SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Chapter Eighteen After asking around, they finally managed to locate a clothing store and purchased some t-shirts, jumpers, trousers and socks and knickers. Once they were done, they carried everything back to their room. “Okay, another bunch of items we can scratch off the list,” Alan said as they set the bags down by their rucksacks. “And yippee, we can actually change clothes now.” He reached into the bag and pulled out the socks. “And look, handy dandy silencers we can use during sex. Won’t your mum be thrilled? Now we can climax and not have to worry about her kicking in the door and bashing our brains in with a baseball bat.” He sat down on the edge of the bed. “Actually, we could take a test run of the sock mufflers right now,” he said, waggling his eyebrows. “You sure?” “Well, we’ve shopped, we’ve eaten, what else is there to do now?” he said, shrugging. Rose laughed. “You’re gonna be a handful, you are,” she said. Alan grinned. “But you love every moment of it.” ‘Yeah, you’re right, I do. Okay, seeing as how I can’t think of anything better to do now…” She laughed when Alan began to tear off his clothes at lightning speed. “Break out the condoms, this time we are going all the way,” he said, gleefully. Rose walked over, reached into the rucksack, pulled out the box and tossed it to him. She turned and began to undress. “Um…Rose?” She looked back at Alan. “Hmmm?” “Wanna show me how to put this on? I haven’t the foggiest idea,” he said, holding up a condom packet. “The Doctor never used protection?” “No, not to my knowledge. They didn’t have stuff like this on Gallifrey because everyone was loomed. So, if you could be a helpful little companion…” “I’d love to,” she said. She took the packet from him, tore it open and put it on him while she explained step by step what to do. When she was finished, Alan stared down at his latex shrouded penis. “Human ingenuity,” he said, “just continues to amaze me. Slap on a little piece of latex and you don’t have to worry about babies. Although…” He frowned. “It feels weird.” “It will for awhile till you get used to it,” Rose said. Alan raised his eyebrow. “You seem to know a lot about this. May I ask who you shagged before me?” “Why? Are you jealous?” “No, just curious.” “Jimmy Stone was my first and then Mickey and that’s it.” Alan made a face. “Mickey? Ugh! Ooo, just thinking about you and Mickey…” She giggled when he shivered. He embraced her. “Well, they may have gotten to you first, but I’m definitely gonna be the last,” he said. “Yes, you are.” They kissed. They kept on kissing while Alan led her to the bed and laid her down in it. Lying down beside her, he quickly positioned himself and with a contented sigh began to make love to her. Alan and Rose lay beside one another in the darkened room. “That was incredible,” Rose said. “Yup and the best part was I managed to keep the volume to a minimum, which must have worked since your mum isn’t over here pounding on the door.” Rose gave him a sleepy smile and snuggled up against him. “She probably knows by now what it means when you do scream,” she murmured. Alan gazed at her. “Drifting off?” She nodded. “I’m exhausted. It’s been a long day and my last bit of energy just got spent.” He smiled. “Then go to sleep,” he said. She looked at him. “You’re not sleepy?” “A little, but I want to lie here for awhile and take in your beauty.” Rose kissed him. “Good night, Alan.” “Good night, my love, pleasant dreams.” “I hope so,” she murmured. Alan rubbed her back and watched as she closed her eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep. Rose glanced around as she wandered down a darkened corridor. She saw the roundels on the walls and her heart skipped a beat knowing that she was back in the TARDIS. “Doctor?” she yelled. “Doctor, I’m here! Where are you?” There was no reply, which unnerved her. She was used to the Doctor’s cheerful babbling filling up the vast spaces of the time ship. “Is he in the console room?” she mused. She walked down the corridor towards the console room calling out his name every so often. The fact that he wasn’t answering her filled her with fear and she picked up the pace, terrified that something had happened to him. “Doctor? Donna?” she yelled. She was running now, wanting nothing more than to reach her friends. She finally found the door that led to the console room and bolted into the cavernous space. She stopped short and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw the Doctor sitting on the captain’s chair. “There you are,” she gasped, putting a hand over her heart. “Why didn’t you answer me? I kept yelling your name.” She frowned when there was no response. Fear gripped her mind when the Doctor didn’t move or speak or acknowledge her presence. Half afraid of what she would find, she forced herself to move towards the jump seat. When she got to the console, she looked over and noticed with some relief that the Doctor wasn’t dead. But his face completely unnerved her. There was no welcoming smile, no warm, loving gaze, just a hollow look in his eyes as he stared blankly ahead at the console. Rose swallowed hard when she noticed his haggard and unshaven face, so pale and lifeless and freakish looking since the only light in the room was coming from the console. Rose crept towards him. With each step she expected him to look her way and smile that old familiar smile, but he didn’t seem to notice that she was there. “Doctor?” Rose said softly. “You shouldn’t be here,” the Doctor said in a monotone voice. “Doctor, please, tell me what’s going on,” she said, grateful that he was finally speaking to her. “You shouldn’t be here,” the Doctor replied, never taking his eyes off the console. Rose sat down beside him and put her hand on his shoulder. “Doctor, don’t do this to me. Please talk to me properly and tell me what’s going on. Where is Donna at?” “Donna is gone. I lost her,” he said, still keeping his eyes on the console. “I lost her; just like I lost you and lost River.” Rose frowned. She’d never heard of River. “Is she…another companion?” she asked hesitantly. “I never meant to hurt her,” he said, dully. “I didn’t want to send her to The Library. I didn’t want to take her as a companion, but…I had to.” Rose ached, listening to the hopelessness in his voice. She reached out and took his hand, but he didn’t hold it. “Now, she’s gone. Dead. And it’s all my fault,” he continued. “I killed her.” “No, that can’t be true,” Rose said, softly. “I tried to love her. I tried to give her a little happiness before she had to die. I tried to have a relationship with her and…I did pull it off, at least, she thought I truly loved her, but I didn’t….I couldn’t…because she wasn’t you.” Rose shook her head. The Doctor was still staring at the console while he talked, never once turning his head and looking into her eyes. His lips were the only thing that was moving on his body and it filled her with terror seeing him in this state. “I’m here now,” she said. “I’m here, my Doctor, and everything will be alright.” “No, it’s too late now.” “What do you mean?” “It’s coming now and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.” Rose swallowed hard. “What is?” Finally, the Doctor turned his head and looked at her. Rose gasped when she saw the sunken eyes that held no light in them. “The darkness,” he said. Rose’s breath quickened as her fear took hold of her mind. Then, out of the corner of her eye she suddenly noticed something. She turned and looked at the room and saw, to her horror, that it had grown darker. But, this darkness was different. It was impenetrable and not even the light from the console could penetrate it. Rose watched with silent anguish as the mass of black nothingness slowly neared the jump seat. “Go.” Rose looked back at the Doctor when she heard him speak. “Go, Rose, before it’s too late,” he said. “No, I won’t leave you.” “You must. It’s too late for me now. There’s nothing that can stop it from happening.” Rose looked around and saw that the darkness was nearly upon them. “Doctor, please, come with me. Don’t sit here and let it take you,” she begged. “There’s nowhere I can run, nowhere I can hide. Save yourself, Rose. Hide yourself before I find and destroy you.” “No, no, I won’t leave.” She gasped when the Doctor seized her upper arms and stared at her with a wild look in his eyes. “Go now! I order you!” he yelled. Rose looked down and noticed the darkness was right at his feet. “Go, my love, save yourself,” the Doctor said, sadly. “The man that you loved is dead. There is only darkness within me now.” Tears streamed down Rose’s face. She forced herself to get up and back away as the darkness slowly oozed up the Doctor’s legs like a thick blanket, obscuring his body like a shroud. The Doctor continued to stare at her as it slowly snaked up his body towards his head. “This is my last act of mercy,” he said to her. “I will save you, so you will not suffer the same fate. Now go. Run and never look back. Hide yourself away where I can never find you. Forget me now.” Rose backed away; sobbing as the darkness reached his mouth, forced it open and streamed inside his body. She watched with anguish as his warm brown eyes slowly became jet black and his soft, handsome face hardened and twisted into an insane countenance. As the darkness forced its way into his body, the room lightened and returned to its semi-darkened state, but now the Doctor’s very presence chilled the room and made it seem alien to her. She watched in silent horror as the last of the darkness wrapped itself around the Doctor’s body, oozing into every pore as it became a cocoon. Then suddenly, the cocoon melted away and the Doctor was wearing the Valeyard’s outfit. An evil smile spread across his face as he stood up and he laughed hysterically, filling the room with the sounds of gleeful madness. “At last,” the Valeyard crowed, “that insufferable, emotional fool is dead and now I have risen to take his place. Soon, the universe will tremble at the very mention of my name and millions will bow their heads to the ground in adoration.” He turned his attention to Rose and her heart stopped when she saw the sneer on his face. “And you, my former lover, will become the first acolyte.” Rose finally found the strength to run and she bolted towards the back door. But, just as she reached it, the TARDIS sealed it up. Panicked, she pounded on the wall where the door had just been, filled with animalistic terror. “Why so scared, my love? I thought you wanted to be with me?” Rose’s heart pounded furiously when she heard his voice directly behind her. She spun around and her breath quickened when she looked into the Valeyard’s eyes and saw the impenetrable blackness there. She gagged when the Valeyard seized her by the throat. “You should have listened to him when he told you to run,” he sneered. “And now your blind love for him will be your undoing.” He leaned in closer and Rose could hardly bear the sight. Her beautiful, handsome Doctor, now an evil caricature of his former self. “How about a kiss, my faithful companion?” he said. Before Rose could act, he slammed his mouth down on hers. Rose tried to keep her mouth shut, but she could feel the darkness at her lips, prying them open. She struggled to get away, but the Valeyard pressed her against the wall, the roundels digging into her spine as he held her in an iron grip. Tears fell from her face when she felt her lips being forced apart and the darkness streaming its way into her mouth and down her throat, tainting her soul and twisting her mind, forming her into a female counterpart of the Valeyard. Her struggles ceased and she went rigid as the darkness consumed her soul and turned her eyes into deep ebony. She began to scream inside her mind, scream with the last ounce of humanity she had left. She continued to scream and scream until… Rose’s eyes shot open. She looked up and noticed that Alan was now fast asleep, his arms holding her protectively. Relief washed over her and silent tears fell from her eyes as she snuggled against him, hoping and praying with all of her heart that what she had just witnessed would never come to pass.
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