SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW
Chapter Thirty Three Rose walked down a darkened, narrow corridor as she wondered where she was. It took a moment to work out she was in an ancient dungeon. The pungent odor of feces, urine and mold made her want to retch and she had to hold her hand over her mouth to block out the smell. “Where am I?” she said to herself. “Rose.” She jerked her head around when she heard her name and noticed a dirt stained hand reaching out of the bars of a cell just behind her. She walked back and gasped when she saw the occupant. “Alan?” she said, kneeling down. She saw the confused look on his face and guessed it wasn’t him. “Doctor?” He gave her a tiny smile and nodded. She looked up at a flaming torch mounted on the wall beside the cell, stood up, grabbed it and knelt back down. She gasped when she saw the Doctor’s face. It was bruised and bloodied and his bottom lip was split. “Oh no, Doctor,” she said, touching the side of his face with her free hand. “What’s happened to you?” “The Valeyard did this. Because I wouldn’t obey.” “What…did he want you to do?” “He wanted me to find you and my double so he could enslave us all. I refused and he beat the crap outta me.” “Oh God…” “He has a way of crossing the void and finding you, but he wants me to do it because he wants me to betray you both and accept the darkness.” He took her hand. “I won’t do it though, I’ll never do it, I’d rather die,” he said. “Don’t worry, Doctor, I’ll get you outta here and then you can come with me and Alan. We’ll keep you safe.” “No, it’s too late, he’s coming. You have to get outta here. Forget about me, Rose.” In the past, Rose had always been the victim in these dreams, helpless to stop the Valeyard from attacking her, but now, something had changed and there was a determination in her eyes as she clasped the Doctor’s hand. “No, I’m not goin’. I’m not afraid of him and if he comes here, I’ll protect you from him.” “So brave, this one.” Rose turned her head when she heard a deep voice. She watched as the Valeyard emerged from the shadows as if he were a part of them. Only this time it wasn’t the Doctor dressed in the Valeyard’s robes. This was a much older man, someone in his early fifties. Rose got to her feet as he sneered at her. “I won’t let you have him,” she said without any trace of fear in her voice. The Valeyard laughed as he slowly advanced on her. “You cannot stop me, little whelp, no one can. The Doctor is mine now, to do what I want with him. You are no match for me.” Rose held the torch out while she got into an aikido stance. “Come on and fight me…unless you’re afraid.” “Rose, no,” the Doctor said. “Don’t do this. You don’t know what you’re up against. He’s pure evil. He’ll stop at nothing to destroy you.” “Yeah, well, he’s never gone up against the Bad Wolf before,” Rose said. The Valeyard let out another laugh as he crept towards Rose. “So very brave and so very foolish. You should listen to your beloved Doctor when he tells you to run, but since you wish to fight, I will certainly…oblige you!” He lunged at her. Rose timed his movement and sidestepped him at the last moment; she kicked out and caught him in the back of the head sending him crashing to the floor. “I know Venusian aikido now. The Doctor’s twin, Alan, taught me.” The Valeyard snorted as he leapt to his feet. “Your little martial arts maneuvers cannot protect you or him; I will make the Doctor watch as I torture you into enslavement.” Without warning, Rose let out a yell and lunged at him with the torch, shoving it directly in his face. The Valeyard let out a scream and managed to grab at the unlit portion, jerking it from her hand. He gritted his teeth and rubbed his singed face as Rose stepped back and resumed her aikido stance. That…was a foolish move on your part,” he snarled. He lunged at her. Rose tried to sidestep him again, but this time he was ready for him and she grunted as he decked her in the face. He grabbed the hem of her shirt and slammed her against the cells of the Doctor’s prison, knocking the wind out of her. “Nice try, my dear, but not good enough,” he said, sneering. “No!” the Doctor said, getting to his feet behind her. “Leave her alone, do what you want with me, but let her go.” “Sorry, Doctor, I might have considered that before she decided to fight me. Now, she will pay the price for her defiance. Watch, Doctor, as I snap the neck of your beloved and she dies at your feet.” “No!” the Doctor screamed, jerking his hand out of the bars and grabbing his arm. “I love you, Doctor, I tried to save you,” Rose said as she felt the pressure of the Valeyard’s hand increase on her neck. She closed her eyes, readying herself for the snap while the Doctor tried to pry his hand away from her throat. Then, as she stood there, she suddenly felt warmth near her heart. As she kept her eyes closed, she felt the warmth spreading all over and her body heated up, but it wasn’t unpleasant and she felt a wave of love wash over her. Maybe this is what dying feels like, she thought. Then she noticed that everyone had gone quiet. She opened her eyes and was shocked to see that her entire body was glowing with a brilliant white light. She looked at the Valeyard and saw utter terror in his eyes as he stared, transfixed, at the light. As the warmth increased, she watched as the light became brighter until it was almost blinding. Panic gripped her heart. “Doctor, what’s going on? Why am I glowing?” she cried out. She felt him stroke her hair. “It’s alright, Angel. There’s nothing to be afraid of,” she heard him say. “It’s the light. Your inner light and love and goodness, it’s rising up to fight the Valeyard’s darkness.” Rose was emboldened by that and she began to think of all the people she loved and cared for. The Doctor, Alan, her mum, her dad, Tony, Donna, Martha, Sarah Jane, Jack, Mickey, Ianto, Gwen, Wilf and Sylvia. Images of all the people she had known and had met during her fight with the Daleks flooded into her mind, filling her heart with love and making the light burn even stronger until she could no longer see anything and had to close her eyes. She heard the Valeyard begin to scream, a mixture of fear and anger and frustration that a mere girl was defeating him. She concentrated all her energy on the light, barely feeling the Doctor’s hands as they rubbed her arms in a comforting gesture. Then, there was one more agonized scream and everything became silent once more. “You did it, Rose. You defeated him,” she heard the Doctor say. She opened her eyes and noticed that the Valeyard’s clothes and skullcap were lying at her feet, devoid of their owner. She turned and saw the Doctor staring at her with unmasked pride in his eyes. “You did it,” he said, stroking her cheek. “You won. You saved me.” Tears came to Rose’s eyes as the Doctor gazed at her lovingly. “Where’s your screwdriver?” she asked. “In his robes.” Rose bent down, felt through his robes and found the screwdriver. She used it on the lock and breathed a sigh of relief when she heard it unlock and the Doctor opened the door. Rose fell into his arms and the Doctor leaned his head down onto her shoulder as he held her tight. “I knew you could do it, I’ve always had faith that you would rescue me,” he said. “And now that I’m free, I’ll take you back to Alan now.” She looked into his eyes and saw the sadness there. “Doctor, wait, come with me. Come with me to the other universe and we can all travel together, you, me and Alan. We could make a great team and you wouldn’t have to be alone anymore.” He frowned. “But this universe needs protection as well,” he said. “Then, let Alan and me stay with you.” He considered that. “What about your mum and Tony?” Rose raised her eyebrow. “I know, you made your choice a long time ago, yada, yada, yada,” he said as Rose nodded and smiled. “So, how about it? Can we stay with you?” Rose asked. The Doctor grinned. “Rose Tyler, I would be de…” Rose gasped and her eyes snapped open. “Oh! I’m sorry, Amo’tiri, I went to the toilet and I tried to get back in bed without waking you up. I guess I failed.” He noticed the huge grin on her face. “What’s the big grin for?” he asked. Rose told him about the dream. Alan’s heart swelled with pride knowing that she was no longer the victim in her dreams about the Valeyard. When she finished, he took her hands and gave her a kiss. “I’m very proud of your dream self for kicking that scum’s arse,” he said. “I always knew you could protect yourself from him and now you’re realizing it too. It’s all that training you’ve been doing; it’s built up your confidence.” “Then thank you for teaching me.” He grinned. “My pleasure. And the next time it better be me you’re saving since the Doctor already had a go.” “The part though about staying with the Doctor. About the Valeyard being able to cross the void. If he has that knowledge, then wouldn’t the Doctor know as well?” “And I would know through the Doctor?” Rose nodded. “There is such a thing as a void crosser, as I told you before…or was…the knowledge was lost when Gallifrey burned. The Time Lords did cross over the voids, but travel was kept to a minimum and only among the higher ups like the high council. They told the other time lords it was because they wanted to ensure the safety of the universes, but the theory was the council kept it for themselves as a status symbol of sorts. The Doctor was considered a renegade, so he was never privy to the knowledge and the books that held the information was kept locked away in the council’s private library where no other Time Lords could get to them.” “So, you don’t have a clue how to build one.” He shook his head. “Well, if the Valeyard is supposed to be a future version of the Doctor, how does he know or…am I just throwing that into the dream because you told me about it?” Alan fingered the edge of the bedspread as he thought. “There might have been a way he could have gotten a hold of the information,” he finally said, looking at Rose. “When the sixth Doctor was put on trial, the Valeyard was working with certain unscrupulous members of the high council in order to convict the Doctor and steal his body so he could become a whole person. There may have been a chance he could have sweet talked someone into showing him one of the books while he was there and his photographic memory retained the information for later use. Being evil, he would want that information in order to cross the void and subdue other universes, so it’s not out of character for him to ask to see the private libraries. Whether he did or whether you’re just intuiting that from what I’ve told you, I can’t say. The last the Doctor saw of him that day was when he was imprisoned with the Master in the matrix, but somehow both of them escaped it. Who knows where he’s gone to or what he’s done between the times the Doctor has fought him. For all we know, he could have brought about the end of the universe sooner than expected and that’s why everything was dying when the Doctor ended up on Malcasaro. On the other hand, it could have been the universe’s set time to die, so we can’t be sure. All I know is that as long as he exists, the universe, any universe can never be truly safe.” “But… if this is all true. If he is out there and he has the void crossing device and if we defeat him, can we use it or the Doctor use it? Would it be wrong to use it because I was thinking that if we or he had that in the TARDIS then we could cross over and see each other whenever we wanted and the Doctor wouldn’t have to be alone and then there wouldn’t be a danger of him becoming like the Valeyard. I mean, I think I’m the biggest part of the problem, yeah? He’s depressed because he can’t be with me, but if there was a way he could, even just for visits…” She trailed off, lost in her thoughts. Alan rubbed her back. “I don’t know if that would keep the darkness away permanently, Rose. Yes, your being here is a big part of it, but there’s a lot more to it than that. However, and this is pure speculation since we don’t have a void crossing device or even a TARDIS right now, I think it would help knowing that if he wanted to see you, he could. Mind you, he had the chance to be with you and he didn’t take it, so who knows if he would agree to having a void crossing device in his TARDIS.” “Yes, but I would want it because even if the Doctor didn’t want to see me, I want to see Mickey and Jack and Sarah Jane and all my friends in the other universe. And I’m sure they’d want to see you too. I would want this void crosser just for that because I miss everyone.” Alan nodded. “Yeah, I’d love for you to see everyone too. That’s another reason why it wasn’t fair for the Doctor to dump you over here. It wasn’t just him you were finally able to see, it was also everyone else that you missed and cared about. Me, I only know you and your family. I just kinda met the others and then the rest of my association with them is through the Doctor’s memories, so it doesn’t mean as much to me at the moment to go back and see them as it does to you. But, this is all a moot point at the moment since we don’t have any way to build a void crosser or have a working TARDIS.” Rose gripped his arm. “But this universe, it’s parallel, yeah? So, maybe it has a Gallifrey that hasn’t been destroyed. If you become a full Time Lord, we could try to find it and…” Alan held up his hand. “Before you get your hopes up about that, I have to tell you something. Supposedly when Rassilon created the Time Lords, he only created them to exist in one universe and that’s the one the Doctor’s in. if that’s true, there’s no Gallifrey here. It’s part of the Rassilonian legend, so I don’t know if it’s true, but that’s what it says. That Time Lords only existed in one universe because they were supposedly the highest beings in all of creation. Now, we can look, but just keep that in mind so your hopes aren’t dashed when there’s no sign of Gallifrey here, okay?” Rose nodded. “But, at the same time, don’t give up all hope completely. Like I said, no one knew for sure if that was true or it was part of the Time Lord’s egocentric view of themselves. I don’t know for sure and neither does the Doctor. But, I will look once we get the TARDIS because I want more than anything for you to have contact with your friends and loved ones in the other universe.” “Thank you.” “Besides, might be fun hopping over into the other universes and taking a peek. I’m kinda curious to see what some others are like. Only ever seen this one and the other one and you apparently saw some others including the one that formed up around Donna. Blimey, a whole universe centered on Donna. There’s a scary thought.” He grinned when Rose giggled at that. “Hey, Donna’s nice,” she said. “Yes, she is. She’s very nice, although she was kinda rude when I was naked. Alive two seconds and I have someone gawking at me and acting like I was a leper.” “Wait a moment, Donna saw you naked?” Alan stared at her in disbelief. “Yes, dear. You do remember she was in the TARDIS when I was born and unfortunately, the hand wasn’t wearing a tiny suit when it was in the jar, so I came into this universe starkers. Trust me; she wanted no part of me, whatsoever.” “What’d she say?” Alan rolled his eyes. “You’re naked,” he said, imitating her. “What’d you say?” He grinned. “I said, “Oh, yes!” “That figures,” Rose said. Then once we got away from the crucible, we both quickly learned that I’d contracted Noble-itis when I started talking exactly like her. She was less than thrilled and so was I, frankly. Of all the people to touch me, it had to be the Chiswick temp.” Rose giggled and he rubbed noses with her. “Couldn’t have been you that the timelines converged on. No, you weren’t good enough to touch my jar, but “You’re not mating with me, sunshine!” was. Cor, this is the real curse of the Time Lords. One side of me is a big, brainy know-it-all and the other side is a mouthy, caustic temp. I’m doomed, Rose, doomed as doomed can be.” Rose snickered. “No, you’re not, because I’m here to save you.” He raised his eyebrow. “The light inside you gonna burn away Miss Big Mouth, is it?” “No, the chameleon arch will take care of that.” She frowned. “Although, if you become all Time Lord, will you lose your humanity?” He shook his head. “Nah, because it’s a part of my personality. I’m not changing that if I do this; I’m only changing the physical aspects of myself and regaining my Time Lord mind. Now, I might sound more like the Doctor in that I’ll go back to being all knowledgeable, but as far as my personality goes, that’s what I’ve been working on these past couple of weeks and that’s how I’ll act. Same with the Doctor, he forged a new personality when he was born into his current life and that stays with him until he regenerates and forms a new one. Besides, you are teaching me to be human and that’ll stay with me as well. Don’t worry, Rose, I’m not gonna become distant the moment I change. I will stay the same as I am because that’s who I am now.” She smiled as he rubbed her cheek. “So, having said that, I’m afraid you’re stuck with the Noble-itis since that’s also a part of my personality.” “Ah, that’s alright. I love your sense of humor. I really would hate to see it go,” she said. “Really?” “Yeah, that’s another thing you could do, be a stand-up comic. You’re hilarious; at least I think you are.” “Hmmm, that might be a good job too. Heh, and then when we get the TARDIS, I could go on intergalactic comedy tours and earn money for us and I could heal the universe through the power of laughter.” “Yeah, you could.” He sighed and smiled at her while she rubbed his back. “So, you wanna go back to sleep or do you wanna eat or just relax here or what?” Rose looked at her watch. “It’s nearly six, how about we go eat and perhaps watch a film?” “Here or at the cinema?” “Well, I’d have to check the paper again, but if you wanna go to the cinema, we can.” “Sounds good to me, although get an early movie. Nothing past eleven.” Rose smiled and rubbed his cheek. “I will, I promise. It won’t be a repeat of last night, that’s for sure.” “Good, I’ll just go use the toilet and get my shoes on and get ready to go.”
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