Fic: The Wolf in Time - 11/30 + Epilogue
Title: The Wolf in Time
Rating: M
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters/Pairings: Overall Doctor/Rose, Jack/Ianto. Other pairings variable.
Spoilers: Set post-series 2 Torchwood so spoilers for all of Torchwood so far, and during series 4 Doctor Who but canonically only ‘Partners in Crime’.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Duh. I don’t think I can even claim the concept as original, lol.
Length: 56,000 words, 30 chapters + epilogue
Notes: I started this immediately post ‘Partners in Crime’, which means it’s AU from there but incorporates some things that we found out about later in the series. Beta'd by steviesun
Summary: Crossing dimensions didn't sit well with Bad Wolf. Now, unstable and badly scared, Rose Tyler must find a way to deal with the power within her and the problems she faces with only the support of the organisation who were responsible for her parting with the Doctor…
Chapter 01 - Chapter 02 - Chapter 03 - Chapter 04 - Chapter 05 - Chapter 06 - Chapter 07 - Interlude 01 - Chapter 08 - Chapter 09 - Chapter 10
“One of these days you’re going to tell me exactly what it is you lot do,” sighed PC Andy Davidson, lifting the police tape to let Jack, Gwen, Ianto and Rose into the part of the park that had been blocked off from the public.
“You never know,” said Jack, a little cynically.
“Well, whatever it is, it looks like it’s injured,” Andy offered, shrugging slightly. “We kept away from it, but it’s just sitting there. Weird looking thing.”
“Thanks, Andy, we’ll take it from here,” said Gwen absently, most of her attention on the scanner in her hand. “Scanner’s picking up…it’s like echoes of rift activity, Jack.”
“Echoes?” Jack made sure Rose was between him and Ianto as they headed towards the prone alien. He could see legs and a torso propped up against a bench - not enough to identify it, but it clearly wasn’t a Weevil.
“Like the rift energy’s bouncing off something,” said Gwen, sounding frustrated.
“Me,” said Rose faintly. “S’bouncing off me.” She shook of Ianto’s hand and stepped away from him. “Dunno, s’like it’s being attracted to the energy of Bad Wolf.”
“Rose -“
“I’m fine, Jack,” she said, almost automatically. “Let’s - oh my god, it’s an Ood!” She hurried forward and dropped to her knees at the alien’s side.
“Rose!” exclaimed Ianto, following after her with his gun raised.
“God dammit, Rose!” shouted Jack. Rose ignored them both. She had taken the hand of the alien - the Ood - and was stroking its face gently.
“It’s alright,” she murmured. “We’ll take care of you.”
“Rose Tyler, you get back here right now,” Jack snapped, throwing his arm out to keep Gwen from getting too close.
“You’re not my mother,” Rose returned, glancing up with a roll of her eyes. “It’s fine. Met the Ood before.” She looked back down. “Are you hurt?” she asked gently. “Can I help?”
The Ood didn’t have one of the translator globes that she remembered from the Sanctuary Base, so for a moment she wondered how it would communicate. Then she felt something inside her head, and she jerked back in surprise.
“Rose?” Jack had crouched down next to her, his gun still held loosely in his hand.
“It’s - the Ood are low-level telepaths, the Doctor said,” Rose said slowly. “When I met them, they had these…translator globe things wired into them. I never thought, but of course they wouldn’t be born with them. This one…he’s trying to talk in my head.”
“Can you understand it?” Jack wanted to know.
“I dunno,” she said, shaking her head. “I got better at psychic stuff after looking into the vortex, but…”
“I’ve got some experience,” said Jack then, and took her free hand. “See if I can help.”
“Right.” Rose looked back at the Ood. “Alright, try again,” she encouraged. The Ood blinked, and she felt again the strange sense of movement in her mind.
Alone. So alone. Only darkness. Darkness taking over everything. Where am I? What is this place of not-darkness? Where are the Ood?
“I’m sorry,” Rose murmured. “They’re not here. It’s just you. You’re on a planet called Earth. D’you know it?”
I am not on the Ood-sphere? The Ood blinked at her. Rose shook her head. How is this possible?
“You came through a…a hole,” she explained. “A rift in space and time.” She paused. “The Ood-sphere - that’s your home? Where you come from?” The Ood lowered its head in a sort of nod. “I’m sorry,” she said then.
A rift in space and time. I am alone. So alone. I cannot return.
“No, I’m sorry,” said Jack, eyes sad as he spoke to the Ood. “This planet doesn’t have space travel yet. There’s no way back.”
I cannot ever return. The Ood-sphere is no more.
“What?” Rose rocked back on her heels, eyes wide. “It’s destroyed?” She reached for the glowing energy within her, tried to find the Ood-sphere within her knowledge.
It came. The darkness. It came we could not fight.
“What darkness?” Jack asked. “Were you under attack?” He looked at Rose, frowning. “I remember the Ood - by my time, they’d long since rebelled and regained their freedom. How can their planet be gone?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “But I can’t find it. Not in this time. Past, but not present.” She stroked the Ood’s head. “But you’re safe,” she said. “Are you hurt? Can we help?”
“We don’t have a medic anymore,” Gwen commented from behind her. “We can’t do much.”
There is…was…a link between all Ood. It is…gone.
“Oh, you poor thing,” Rose murmured, tears welling in her eyes. “You’re all alone.” She gave a gentle squeeze to the Ood’s hand in hers. “You must be in so much pain.”
“What is it?” Ianto questioned. “What’s it saying, Rose?”
“The Ood - that’s what this is - have a telepathic link with each other,” Jack said, and motioned for Ianto and Gwen to kneel next to him. “Here - Ianto, hold my hand, and Gwen - you hold Ianto’s. You’ll be able to hear him then.”
Ianto knelt down, and Gwen followed suit a little more gingerly. They clasped hands as instructed, and Ianto inhaled sharply.
“Oh,” he said. “I can feel it.” He looked down at the alien, and the Ood looked back at him, blinking slowly. “So much pain.”
“Ianto’s got a little empathic ability,” Jack told Rose quietly. “Okay, now we’re all up to speed. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” He directed the last to the Ood, who blinked quizzically.
The Ood have no names. We are one. I apologise. I mean to say that we were one.
“Like a hive?” Gwen asked, trying to understand. She looked at Jack. “Can it understand me?”
“Course he can,” said Rose, not looking away from the Ood. Something about this whole situation felt wrong, not so much to her as to Bad Wolf. Planets did not just disappear. “Listen - this darkness thing you said destroyed your planet…”
Darkness beyond darkness. Terrible and deadly and we could do nothing but die.
“There are creatures who live in shadows,” Jack said thoughtfully. “They feed on flesh. Maybe it’s that. But I don’t understand how the Ood-sphere can be destroyed now, and not in three thousand years’ time.”
“Less than that,” Rose corrected him. “Doctor and me met the Ood in the forty-sixth century, on a planet orbiting a black hole.” Jack lifted an eyebrow. “Long story,” she dismissed. “But they can’t all be dead - they must rebuild. Have to, otherwise it doesn’t make sense.” She frowned. “Can’t see it, though.”
There is nothing left, the Ood said, telepathic voice frail and tired in their minds. Only darkness.
“He’s getting weaker,” Ianto said, leaning forwards. “I can feel it.” He dropped Gwen’s hand and reached to touch the Ood’s shoulder. “You’re dying,” he whispered.
Yes. The song of the Ood is gone. I am…so weary.
“No, you’re fine,” Rose insisted. “You’re gonna be fine, we’ll look after you.” She looked at Jack, who shook his head. “Jack!”
“Ianto’s right,” said Jack gently. “He’s dying. Can’t you feel it?”
“No, I won’t let him,” Rose said, shaking her head. She blinked away tears. “It’s not fair. He didn’t want this.”
All things die, Bad Wolf.
Rose dropped Jack’s hand, startled.
“What?” she said incredulously. “How do you know that?”
It is…spread across time and space. So much life. You burn like the sun but the darkness consumes.
“What do you mean?” she demanded. “What does that mean?”
It is…what is to come…
The voice in her head trailed off, and the Ood’s eyes closed as it exhaled. It was dead. Ianto pulled away from it, shaking his head sadly. Gwen stood, pressing a hand to her ribcage.
“Rose,” Jack said quietly. “Are you okay?”
“Didn’t you hear it?” she asked him, not releasing the Ood’s hand. “Didn’t you hear what he said?”
“What did he say?”
“He knew me.” She looked at him, scared. “He knew about Bad Wolf.” She shivered. “I’ll take him back,” she muttered then. “Should be with his own people.”
“Rose, wait -“
Jack couldn’t help jerking backwards as Rose and the Ood faded from existence, a movement which unfortunately meant he fell onto his arse and ended up flat on his back.
“Well, damn,” he said, staring up at the sky. “What the hell was all that about?”
“Don’t ask me,” said Gwen, sighing. “But I’ll tell you what, it was nice not having to shoot anything, with this rib like it is.”
“Time for more painkillers?” Ianto suggested. “There’s some in the SUV, I thought you’d be needing some soon.”
“Ianto, you’re a lifesaver,” she said with a smile. “I don’t know how you’re so organised, I really don’t.” She looked down at Jack. “You getting up, then, or what?”
“What, nobody’s gonna help me?” he said plaintively, still prostrate on the ground. “C’mon, help an old man up.”
“You’re not old,” said Gwen automatically. Ianto raised his eyebrows at her, and she amended her statement. “Well, you are, but you don’t look it. Besides, broken rib, remember?”
“Ianto?”
“I’m going to let the police know we’ve dealt with it,” Ianto said, sidestepping the issue entirely. He frowned down at Jack. “Grass-stains are hell to get out of that coat,” he added disapprovingly.
“Feel the love,” Jack grumbled, sitting up. “You both okay?”
“Yeah, fine,” said Gwen with a nod. “Ianto?”
“It was in a lot of pain,” Ianto said evasively. “I suppose it was the journey through the rift that killed it?”
“That, or the darkness he was talking about,” Jack agreed, reaching a hand out to Ianto. He got up with the Welshman’s help, and stretched. “Rose will find out.”
“It’s nice, her taking it back to its planet,” Gwen said, looking down at where the Ood had been. “I wish we could do that with all of them.”
“Yeah.” Jack looked over at her, and then up at the sky. “I tell you something else, it’s nice having some friendly visitors for a change, even if he was dying. We don’t often get that.” Gwen nodded, and Ianto put his hands in his pockets, staring at nothing.
“Anyway,” Jack said at last. “Ianto, you take care of the cops. Gwen, you get back to the SUV and take your painkillers. I’ll wait here for a minute, in case Rose comes back here.” Gwen headed back towards the car, and Ianto went to the police officers. Jack stood still for a long moment, waiting for any sign that Rose was returning, but eventually he joined the others at the SUV.
* * *
Interlude 02
Comments are love.
Rating: M
Fandom: Torchwood/Doctor Who
Characters/Pairings: Overall Doctor/Rose, Jack/Ianto. Other pairings variable.
Spoilers: Set post-series 2 Torchwood so spoilers for all of Torchwood so far, and during series 4 Doctor Who but canonically only ‘Partners in Crime’.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Duh. I don’t think I can even claim the concept as original, lol.
Length: 56,000 words, 30 chapters + epilogue
Notes: I started this immediately post ‘Partners in Crime’, which means it’s AU from there but incorporates some things that we found out about later in the series. Beta'd by steviesun
Summary: Crossing dimensions didn't sit well with Bad Wolf. Now, unstable and badly scared, Rose Tyler must find a way to deal with the power within her and the problems she faces with only the support of the organisation who were responsible for her parting with the Doctor…
Chapter 01 - Chapter 02 - Chapter 03 - Chapter 04 - Chapter 05 - Chapter 06 - Chapter 07 - Interlude 01 - Chapter 08 - Chapter 09 - Chapter 10
“One of these days you’re going to tell me exactly what it is you lot do,” sighed PC Andy Davidson, lifting the police tape to let Jack, Gwen, Ianto and Rose into the part of the park that had been blocked off from the public.
“You never know,” said Jack, a little cynically.
“Well, whatever it is, it looks like it’s injured,” Andy offered, shrugging slightly. “We kept away from it, but it’s just sitting there. Weird looking thing.”
“Thanks, Andy, we’ll take it from here,” said Gwen absently, most of her attention on the scanner in her hand. “Scanner’s picking up…it’s like echoes of rift activity, Jack.”
“Echoes?” Jack made sure Rose was between him and Ianto as they headed towards the prone alien. He could see legs and a torso propped up against a bench - not enough to identify it, but it clearly wasn’t a Weevil.
“Like the rift energy’s bouncing off something,” said Gwen, sounding frustrated.
“Me,” said Rose faintly. “S’bouncing off me.” She shook of Ianto’s hand and stepped away from him. “Dunno, s’like it’s being attracted to the energy of Bad Wolf.”
“Rose -“
“I’m fine, Jack,” she said, almost automatically. “Let’s - oh my god, it’s an Ood!” She hurried forward and dropped to her knees at the alien’s side.
“Rose!” exclaimed Ianto, following after her with his gun raised.
“God dammit, Rose!” shouted Jack. Rose ignored them both. She had taken the hand of the alien - the Ood - and was stroking its face gently.
“It’s alright,” she murmured. “We’ll take care of you.”
“Rose Tyler, you get back here right now,” Jack snapped, throwing his arm out to keep Gwen from getting too close.
“You’re not my mother,” Rose returned, glancing up with a roll of her eyes. “It’s fine. Met the Ood before.” She looked back down. “Are you hurt?” she asked gently. “Can I help?”
The Ood didn’t have one of the translator globes that she remembered from the Sanctuary Base, so for a moment she wondered how it would communicate. Then she felt something inside her head, and she jerked back in surprise.
“Rose?” Jack had crouched down next to her, his gun still held loosely in his hand.
“It’s - the Ood are low-level telepaths, the Doctor said,” Rose said slowly. “When I met them, they had these…translator globe things wired into them. I never thought, but of course they wouldn’t be born with them. This one…he’s trying to talk in my head.”
“Can you understand it?” Jack wanted to know.
“I dunno,” she said, shaking her head. “I got better at psychic stuff after looking into the vortex, but…”
“I’ve got some experience,” said Jack then, and took her free hand. “See if I can help.”
“Right.” Rose looked back at the Ood. “Alright, try again,” she encouraged. The Ood blinked, and she felt again the strange sense of movement in her mind.
Alone. So alone. Only darkness. Darkness taking over everything. Where am I? What is this place of not-darkness? Where are the Ood?
“I’m sorry,” Rose murmured. “They’re not here. It’s just you. You’re on a planet called Earth. D’you know it?”
I am not on the Ood-sphere? The Ood blinked at her. Rose shook her head. How is this possible?
“You came through a…a hole,” she explained. “A rift in space and time.” She paused. “The Ood-sphere - that’s your home? Where you come from?” The Ood lowered its head in a sort of nod. “I’m sorry,” she said then.
A rift in space and time. I am alone. So alone. I cannot return.
“No, I’m sorry,” said Jack, eyes sad as he spoke to the Ood. “This planet doesn’t have space travel yet. There’s no way back.”
I cannot ever return. The Ood-sphere is no more.
“What?” Rose rocked back on her heels, eyes wide. “It’s destroyed?” She reached for the glowing energy within her, tried to find the Ood-sphere within her knowledge.
It came. The darkness. It came we could not fight.
“What darkness?” Jack asked. “Were you under attack?” He looked at Rose, frowning. “I remember the Ood - by my time, they’d long since rebelled and regained their freedom. How can their planet be gone?”
“I don’t know,” she whispered. “But I can’t find it. Not in this time. Past, but not present.” She stroked the Ood’s head. “But you’re safe,” she said. “Are you hurt? Can we help?”
“We don’t have a medic anymore,” Gwen commented from behind her. “We can’t do much.”
There is…was…a link between all Ood. It is…gone.
“Oh, you poor thing,” Rose murmured, tears welling in her eyes. “You’re all alone.” She gave a gentle squeeze to the Ood’s hand in hers. “You must be in so much pain.”
“What is it?” Ianto questioned. “What’s it saying, Rose?”
“The Ood - that’s what this is - have a telepathic link with each other,” Jack said, and motioned for Ianto and Gwen to kneel next to him. “Here - Ianto, hold my hand, and Gwen - you hold Ianto’s. You’ll be able to hear him then.”
Ianto knelt down, and Gwen followed suit a little more gingerly. They clasped hands as instructed, and Ianto inhaled sharply.
“Oh,” he said. “I can feel it.” He looked down at the alien, and the Ood looked back at him, blinking slowly. “So much pain.”
“Ianto’s got a little empathic ability,” Jack told Rose quietly. “Okay, now we’re all up to speed. Sorry, I didn’t catch your name.” He directed the last to the Ood, who blinked quizzically.
The Ood have no names. We are one. I apologise. I mean to say that we were one.
“Like a hive?” Gwen asked, trying to understand. She looked at Jack. “Can it understand me?”
“Course he can,” said Rose, not looking away from the Ood. Something about this whole situation felt wrong, not so much to her as to Bad Wolf. Planets did not just disappear. “Listen - this darkness thing you said destroyed your planet…”
Darkness beyond darkness. Terrible and deadly and we could do nothing but die.
“There are creatures who live in shadows,” Jack said thoughtfully. “They feed on flesh. Maybe it’s that. But I don’t understand how the Ood-sphere can be destroyed now, and not in three thousand years’ time.”
“Less than that,” Rose corrected him. “Doctor and me met the Ood in the forty-sixth century, on a planet orbiting a black hole.” Jack lifted an eyebrow. “Long story,” she dismissed. “But they can’t all be dead - they must rebuild. Have to, otherwise it doesn’t make sense.” She frowned. “Can’t see it, though.”
There is nothing left, the Ood said, telepathic voice frail and tired in their minds. Only darkness.
“He’s getting weaker,” Ianto said, leaning forwards. “I can feel it.” He dropped Gwen’s hand and reached to touch the Ood’s shoulder. “You’re dying,” he whispered.
Yes. The song of the Ood is gone. I am…so weary.
“No, you’re fine,” Rose insisted. “You’re gonna be fine, we’ll look after you.” She looked at Jack, who shook his head. “Jack!”
“Ianto’s right,” said Jack gently. “He’s dying. Can’t you feel it?”
“No, I won’t let him,” Rose said, shaking her head. She blinked away tears. “It’s not fair. He didn’t want this.”
All things die, Bad Wolf.
Rose dropped Jack’s hand, startled.
“What?” she said incredulously. “How do you know that?”
It is…spread across time and space. So much life. You burn like the sun but the darkness consumes.
“What do you mean?” she demanded. “What does that mean?”
It is…what is to come…
The voice in her head trailed off, and the Ood’s eyes closed as it exhaled. It was dead. Ianto pulled away from it, shaking his head sadly. Gwen stood, pressing a hand to her ribcage.
“Rose,” Jack said quietly. “Are you okay?”
“Didn’t you hear it?” she asked him, not releasing the Ood’s hand. “Didn’t you hear what he said?”
“What did he say?”
“He knew me.” She looked at him, scared. “He knew about Bad Wolf.” She shivered. “I’ll take him back,” she muttered then. “Should be with his own people.”
“Rose, wait -“
Jack couldn’t help jerking backwards as Rose and the Ood faded from existence, a movement which unfortunately meant he fell onto his arse and ended up flat on his back.
“Well, damn,” he said, staring up at the sky. “What the hell was all that about?”
“Don’t ask me,” said Gwen, sighing. “But I’ll tell you what, it was nice not having to shoot anything, with this rib like it is.”
“Time for more painkillers?” Ianto suggested. “There’s some in the SUV, I thought you’d be needing some soon.”
“Ianto, you’re a lifesaver,” she said with a smile. “I don’t know how you’re so organised, I really don’t.” She looked down at Jack. “You getting up, then, or what?”
“What, nobody’s gonna help me?” he said plaintively, still prostrate on the ground. “C’mon, help an old man up.”
“You’re not old,” said Gwen automatically. Ianto raised his eyebrows at her, and she amended her statement. “Well, you are, but you don’t look it. Besides, broken rib, remember?”
“Ianto?”
“I’m going to let the police know we’ve dealt with it,” Ianto said, sidestepping the issue entirely. He frowned down at Jack. “Grass-stains are hell to get out of that coat,” he added disapprovingly.
“Feel the love,” Jack grumbled, sitting up. “You both okay?”
“Yeah, fine,” said Gwen with a nod. “Ianto?”
“It was in a lot of pain,” Ianto said evasively. “I suppose it was the journey through the rift that killed it?”
“That, or the darkness he was talking about,” Jack agreed, reaching a hand out to Ianto. He got up with the Welshman’s help, and stretched. “Rose will find out.”
“It’s nice, her taking it back to its planet,” Gwen said, looking down at where the Ood had been. “I wish we could do that with all of them.”
“Yeah.” Jack looked over at her, and then up at the sky. “I tell you something else, it’s nice having some friendly visitors for a change, even if he was dying. We don’t often get that.” Gwen nodded, and Ianto put his hands in his pockets, staring at nothing.
“Anyway,” Jack said at last. “Ianto, you take care of the cops. Gwen, you get back to the SUV and take your painkillers. I’ll wait here for a minute, in case Rose comes back here.” Gwen headed back towards the car, and Ianto went to the police officers. Jack stood still for a long moment, waiting for any sign that Rose was returning, but eventually he joined the others at the SUV.
* * *
Interlude 02
Comments are love.