ARCADIA

A/N: This is the sequel to Abduction.

Chapter One

(A week after the events of Abduction…)

Rose let out a gasp as she jolted upright in her bed. She had another dream about her and her mother, on their knees in front of Callisto with chains around their neck while he gloated and pointed at the Doctor's dead body off to his right. Ever since she got back on board the TARDIS, she'd been having these disturbing dreams, usually at least once a night but sometimes two or three times. She was losing a lot of sleep as well as hope that her mother was still alive. She glanced at her alarm clock, noted that it was now just past seven in the morning and decided to stay up. She took a quick shower, cleaned her teeth, got dressed, fixed her hair and put on some light makeup. As she was applying her makeup, she noticed there were bags under her eyes and she looked a bit tired. She sighed, finished with her makeup and went to see what her friends were doing.

She went to find the Doctor first and tried the console room. The Doctor was sitting on his jump seat, reading a magazine with his feet propped up on the console. Rose walked over to him and bent over to read the title of the magazine.

"Fantastical Things Monthly?" Rose said aloud while she read the magazine title.

"Yup," the Doctor said. "It's a bit of light reading. Each month the editors bring you little known facts about the universe. For example…"

He went back a few pages.

"A spim is responsible for making a Plonktek run on Planet Mangaloid. Without it, the machine would fall apart and be useless."

He lowered the magazine and grinned at the blank look on Rose's face.

"Uh-huh," she said. "Well, I'm going to get breakfast now; you keep reading about spims and such."

"Is something wrong, Rose?" the Doctor said, laying the magazine down beside him.

"No, why?"

"You look tired and your eyes are a bit puffy. Is it Jackie?"

Rose sighed and nodded. The Doctor got up and embraced her.

"I'm trying everything I can think of to find her, I swear," he said to her.

"I know," Rose said, hugging him tightly. "I'm just afraid that she's dead or sold into slavery."

"I'm trying, I really am," the Doctor said, rubbing her back.

"I know you are," Rose murmured, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Aaaw, it's a Kodak moment."

"And there's Harkness," the Doctor muttered. "Or as I like to call him, Mood Killer."

"On the contrary, it's always a party when I'm around," Jack said.

Jack noticed the magazine on the jump seat and walked over to it while the Doctor watched him over Rose's shoulder. He picked it up and frowned when he noticed it was written in an alien language.

"You need to fix your ship, it's not translating this," Jack said to him while he turned it around and showed him.

"Probably because the TARDIS is trying to tell you it's my magazine, not yours," the Doctor said while Rose giggled.

Jack stuck his tongue out and threw the magazine down on the seat. He was about to head out of the room when everyone heard a knock on the front door. Jack frowned.

"Did you land somewhere?" he asked.

"No, we're drifting in deep space," the Doctor said, letting go of Rose.

"So, what? An astronaut is coming by to say hello?" Jack said.

"No, it's a message cube, right?" Rose said, her hopes rising as she listened to the insistent knocking.

"Maybe," the Doctor said. "Maybe Callisto finally got bored and decided to resume the game."

"Or maybe he killed Mum and he's gloating about it," Rose said while Jack came up behind her and put his hands on her shoulders.

The Doctor opened the door and the message cube zoomed inside. But instead of going towards him, Rose gasped when the thing made a beeline for her. She and Jack stepped back and Jack put his hand out to block it in case it zoomed directly into her forehead. But the cube stopped and hovered in front of her while the Doctor closed the door.

"Take it in your hands," the Doctor said.

Rose swallowed hard, afraid of what she might hear but she reached out and took the cube in her hands.

"Rose?" she heard Jackie say when the inner cube flickered on.

"Mum," Rose said in a choked voice while Jack rubbed her shoulders and listened with her.

"I'm still alive, Rose," Jackie said. "The man that took us wants you and the Doctor to come to…Arcadia. You'll receive further instructions there. I love you."

"Mum!" Rose cried out when the inner cube's light faded.

The Doctor took the cube from her and took her hand, a sympathetic look on his face when he saw the anguish on hers.

"She's alive," Jack said sympathetically to her.

Rose nodded.

"Arcadia, where Callisto is from?" she said to the Doctor.

"Yes," the Doctor said, putting the cube on the console.

"I thought you said the Time War was sealed in a time lock and you can't get to it," Jack said.

"It is. But that mainly concerned Gallifrey and Skaro. They were put in the time lock to prevent the war from continuing but the planets that were ravaged by both sides are still accessible," the Doctor said.

"So he's luring there because you couldn't save the planet," Jack said.

"Yes, I'm sure he has some disturbing surprises in store but we have to go there and play the game and try to get Jackie back," the Doctor said.

"I'll let Ianto know, he's in the kitchen eating breakfast," Jack said.

He squeezed Rose's shoulders before leaving the room. The Doctor waited until he left before he embraced Rose again and let her briefly weep in his arms.

"She sounded strong, Rose. I don't think he's gonna do anything to her just yet," the Doctor murmured in her ear while he held her close. "She's too valuable to him."

"I just want to see her again," Rose said, sniffing as she looked up at him.

"We will. Just keep your hope alive. In the meantime, I have the tracker safely hidden in your arm and I'll put one in Jack and Ianto. If anything happens to the three of you, I can track you with the TARDIS."

Rose nodded. She finished crying and the Doctor kissed her tear stained cheeks when she stepped back.

"What about you? Will you be alright?" Rose said to him. "You have to go back to Arcadia and face it again."

"I know and I don't fancy doing it but like I said, we have no choice."

The Doctor took her hand and smiled tenderly at her.

"Come on, let's go get Jack and Ianto so I can put tracker chips in their arms and then we'll set a course for Arcadia."

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