathways that Rose quickly lost track. She was at his mercy now.
At last they came to a room where the cavern opened up high above. Great stalactites clung from the ceiling, and glittering crystals lined the walls. Along one edge, a placid stream flowed mirror-like, reflecting the glister of the room in its black surface.
"It's so beautiful," Rose murmured.
"Is it?" the Rider said, mildly surprised. "Hadn't noticed."
"What are you?" Rose asked. "Not human - or you couldn't have possessed the Doctor."
"Not human- no," the Rider responded. "Many beings have walked this world besides humans. Your species, I dare say, is 'the least of these.'"
Rose set her jaw and made no answer to the groundless boast. "What kind of monster are you then?" she goaded.
The Rider looked at her proudly. His eyes seemed to glitter black, though Rose had their beautiful blue stamped indelibly in her memory. "I emanated from these chthonic wastes. I came to being in the darkest strongholds of the earth - and I rose up - and I will never cease rising till the whole world is shrouded in deep, cold darkness."
"Are you a spirit?" Rose asked.
The Doctor's brow wrinkled. "Too many questions!" he boomed. "Do you lack for anything, Rose?" he asked.
It was the first time the Rider had called her by name, and she felt a pulse of heat from the key. Getting him to recognize her - weakening him so that the Doctor might cast him out - that had to be her number one priority.
"I lack a bed, food, and adequate sanitary facilities," Rose said. She and Shareen had volunteered handing out flyers once for Medecins sans Frontiers to get free concert tickets.
"Do you?" the Rider said, eyes wide in pretended shock. "So many little needs, it's so hard to keep track of them all," he complained morosely.
"You may lie wrapped in your cloak - water's there. I'll feed you when I return," the Rider said, and with a gesture, he disappeared and the room went black.
It was horrible in the complete and utter darkness - not knowing if he'd ever return, knowing she could hopelessly lose herself in the grotto's labyrinthine passageways. She closed her eyes, breathing steadily, and tried to rest in her cloak as he'd suggested, but the weight of the darkness pressed in on her eyes like a living thing. Finally the steady dripping of water from the stalactites calmed her nerves - cavern kisses - and the sweet image brought the High Wild Magic into her dozing mind - strong as the dark - or stronger.
She must have drifted off, for when she next opened her eyes, it was to find him crouching beside her on the clay floor of the cavern, watching her sleep.
"Like what you see?" she asked, sardonically.
Startled, the Rider blushed. That was a weakness, and Rose noted it.
She made a show of stretching as she sat up. Her cloak fell away, and Rose noted that the Rider couldn't tear his eyes from the bared skin of her arms and legs, revealed by her summery clothes.
She rubbed herself ostentatiously, as though to keep warm, and huddled in on herself, crossing her arms around her knees. It wasn't really warm - she'd rather have the cloak around her - but it seemed an advantage.
"So. Darkness. That all you want then? Not even, you know, 'exterminate!'"
"I come from the Darkness, and it is the Darkness I serve," the Rider said.
"He telling the truth, Doctor?" Rose asked suddenly.
"Yeah," the Rider answered, reflexively- and that was the first sign that he was still alive in there. The Rider's lip curled.
"I can take what I want, girl - you can't stop me," he snarled, his eyes burning with cold rage.
"You see something you want?" Rose asked, meeting his gaze.
His hand shot out to seize her throat as he stared at her. Rose thought of the Doctor with all her might, the love she knew they shared, though they'd never acted on it. If only she could touch his bare skin. His touch had never failed to bring comfort before.
"If I wanted you, I would take you," the Rider hissed.
"You might take me, but only the Doctor will have me!" Rose swore, staring back at him defiantly.
The Rider bared his teeth in a warrior's grin. "Empty words," he hissed, but Rose could see the lust sparkling in his eyes.
"Try me!" Rose fired back.
In one fell swoop he was upon her. His lips bore down on hers, hard and demanding, his tongue invading her mouth. Cold and cruel as he was, he still smelled like the Doctor, and he tasted of honey.
Rose groaned and she felt the Rider smile. He pulled back to stare down at her in triumph.
"Doctor," she sighed, "I love you!" She sent all her heartfelt feeling into the words, hoping they'd penetrate deep to the good man held prisoner inside his own body.
"Ahh!" the Rider shouted, reeling back, his face twisting with rage.
Rose smiled. "I know he's still in there, inside you. No matter what you do to me, it's him that I give myself to, not you."
The Rider drew back his hand and slapped her hard, right across the face.
Rose gasped in shock - but then realized, miraculously, she'd felt only the impact of the slap, but no pain, no disorientation - only a mild warmth, like the glow of a banked fire. Something - the high magic maybe? - was protecting her.
"I am Lord here!" the Rider shouted.
"Are you?" Rose purred. "Show me!"
He drew back to slap her again - and she turned the other cheek.
His eyes filled with confusion and his hand faltered. "Rose?" he whispered.
"Doctor!" Rose quickly responded. "If you love me - fight him!"
His eyes filled with anger again. "Your so-called Time Lord is no match for me!"
"But I am!" Rose challenged. "You don't even dare to touch me - hiding behind your gloves and your heavy leather. You're no man!"
He stared at her and she saw him falter. If he ran away now, she might be trapped in this cave forever, and the Doctor would be lost. She had one chance, and she took it.
"Is human love so fearsome- so much stronger than you, Rider?" she taunted. She ripped off her shirt, reaching behind herself to undo her bra, and swinging the Tardis key behind her as she did. Meeting the cruel eyes, she bared herself to him. Proudly she showed him her breasts, offering them up to him with both hands.
"If the Dark is so strong, what's the danger in taking what you want?" Rose asked. She almost felt like she was reading from one of Jackie's romance novels - but she had to speak a language the Dark Lord could not resist.
"Do it, if you can! Conquer me, if you're able!" she hissed.
Her shoulders squared, she lay back on the cloak, and lifted her hands above her head, staring into his eyes.
"Rose," he groaned, and fell upon her.
His touch was ice, even colder than the air of the cavern. He sucked one nipple into his mouth, biting, while twisting the other with fierce, gloved fingers. Rose felt a tingling heat spreading through her body, but he wasn't able to cause her any pain. And somewhere, thin but there, was a hint of the Doctor's presence, warming her, giving her strength for what she had to do. And the Tardis key was still safe around her neck, pressed hot between her shoulder blades as she lay back on the wool cloak.
Rose sang to the Doctor in her mind, even as her body reacted to the Dark Lord's touch. If only he would lay bare hands upon her - she knew she could connect with the Doctor to bring him back.
"Is that it?" Rose gasped. "You must really fear me!"
"I fear nothing!" he roared. His face was a mask of fury. Truly, he looked nothing like the Doctor at that moment - but Rose knew the Doctor was still in there.
"You do!" Rose shouted back. "And you're right to! You can't even touch me skin to skin!"
Digging deep for every ounce of her determination, Rose tore open her shorts and pushed them down.
Rose saw his nostrils twitch as the scent of her sex rose up. Doctor, Doctor, she called in her mind, make love to me - don't let him win - I love you - please, come back to me!
"Whore," the Rider hissed, his evil grin baring all his teeth, hurling the most hurtful words at her that he could dredge up from the darkness. "Slut. Are you so desperate for a fucking? Is your cunt so empty?"
"You can fuck my cunt if you like - it's nothing to me, Rider," Rose said, seizing back the power from his words. She'd heard worse, growing up on the Estate. "I'm sure I've had better. It's the Doctor I care about, the Doctor I love. Fuck me," Rose shouted with disdain, "like the animal you are, Dark Lord! and it'll only prove how much stronger human love is than you!"
Then Rose reached up and grabbed the Rider by the shoulders, pulling him down upon her. She kissed him savagely, returning bite for bite and claw for claw, all the while chanting the Doctor's name like a mantra in her head.
The Rider was worse than an animal. She knew that he would have torn her apart if he could, brutally unleashing himself upon her. But nothing he did could mark her - the golden warmth she could feel inside herself protected her - so she let the Dark thing try his worst, all the while trusting that her own dear Doctor would soon find strength to rise up and throw the Rider off.
Finally she felt the Rider soften - just for an instant.
"Take me, Doctor!" Rose pled into the Rider's ear. "Take me now, I beg you -body, mind and soul - freely given to you, my Doctor!"
"Given in vain," the Rider swore, but Rose could hear the strain in his voice. At last he pulled off the heavy gauntlets, threw them down, and pushed down his tight leather trousers.
In one thrust he was inside her like ice. A swirling cloud of cold mist seemed to darken her mind, and the laughter of the Rider echoed through her head.
"It's hot inside you, little slut," he sneered. "What a merry ride!"
The feel of the monster inside her mind was horrible, like a noxious spreading mist creeping poisonous into a closed room. Rose shrank away from him in disgust, but before despair could pull her down, she felt the Doctor's beloved presence gently enter her mind.
"Rose?" he called, uncertain.
"Doctor!" she answered. Her mind seemed to hear the beloved tones of his sweet voice, and instantly, the golden power from deep inside her rose up joyfully to meet him. "Oh, Doctor - come to me!"
"So dark, so cold," she heard him respond, but he was already getting stronger.
"Come to my light, love!" she cried, and she felt him rush to her like the warm breeze before a summer storm.
With a sensation like the chiming of bells, Rose felt the Doctor's presence slip into sympathy against hers. Their spirits seemed to shiver in delight as they touched, the rightness of their holy union filling Rose with glorious, delirious happiness. Their joy grew and spread and Rose felt her awareness flowing back with the Doctor into his own body, effortlessly pushing aside the Dark Rider, knocking the evil spirit loose from his hold on the Doctor's mind.
The Doctor's body froze, paralyzed, as the Rider realized his defeat.
From deep within Rose came a high, wild song - the cry of a wolf, or hundreds of wolves, all baying to give chase to the Dark spirit.
"No!" he screamed - and with a howling of his own, like a cold winter's wind, he tore free of the Doctor's mind and fled, a thousand golden-eyed wolves in hot pursuit.
The Rider was gone, and Rose and the Doctor were locked in an intimate embrace.
Rose beamed up at the Doctor, full of happiness and triumph.
He couldn't help but smile back, though Rose could see the blush staining his fair complexion even in the dim torchlight of the cavern. "Are you all right?" he whispered.
"Course," she whispered back. "Couldn't you hear me calling for you?"
"I thought - I thought so," he stammered.
"Then take me, love," she said.
It was her beloved Doctor who tentatively, chastely tasted her lips - and then, with a growl all his own, he laid claim to her mouth, driving away any lingering traces of darkness, moving sweetly inside her body and mind as they danced in a warm embrace.
The shimmering crystals of the cavern seemed to blur into golden light, and with a dizzying turn, the Doctor and Rose found themselves on a soft bed of moss, warm summer air caressing their naked skin, sunlight beaming down through the lacy treetops.
Laughing, loving, they mingled body and spirit in joy at the Doctor's rising, and the falling away of the Dark.
On the day of the dead when the year too dies
must bloom fairest rose in dead winter's embrace:
icy heart must thaw, time's storm must rise,
the lost will be found as the wolf joins the chase,
so the Rider will fall, darkness lifted by grace.