Where Are You Roaming? (15/25)
Author: lorelaisquared
Titile: Where Are You Roaming?
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word Count: 2043
Characters: Rose, Donna, Ten, Viola (OC)
Pairings: Rose/TenII, Rose/Ten
Summary: Sequel to What’s To Come is Still Unsure. Rose and Viola struggle to adjust to being in Rose’s original universe while the Doctor deals with the ramifications of his actions at "Bowie Base One" on Mars.
Rating: PG
Beta(s): meremoon
Author’s Note: Special thanks to my beta, meremoon for her invaluable feedback. Also a huge thank you to rumpelsnorcack for her constant support and cheerleading. A quick shout out to earlgreytea68 for periodically letting me bounce ideas off of her.
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Jack was pensive as he watched the Doctor lay Rose reverently on the captain's chair of the TARDIS before somberly powering up the engines in preparation for their upcoming journey.
Although a part of him had been shocked to discover that the Doctor had recently acted recklessly, another part of him was mentally kicking himself for not having seen this coming. When he had discovered the truth about Donna he should have gone looking for the Doctor, should have made sure he was all right. He was certain the Doctor had blamed himself for everything and that the guilt had likely eaten away at him until he was no longer thinking clearly. Jack still wasn't entirely positive what exactly the Doctor had done beyond removing Rose from her proper timeline but it must have been bad for the Time Lords to be getting involved.
The TARDIS jerked to a stop and Jack lost his grip on the Master as he grappled for something to hold onto to avoid falling. The Master, who had kept his balance perfectly, took advantage of his sudden freedom by dashing toward the exit, but Viola acted quickly and beat him to the door, blocking his way as she glared at him scathingly.
The Doctor ignored them and knelt beside Rose. Jack watched as he touched her gently on the cheek and whispered her name. Rose moaned and opened her eyes. The Doctor leaned forward and whispered something into her ear which Jack couldn’t hear and Rose nodded, slowly rising and coming to stand beside him.
The Doctor took her hand then addressed Jack. “I need to do this alone. Stay here with the Master and Viola?”
Jack nodded. “Of course.”
“Thanks. I won’t be long.”
As the Doctor guided Rose down the ramp and out the door, Viola tugged the reluctant and scowling Master up to the captain’s chair. “Sit,” she ordered.
“You really expect me to take orders from a little girl?” the Master asked bitterly starting to stand. “You are out of your league, darling.”
Viola lifted some grating and procured some rope. She glared at him. “I’m not little.”
She tossed the rope to Jack and he quickly secured the Master’s arms and legs before he could go anywhere.
“How am I supposed to help you if I’m all tied up?” The Master asked.
Jack ignored him and focused instead on the door to the TARDIS where the Doctor had just re-emerged.
“That was quick.”
The Doctor’s lips were drawn tightly and he looked strained, as though he was trying to control his emotions.
“It’s done.” He walked to the console and methodically turned some dials and punched some buttons. “We need to --- ”
There was a sudden burst of white light that filled the room and the TARDIS began to shudder so violently that debris started to rain down upon them. A scream filled the air as the shaking stopped and the light faded as abruptly as it had come.
Jack blinked, unable to believe his eyes. Viola was gone, and a large glowing crack shaped like an upside down smile was in her place.
*~*~*~*~*
“Viola!” The Doctor sprinted to the crack, reaching toward it without thought, as though it would somehow bring the child back.
“Doctor, no, don't touch it!” Jack was right behind him, gripping him around the waist pulling him away from the crack even as the Doctor fought him, flailing his arms, trying desperately to reach out to where Viola had been.
“I have to get to her, I have to get her back.” He knew the thought wasn't rational, but the instant she'd vanished and the crack had appeared in her place he'd known she wasn't just going to blink back into existence this time. He'd seen this crack in her mind and the fact that it was now here, in his TARDIS and growing with each passing second meant that Viola was either gone for good or in very grave danger.
“Doctor,” Jack was saying calmly. “You won't be able to fix any of this if you don't think it through. We don't really know what the crack is, or what will happen to you if you touch it. We can't risk making things worse. We've only got two and a half hours left.”
The Doctor stopped struggling. Jack was right. He was useless to Viola like this. And Rose. And Donna. And the universe. What was wrong with him? The whole universe was at stake and he was panicking. He never panicked. When had that happened? When had he started putting his own selfish needs above all else? When had he become this mess of a Time Lord that he didn't recognize?
He'd made a shambles of things already and it had to stop. He was out of control, he admitted to himself. Somewhere along the way, without knowing it, he'd become the threat instead of the hero and he hated himself for it.
“Oh, quit your self loathing.” The Master spat. “It's so tiresome. You blame yourself - we get it! Now get over it!”
The Doctor glared at him. “Fine.” He pulled away from Jack, who had loosened his grasp now that he wasn't worried the Doctor would throw himself into the crack. “Let's find out what we're dealing with then.”
The sonic screwdriver made an abnormally high pitched sound as he aimed it at the crack and after precisely eleven seconds it began to spark, causing Jack and the Doctor to jump back. When the excitement stopped, the Doctor inserted the screwdriver into the console and a series of readings came up on the screen, moving from bottom to top in rapid succession.
The results of the scan were dire - the crack contained more energy that ten thousand nuclear power plants and it was using that energy to absorb reality, and by extension, time. This crack was at the root of the chaos, and the Doctor knew that he'd have to seal it somehow to stop it from absorbing the universe. The question was how.
A piercing ring broke through his thoughts and he glanced up to see Jack on the phone.
“They what? Woah, wait, Gwen, slow down...” He was frowning. Bad news then.
Jack listened to the caller for a few seconds, his brow furrowing further and further as time passed. “I'll be there as fast as I can.”
“Trouble in paradise?” The Master jeered from the captain's chair.
“Something like that.” Jack looked at the crack, then met the Doctor's gaze. “There's been a drastic increase in unusual and alien activity at the rift in the past few hours. My team needs me...”
The Doctor nodded. “Go. It's okay.”
“You're sure?”
The Doctor sighed and grabbed the wrist that Jack kept his broken vortex manipulator on. He zapped it with the sonic screwdriver, ensuring it was set to the correct frequency so it would work. “I'm sure.”
“Okay.” Jack placed his other hand over the manipulator so that it was hovering just above the button. “Oh, and Doctor?”
The Doctor raised his eyebrows quizzically.
“Don't do anything stupid.” There was a zap and a brief flash of light and then Jack was gone.
*~*~*~*~*
The Master watched with relative disinterest as the Doctor gaped at the space where Jack had just been.
When the Doctor failed to move at all, the Master sighed.
“As much as I hate to break up your goodbye to loverboy, can we just get this over with? I have better things to do, you know.”
The Doctor spun around, his eyes filled with fire and ice and rage. The Master grinned. He took particular pleasure from seeing the Doctor lose control like this.
“You have better things to do?” he spat, approaching the Master. “The universe is about to end and all you can say is you have better things to do? How dare you be so selfish!”
The Master scoffed. “Me?” he laughed. “You’re calling me selfish? Oh, that’s rich considering what you’ve just done. I never thought I’d see the day when you would break the rules.”
“You have no right to judge me.”
“Don’t I? Oh, wait. That’s right, you’re the only one who’s allowed to pass judgment on people. Mr. High and mighty, always knowing what’s best for everyone else. Well guess what?” The Master leaned forward, grinning maniacally as he practically spat his next words in the Doctor’s face. “You messed up.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you not realize that it’s eating me up inside? Everything I love in the universe is in danger. The woman I love most of all.”
“Oh my god. Don’t you ever shut up?” The Master rolled his eyes. “Everything with you is always drama, drama, drama. You are NOT the only one with problems you know.”
“Right now, my problem is everyone’s problem, because if we don’t figure out what to do about that - “ he pointed at the crack without looking at it. “We’re all doomed.”
“Must you always be so dramatic? I’m sure those old fuddy duddys were exaggerating.”
The Doctor sighed dramatically, tugging impatiently at his hair. “You are impossible!”
“You are an idi-“ The Master stopped as a flood of light suddenly began to pour out of the crack, spreading quickly throughout the room, like a thick mist that surrounds a waterfall.
The light began to morph and take form, first as indistinct shapes and then as more distinct figures resembling earth animals and other beings within the universe.
And then, before either the Master or the Doctor could even process what was happening, the creatures descended upon them, now fully formed and clearly displeased. The Master suddenly found himself being attacked by what appeared to be a massive grizzly bear whilst the Doctor was waving his sonic uselessly in the face of a two headed dog-from the planet Enob.
“Do you still think I was being overdramatic?” The Doctor grunted out while he wrestled with the dog.
Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being right, the Master effortlessly stunned the bear with his laser screwdriver and stood over the Doctor. “What I think,” he said, glowering at the Doctor, “Is that you fight like a girl.” He lowered a fist over each of the dog’s heads, knocking it out cold.
“I had that,” the Doctor grumbled as he crawled out from beneath the large beast and brushed himself off.
“Sure you did,” the Master sneered.
The Doctor glared at him. “I did.”
“Oh, quit your whining and tell me what we’re going to do about those.” More beings were emerging from the light and advancing upon them. “Or are you just going to let me do the dirty work?”
“Hush, let me think.” The Doctor was looking from the rapidly widening crack to the army of creatures. “Fighting them off isn’t going to be enough, we have to figure out how to stop them from coming in the first place.”
“Can’t you just seal the crack?”
“If it was that easy don’t you think I’d have done that by now?” The Doctor began to pace, tugging on his hideous mop of hair. “Think, think, think. We know that the paradoxes I accidentally - “
The Master scoffed.
“-created have caused a collapse in the walls between universes and times, and it’s all connected to that crack which appeared here after Viola vanished. And, if I’m correct, and I think I am - ”
Another snort.
“- this crack, is the same crack that I saw in Viola’s mind, which means, it was partially created by Time Lord energy.” The Doctor stopped moving and snapped his fingers. “I know how to stop this.”
The Master casually stunned three new aliens that were coming toward him. “Care to share with the rest of the class?”
The Doctor rushed toward the crack. “Time Lord energy.” He paused to look at the Master. “It’s the only way.”
With that he dove into the crack. There was a thunderous crash that shook the TARDIS and a massive flash of light and then the crack, the light, the creatures and the Doctor vanished leaving the Master alone in the eerily silent ship.
*~*~*~*~*
TBC
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter
Titile: Where Are You Roaming?
Fandom: Doctor Who
Word Count: 2043
Characters: Rose, Donna, Ten, Viola (OC)
Pairings: Rose/TenII, Rose/Ten
Summary: Sequel to What’s To Come is Still Unsure. Rose and Viola struggle to adjust to being in Rose’s original universe while the Doctor deals with the ramifications of his actions at "Bowie Base One" on Mars.
Rating: PG
Beta(s): meremoon
Author’s Note: Special thanks to my beta, meremoon for her invaluable feedback. Also a huge thank you to rumpelsnorcack for her constant support and cheerleading. A quick shout out to earlgreytea68 for periodically letting me bounce ideas off of her.
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Jack was pensive as he watched the Doctor lay Rose reverently on the captain's chair of the TARDIS before somberly powering up the engines in preparation for their upcoming journey.
Although a part of him had been shocked to discover that the Doctor had recently acted recklessly, another part of him was mentally kicking himself for not having seen this coming. When he had discovered the truth about Donna he should have gone looking for the Doctor, should have made sure he was all right. He was certain the Doctor had blamed himself for everything and that the guilt had likely eaten away at him until he was no longer thinking clearly. Jack still wasn't entirely positive what exactly the Doctor had done beyond removing Rose from her proper timeline but it must have been bad for the Time Lords to be getting involved.
The TARDIS jerked to a stop and Jack lost his grip on the Master as he grappled for something to hold onto to avoid falling. The Master, who had kept his balance perfectly, took advantage of his sudden freedom by dashing toward the exit, but Viola acted quickly and beat him to the door, blocking his way as she glared at him scathingly.
The Doctor ignored them and knelt beside Rose. Jack watched as he touched her gently on the cheek and whispered her name. Rose moaned and opened her eyes. The Doctor leaned forward and whispered something into her ear which Jack couldn’t hear and Rose nodded, slowly rising and coming to stand beside him.
The Doctor took her hand then addressed Jack. “I need to do this alone. Stay here with the Master and Viola?”
Jack nodded. “Of course.”
“Thanks. I won’t be long.”
As the Doctor guided Rose down the ramp and out the door, Viola tugged the reluctant and scowling Master up to the captain’s chair. “Sit,” she ordered.
“You really expect me to take orders from a little girl?” the Master asked bitterly starting to stand. “You are out of your league, darling.”
Viola lifted some grating and procured some rope. She glared at him. “I’m not little.”
She tossed the rope to Jack and he quickly secured the Master’s arms and legs before he could go anywhere.
“How am I supposed to help you if I’m all tied up?” The Master asked.
Jack ignored him and focused instead on the door to the TARDIS where the Doctor had just re-emerged.
“That was quick.”
The Doctor’s lips were drawn tightly and he looked strained, as though he was trying to control his emotions.
“It’s done.” He walked to the console and methodically turned some dials and punched some buttons. “We need to --- ”
There was a sudden burst of white light that filled the room and the TARDIS began to shudder so violently that debris started to rain down upon them. A scream filled the air as the shaking stopped and the light faded as abruptly as it had come.
Jack blinked, unable to believe his eyes. Viola was gone, and a large glowing crack shaped like an upside down smile was in her place.
*~*~*~*~*
“Viola!” The Doctor sprinted to the crack, reaching toward it without thought, as though it would somehow bring the child back.
“Doctor, no, don't touch it!” Jack was right behind him, gripping him around the waist pulling him away from the crack even as the Doctor fought him, flailing his arms, trying desperately to reach out to where Viola had been.
“I have to get to her, I have to get her back.” He knew the thought wasn't rational, but the instant she'd vanished and the crack had appeared in her place he'd known she wasn't just going to blink back into existence this time. He'd seen this crack in her mind and the fact that it was now here, in his TARDIS and growing with each passing second meant that Viola was either gone for good or in very grave danger.
“Doctor,” Jack was saying calmly. “You won't be able to fix any of this if you don't think it through. We don't really know what the crack is, or what will happen to you if you touch it. We can't risk making things worse. We've only got two and a half hours left.”
The Doctor stopped struggling. Jack was right. He was useless to Viola like this. And Rose. And Donna. And the universe. What was wrong with him? The whole universe was at stake and he was panicking. He never panicked. When had that happened? When had he started putting his own selfish needs above all else? When had he become this mess of a Time Lord that he didn't recognize?
He'd made a shambles of things already and it had to stop. He was out of control, he admitted to himself. Somewhere along the way, without knowing it, he'd become the threat instead of the hero and he hated himself for it.
“Oh, quit your self loathing.” The Master spat. “It's so tiresome. You blame yourself - we get it! Now get over it!”
The Doctor glared at him. “Fine.” He pulled away from Jack, who had loosened his grasp now that he wasn't worried the Doctor would throw himself into the crack. “Let's find out what we're dealing with then.”
The sonic screwdriver made an abnormally high pitched sound as he aimed it at the crack and after precisely eleven seconds it began to spark, causing Jack and the Doctor to jump back. When the excitement stopped, the Doctor inserted the screwdriver into the console and a series of readings came up on the screen, moving from bottom to top in rapid succession.
The results of the scan were dire - the crack contained more energy that ten thousand nuclear power plants and it was using that energy to absorb reality, and by extension, time. This crack was at the root of the chaos, and the Doctor knew that he'd have to seal it somehow to stop it from absorbing the universe. The question was how.
A piercing ring broke through his thoughts and he glanced up to see Jack on the phone.
“They what? Woah, wait, Gwen, slow down...” He was frowning. Bad news then.
Jack listened to the caller for a few seconds, his brow furrowing further and further as time passed. “I'll be there as fast as I can.”
“Trouble in paradise?” The Master jeered from the captain's chair.
“Something like that.” Jack looked at the crack, then met the Doctor's gaze. “There's been a drastic increase in unusual and alien activity at the rift in the past few hours. My team needs me...”
The Doctor nodded. “Go. It's okay.”
“You're sure?”
The Doctor sighed and grabbed the wrist that Jack kept his broken vortex manipulator on. He zapped it with the sonic screwdriver, ensuring it was set to the correct frequency so it would work. “I'm sure.”
“Okay.” Jack placed his other hand over the manipulator so that it was hovering just above the button. “Oh, and Doctor?”
The Doctor raised his eyebrows quizzically.
“Don't do anything stupid.” There was a zap and a brief flash of light and then Jack was gone.
*~*~*~*~*
The Master watched with relative disinterest as the Doctor gaped at the space where Jack had just been.
When the Doctor failed to move at all, the Master sighed.
“As much as I hate to break up your goodbye to loverboy, can we just get this over with? I have better things to do, you know.”
The Doctor spun around, his eyes filled with fire and ice and rage. The Master grinned. He took particular pleasure from seeing the Doctor lose control like this.
“You have better things to do?” he spat, approaching the Master. “The universe is about to end and all you can say is you have better things to do? How dare you be so selfish!”
The Master scoffed. “Me?” he laughed. “You’re calling me selfish? Oh, that’s rich considering what you’ve just done. I never thought I’d see the day when you would break the rules.”
“You have no right to judge me.”
“Don’t I? Oh, wait. That’s right, you’re the only one who’s allowed to pass judgment on people. Mr. High and mighty, always knowing what’s best for everyone else. Well guess what?” The Master leaned forward, grinning maniacally as he practically spat his next words in the Doctor’s face. “You messed up.”
“Don’t you think I know that? Don’t you not realize that it’s eating me up inside? Everything I love in the universe is in danger. The woman I love most of all.”
“Oh my god. Don’t you ever shut up?” The Master rolled his eyes. “Everything with you is always drama, drama, drama. You are NOT the only one with problems you know.”
“Right now, my problem is everyone’s problem, because if we don’t figure out what to do about that - “ he pointed at the crack without looking at it. “We’re all doomed.”
“Must you always be so dramatic? I’m sure those old fuddy duddys were exaggerating.”
The Doctor sighed dramatically, tugging impatiently at his hair. “You are impossible!”
“You are an idi-“ The Master stopped as a flood of light suddenly began to pour out of the crack, spreading quickly throughout the room, like a thick mist that surrounds a waterfall.
The light began to morph and take form, first as indistinct shapes and then as more distinct figures resembling earth animals and other beings within the universe.
And then, before either the Master or the Doctor could even process what was happening, the creatures descended upon them, now fully formed and clearly displeased. The Master suddenly found himself being attacked by what appeared to be a massive grizzly bear whilst the Doctor was waving his sonic uselessly in the face of a two headed dog-from the planet Enob.
“Do you still think I was being overdramatic?” The Doctor grunted out while he wrestled with the dog.
Not wanting to give him the satisfaction of being right, the Master effortlessly stunned the bear with his laser screwdriver and stood over the Doctor. “What I think,” he said, glowering at the Doctor, “Is that you fight like a girl.” He lowered a fist over each of the dog’s heads, knocking it out cold.
“I had that,” the Doctor grumbled as he crawled out from beneath the large beast and brushed himself off.
“Sure you did,” the Master sneered.
The Doctor glared at him. “I did.”
“Oh, quit your whining and tell me what we’re going to do about those.” More beings were emerging from the light and advancing upon them. “Or are you just going to let me do the dirty work?”
“Hush, let me think.” The Doctor was looking from the rapidly widening crack to the army of creatures. “Fighting them off isn’t going to be enough, we have to figure out how to stop them from coming in the first place.”
“Can’t you just seal the crack?”
“If it was that easy don’t you think I’d have done that by now?” The Doctor began to pace, tugging on his hideous mop of hair. “Think, think, think. We know that the paradoxes I accidentally - “
The Master scoffed.
“-created have caused a collapse in the walls between universes and times, and it’s all connected to that crack which appeared here after Viola vanished. And, if I’m correct, and I think I am - ”
Another snort.
“- this crack, is the same crack that I saw in Viola’s mind, which means, it was partially created by Time Lord energy.” The Doctor stopped moving and snapped his fingers. “I know how to stop this.”
The Master casually stunned three new aliens that were coming toward him. “Care to share with the rest of the class?”
The Doctor rushed toward the crack. “Time Lord energy.” He paused to look at the Master. “It’s the only way.”
With that he dove into the crack. There was a thunderous crash that shook the TARDIS and a massive flash of light and then the crack, the light, the creatures and the Doctor vanished leaving the Master alone in the eerily silent ship.
*~*~*~*~*
TBC
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