Fic: Laughing at Stars 3/?
Title: Laughing at Stars, Part 1, 3/5
Author: glory-jean
Character/Pairing: Ten/Rose
Rating: Adult
Setting: S2 post AoS
Summary:This is the Doctor and Rose's journey together as they grow from friendship to something more. Can they overcome their separate fears to find a common ground?
Beta Team: achuislemochroiannissaghidden_n_hotmilievaoobiemcrubyroyalladyemma
Disclaimer: Based on characters owned and created by BBC. No infringement intended.
Prompt: prompt:never-ever-will prompt 8 pic 9
Notes: Written for journeystory Quotes from The Little Prince/Le Petit Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Beautiful cover and chapter art by moodilylit
Note: if you have a light background format, click "view in in original" to see artwork.
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Prologue
Chapter 1: The Prince and the Rose
When a mystery is too overpowering, one dare not disobey...
The Doctor wondered whether he had finally lost his mind. He could not stop watching Rose. Her remarkable statement the other evening had left him confused and spellbound while she seemed to have not even fully realised what she had said and done. She was just... Rose. As she had always been. Well, almost. Approximately. Actually, he was worried about that as well. She was not quite herself. She was... diminished. As if Prometheus had come and stolen some of her fire. And Rose without her fiery, Tyler, Rose-ishness (and clearly he had run out of adjectives here) was just wrong.
He belatedly realized he had been staring at her the entire time he had been pondering the mystery of Rose Tyler. He didn't think she had noticed, thankfully. Or, if she had, she hadn't said anything to him about it. The fact that he couldn't stop his eyes from fixing on her as she trudged tiredly ahead of him despite their current circumstances said a lot about his current mental state. His earlier distraction had led him to forget about some small but important details regarding this planet. One or two tiny - well, okay moderate - violations of social mores had managed to annoy the locals greatly.
"Oh, come on! Surely this isn't necessary, is it?"
The magistrate's glare suggested otherwise but nothing ventured, nothing gained after all.
"What if we, Rose and I, give a sincere, heartfelt apology, and you lot... forgive and forget? We depart immediately in our, um, space ship, never to darken your door again. You know what they say about holding a grudge, don't you?"
If anything, the magistrate's glower intensified.
"No? 'Holding a grudge is like letting someone live rent-free in your head.' And you wouldn't want that-" It was around then Rose's elbow delivered a fairly sharp blow to his side.
"No?" he murmured in an undertone. "It occurs to me that I'm not sure if 'they' actually say that or if I just made it up."
"I think you just made it worse, Doctor."
Indeed, when he'd looked up again the magistrate's eyes were starting to cross - never a good sign with this species.
Another day, another arrest and conviction. At least they were a non-violent race. Most of the time. They did lean toward inventive punishments, though. Certainly, a forced march under armed guard up a steep hillside to a prison they were meant to escape from didn't happen every day. But no matter how creative this sentence was turning out, the mystery that was Rose pushed all other thoughts to the wayside.
He pondered ways to con her into the med bay to run a few - dozen - tests on her without worrying her, but each new plan seemed more unlikely than last.
At last they reached a rocky outcropping and the road ended abruptly. Rose glanced over at him for the first time that afternoon then turned back to stare at a wall of rock interrupted only by the forbidding door carved into it. It seemed they had arrived.
It had been one of those days with the Doctor.
Rose sighed and tried to smooth her sweaty hair away from her face. If they were going to be stranded in a deep, dark cave, would it have killed them to think of a better way of getting there than a hot, dusty hike up a hillside? She cast a quick glance at the Doctor just in time to see his eyes dart away like a skittish colt. Probably afraid of being shouted at, she smirked slightly to herself. Not that he didn't completely deserve to be, of course.
It had really been one of those days. First, they'd landed in the wrong century and on a completely different planet than the one the Doctor had promised. No matter, he'd said. This planet had plenty offer as well. Then, the Doctor proceeded to quickly offend the local magistrate so now they were to be cast into the Cave of the Three ChallengesTM. (Apparently copyright law was a Big Deal here, capital ‘B’, capital ‘D’.) Personally, Rose felt anything with such a melodramatic name couldn't be for real and the Doctor - having seen the local tech - had assured her it was nothing more than a high-tech light show designed to terrorise offenders.
Once the entrance was sealed behind them, he brandished the sonic like a talisman and waggled his eyebrows at her.
"Come on then. Let's see what this Cave of the Three ChallengesTM," he intoned melodramatically, "is all about."
They moved forward, passing through what could be called the cave’s anteroom. Leading off it was a single passageway. The narrow, winding path was lit with artificial lights and the air smelled of the singed dust that danced in their glow. Rose was thankful for the light; the sonic wouldn't be much use as a torch here.
Up ahead, a low, rumbling sound was building in volume as they neared it. Soon the high pitched whirring of machinery joined in. Rose shuddered; it sounded like just like...
Just then they turned a corner and saw it. The path ahead was obstructed by an assortment of blades and grasping mechanical appendages. It would have been laughably over-the-top were it not for the evil glimmer of razor-sharp metal and the accompanying metallic whine. But beyond that, Rose shivered for another reason entirely. It was uncomfortably reminiscent of the cyber-factory that still haunted the dark edges of her dreams. Even now that it was long over, even after clinging tightly to her mum - her real mum - she couldn't entirely banish the horror of that unfeeling metal voice declaring itself to be Jackie Tyler.
The Doctor glanced at her stricken face where she stood frozen beside him. "No worries here, Rose," he assured her. "It's all for show."
He aimed the sonic at the machinery and, with a loud pop and a flash of sparking light, the whole thing shorted out. The arms and blades dropped and continued to spark and jerk with little whines of protest. He slipped his hand into hers and began to lead her down the narrow corridor, past the broken machinery. The disabled arms made sounds like angry wasps searching for someone to teach a lesson to as Rose and the Doctor passed by them. Her breath became ragged in her chest and she hoped that the Doctor couldn't hear her being so silly about this.
Rose jumped as a shower of sparks flashed briefly just ahead. The Doctor wordlessly pulled her in, sliding his arm around shoulder and tucking her into his side. Once they cleared the corridor, he paused and turned her to face him.
"All better now?" he asked as he crushed her into a quick hug.
Forcing her breathing back into a normal rhythm, Rose nodded and tried to smile, but she feared it came out as more of a grimace.
The Doctor stared at the back of Rose's head in concern. She was still trembling after the first challenge, despite the fact that they had been standing in the empty chamber just beyond for several minutes now. He had paused here, claiming the need to think, to give her time to calm. Her terror was completely out of proportion to the situation: something was amiss with her. He was torn between the desire to ask her what was wrong and pressing need to get out of here.
What if talking about it only upset her more, he pondered, unhappily. Now was not the time for that. No, he decided, better to have it out in the safety and relative calm of the TARDIS.
"So onward then?" he asked her cheerfully. He hoped his apparent mood shift would be as contagious as it tended to be for her.
"Already?" she responded with uncharacteristic uncertainly. "You work things out then?"
"Well, as much as I can. Might as well get moving."
She nodded and came to stand at his side, watching him carefully.
"Rose," he began.
"Yes?" she asked quietly beginning to rub at her fingernails in a classic sign of Rose distress.
"Are you - Is everything -" he stopped and just looked at her.
"Doctor?"
"Is there anything you need to tell me, Rose?"
A panicked look flickered briefly over her face. But then she assumed a puzzled look and shrugged. "Like what?"
He rubbed at the back of his neck in mild frustration. "Like... anything. Like... 'this is another fine mess you've gotten me into, Doctor.'"
At last he was rewarded with a small smile. "Well, I would have thought that was obvious."
He sniffed. "Occasionally minor details escape even me."
"No, not gonna even touch the 'minor' part but 'occasionally'? How about the London Eye, larger than life? Oh, and last week on..."
"Oi! Watch it there, someone might think you doubt my stunning intellect."
Rose smirked and moved closer. "Oh, we couldn't have that now."
Suddenly drawn in, he moved to close more of the non-existent distance between them and took her hand. He was lost in contemplation of the golden flecks in her eyes, when she squeezed his hand.
"So we were going, then?"
He shook himself. "Yes, right. Allons-y!"
Rose grinned a Genuine Rose GrinTM (all too rare recently) and tugged on his hand.
Well, that had worked brilliantly. She was Rose again, fears vanquished for the moment. He couldn't have planned that better, (which he had of course). Thoroughly pleased with himself, he grinned and laced their fingers together. Ready for anything, they walked through the next corridor. When the next chamber opened up before them, they were confronted with a yawning chasm without a visible bottom. It divided the cavern neatly in two. The path to the exit stretched away invitingly on the far side. All too far away.
Rose was once again looking at him with wide, fearful eyes, her earlier bravado melted away like ice.
Rose regarded the gap in front of her with a sinking heart. The walls of the chasm pitched downward at a dizzying angle and vanished into a sea of blackness. The bottom could have been inches or miles away, but there was no way of knowing.
The Doctor looked at it speculatively. Then his sharp eyes scanned the chamber.
"I think... We can jump over it."
She stared at him. "Are you serious?"
"When do I joke about these things, Rose?" He regarded her with a small smile. "Come on, what can't we do? Sir Doctor of TARDIS and Dame Rose - fairy tale heroes of legend."
"Isn't this all a little Indiana Jones?"
He looked at her quizzically.
"You know the movie? Holy Grail - leap of faith - all that?"
He sighed. "Rose, if I listed for you all the cultures who have myths and stories including the leap of faith motif, it would make your head spin."
She frowned at him and looked uncertainly at the blackness below.
"Come on, Rose. Don't you trust me?"
Now he was playing dirty and her shoulders slumped in defeat. He grinned in cheeky triumph.
At the count of three, Rose shut her eyes tightly, gripped the Doctor's hand tightly and jumped.
Her feet landed securely with a crunch of gravel and she opened her eyes. They were standing well on the other side of the chasm.
"Ha!" the Doctor crowed. "I knew it! If you look just there," he pointed at something she couldn't see on the rock wall, "you will see..." He drifted off as he rummaged in his pockets for a moment and produced a cricket ball. "Watch!" With deadly aim, he threw the ball hard at that unseen point and a sharp popping noise filled the air as it struck.
He turned her around and she saw the chasm was gone. The cave floor was now unbroken and solid all the way through.
"What - How- " she stammered in shock.
"A hologram."
"And you knew?"
He rubbed his neck sheepishly. "I was pretty sure, yes. When we were standing there, I noticed a slight deviation in the image, what seemed to be a flicker every 22.75 seconds."
"22.75?"
"Wellll, I'm rounding up a bit."
Rose stared at him. "A hologram?"
"Yes?" he answered, carefully.
"And you didn't think to mention this?"
"Oh. Sorry."
"I'll show you sorry, you right-"
"Rose Tyler," he interrupted, eyes wide with exaggerated horror.
Rose subsided and sighed. "Just been a really long day, Doctor."
He wrapped her in a warm hug. She was annoyed by how the comforting gesture made her want to forgive him immediately.
He pulled back slightly and looked into her eyes. "But why worry now? Two down, one to go; we'll be out in no time."
Rose winced. "Oh, good job jinxing us there. You might as well have said 'what could possibly go wrong?'"
"Oh, Rose. You can't be that superstitious."
The Doctor was starting to rethink Rose's superstitions. There was definitely something off about this section of the cave. It was as if there was a living presence in the rock itself. He buried his unease deeply, so not to alarm Rose. She'd been on edge enough without his adding to her worries.
As they crossed into a new chamber a mist began to rise around them.
"Well, that's not creepy or anything," Rose grumbled.
The Doctor fought back a small grin. "Stay close."
Within moments all sense of direction was lost. Sound and sight were both obscured.
Rose gasped. "Doctor, do you see that?"
He squinted where she pointed, but there was only the mist. He opened his mouth to tell her that but she abruptly pulled her hand out of his.
"No, wait!" she called and rushed forward. A swirl of mist instantly shrouded her.
"Rose, no!" But she was gone. The mist effectively separated him from her and whatever phantom she was chasing.
He hurtled recklessly after her, but she was simply not there. In seconds, she had completely vanished. Then the mist seemed to clear ahead and he made out a figure lying on the ground. It was Rose, her body sprawled at an unnatural angle. He ran toward her, denial on his lips, but when he reached the spot where she lay, the mist had swirled back in. He dropped to his knees, frantically feeling for her. But there was nothing.
A movement from the corner of his eye had him swinging around. He was in a foggy London back alley. Not a modern London but a London when coal smoke choked the air and blackened the buildings. And there was Rose, looking at him with infinite sadness. Then she turned and moved back into the whiteness. He gave chase in an instant, moving through impossibly winding alleys but there was no sign of her. He called out her name but the sound refused to carry.
Panic began to eat at his rationality as his calm abandoned him. He fought the urge to run blindly through the barely visible streets. He needed to get a hold of himself. So he did what he always did when facing his greatest fears. He stopped. He made himself stand in place and think.
What was going on here? Clearly, they had not left the cave. The air movements suggested a very large space, but it was still an interior space. The air smelled of moisture and rock, not the dank, foul streets of an industrial London. Believing his eyes was clearly folly, but he was finding it so hard not to believe. Oh. Why was that exactly? This was so obviously impossible, unless... Of course! Oh, he was thick, so thick. Everything up until now had been largely psychological terrors, things aimed at unnerving and demoralizing. The obvious escalation was a true psychological terror, accessing the greatest fears of the prisoner.
The Doctor dropped to the floor and ran his tongue over the surface in a long swath. He sat very still as he analysed for a moment. Standard mineral dust, igneous rock fragments, traces of sodium chloride, and- oh, hello. Now there was an interesting chemical compound. Unless he was mistaken - and he very rarely was - that was definitely a psychotropic compound he was tasting. Oh, very clever. So, getting past the first two challenges was the easy part. Get past those garden variety fears and find this; the horrors of your own mind, via a nice little chemical distributed in the mist and adsorbed through the skin until you were left chasing images conjured from your own deep-seated fears.
Well, then.
He could control his fear now that he knew to ignore the disturbing images. But Rose was another matter.
She was lost. It was dark, so dark. Where was the Doctor? She'd run off because she thought she'd seen... something. What had she seen? Her head was swimming and she could scarcely tell what was happening around her.
"Doctor?" she called.
Suddenly, her vision cleared and the path in front of her lightened. Incredibly, just in front of her stood the TARDIS. She ran to it, pulling out her key and jiggling it in the lock. It refused to turn. She pulled it out, thinking she had it upside down. But before she could fit it back into the lock, the TARDIS began to wheeze and the air around her swirl.
"No, wait!" she cried, pounding at the doors. But they faded under her hands and she was left reaching for air.
Then something worse than the silence reached her ears. The sounds of metal, marching feet. Cybermen! And there was no place she could see to run. She was alone, surrounded by the metal monsters that killed her mum, and the Doctor had left her.
But he wouldn't do that, part of her railed. He'd promised. He...
The sounds stopped abruptly. She looked up and found that she was in the centre of a dark, narrow gorge with sides that stretched impossibly high. One direction vanished into the darkness while at the other end, a small point of light was visible. She sighed and began to move toward the light. As she neared it, she realized it was a puddle of light cast by a lone street lamp set incongruously into the stone. She stood at the edge of the light and nibbled her lip nervously. Everything about this said "trap." After a moment or two of indecision, Rose shrugged. Oh, well; better to just get on with it. She set one foot in the light.
Immediately, the sound of metal footsteps assaulted her ears as a lone figure stepped into the light from the other side.
"Rose Tyler," it announced in its mechanical voice, "you will be upgraded. You will be like us."
"Yeah, don't think so," Rose answered, trying to move back into the shadows only to find her foot would not move.
"I was Jacqueline Tyler. You will be upgraded."
"No!" Rose shouted. Not again; not her mum!
Heedless, the Cyberman continued walking toward her. "You will be upgraded."
Rose was sobbing now as she struggled against the invisible force that held her in place. "Doctor!"
Suddenly the Doctor's head jerked up. Rose's voice was screaming his name, but he wasn't hearing it, he was feeling it, echoing in a region of his mind that should be for ever silent.
He moved forward but his eyes were still deceiving him; all he could see was a city that did not exist in this place and time. All right then, if the senses were untrustworthy, then it was time for a little leap of faith of his own. He shut his eyes and reached for that fearful voice. It was difficult navigating though the morass of emotion but he at last caught hold of the sunny yellow thread of consciousness that was pure Rose. Then, eyes still tightly shut, he set off in search of her.
The itch to open his eyes and succumb to the airborne chemicals ate at him, but he stubbornly focussed on the pulse in his head, following it like a beacon.
Eventually he found her, her body pressed into an alcove very near the cave's exit. She was shaking and incoherent by the time he reached her. Her skin was damp and a quick swipe across her wrist with his sensitive tongue confirmed the moisture was heavily laden with the compound. It was cruelly logical: the closer you got to the exit, the stronger the concentration of the drug dispersed in the mist. Lifting Rose in his arms, he sonicked the door and kicked it open angrily. Once outside, he laid her down and set the sonic for a medical scan. She seemed to be having an adverse reaction to the compound. She had lost all coherencecy and her body was shifting fretfully where she lay.
He looked around anxiously and spotted their jailers coming toward them. "She needs medical attention immediately! She is having a bad reaction to your ludicrous drug."
The jailer looked at Rose with undisguised disinterest. "She is your species," he replied in the clicks of his language. "You take care of her."
The Doctor grabbed at his hair in irritation. "She's not... never mind. Incidentally, how am I supposed to help her out here, exactly? Can you conjure up the medications I need?"
The jailer gave him a blank look.
"I hope you have transportation out of here; because, if anything happens to her, you'll wish you never set eyes on us."
Something in his tone must have done the trick, because the jailer was suddenly signalling to his companions and moments later they were radioing for an airlift.
The Doctor dropped back down beside Rose and gathered her in his arms. She turned her face to his chest and sighed, her restless flailing subsiding a bit.
"Hold on, Rose," he murmured into her hair, "everything will be fine."
Even as he said it, he was unsure as to whether he was trying to reassure her or himself.
Chapter 3