SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST
Chapter Five Rose sat down on the bed. She tried to eat something but she was still reeling from what just happened. Not only was the eleventh Doctor here but he just admitted to her that he loved her and she was his only love. All the things she wanted to hear from her Doctor just came out of the mouth of this Doctor. And he was handsome to boot. Although, she noticed from afar his eyebrows looked nonexistent but somehow that seemed to compliment his face. Eleven came back in the tent closed the flap before taking off his mask and taking down his cowl. "Not hungry?" he said to her. "Just…still a bit gobsmacked by all this," Rose said. "Well, think how I feel. I wasn't expecting you to be here," he said as he sat down in the chair. "If I'm not with you, who is with you right now?" Rose said. "If you can say, I mean." "At the moment I'm by myself," Eleven said. "I had a few more companions after you but I'm taking a break from that for the moment." "How old are you?" "Twelve hundred and sixteen." He laughed at Rose's shock. "Yeah, I'm a wee bit older than the man out there," he said as he poured himself a bit of wine. "Been through so much these past few years, seems like an eternity sometimes." Rose was about to say something when the flap moved and a raptor stuck his head inside. He chittered to Eleven and the Eleven chittered back. "So you can still talk dinosaur after all these years," Rose said. "Oh yes, I can speak most languages in the universe. This bloke is just giving me a little update on the combatants. Most of them are a bit tetchy and anxious to get the tournament over with." "How did you capture them?" Rose said, pointing to the raptor. Eleven beckoned to the raptor and the raptor came to him. "The TARDIS did most of the work," Eleven said, patting the raptor on the head. "The collar controls them if you haven't guessed. So they're docile…at least to me…and to you. And the Doctor and Jack once I give instructions to this one. But these creatures will comprise the first part of the tournament." "I thought the people were going to kill each other," Rose said. "They are. But the raptors are being thrown into the mix to keep everyone on their toes," Eleven said. "But they're not going to attack the other Doctor or Jack?" "Nope. But don't tell them that," Eleven said. "I'm secretly helping myself and Jack and no one needs to know that except us. Come. Pet him, he won't hurt you." Rose got up from the bed. She walked over to the raptor and laid her hand on its head. The raptor chattered while she stroked him. "See, now you've petted one of the most dangerous dinosaurs of all time," the Doctor said. Rose marveled at that while she ran her hand along the cold skin of the raptor. She looked down at its claws, especially the sickle shaped one on its feet and shivered. She remembered in Jurassic Park when they said that you're alive when they start to feed on you. She was glad she wasn't going to be dodging them. When she stroked the raptor's neck, it opened its mouth as it let out a cooing sound and Rose saw the sharp teeth inside. Eleven chattered to the raptor and the raptor listened intently to him while Rose stroked its back. "I told him not to harm my other self or Jack and told him to pass it on," Eleven said when the raptor turned and went outside. "Now that I've guaranteed their safety, would you like a bit of wine?" XOXOXOXOXOXOX Meanwhile, the Tenth Doctor and Jack were eyeing up the competition. The burly man had followed them into their tent and was now at the back of it, sipping wine while he smirked at them. "What do we do about King Kong over there?" Jack muttered to the Doctor when the two of them walked up to the entrance. "Depends on what the game entails. If we're meant to fight him one on one, we'll find a way to get the upper hand." "Is this tournament anything goes then?" Jack muttered. "I'm assuming so. We need to be cautious then if there are no rules," Ten muttered back. "And watch our backs every moment." "I'm just glad Skeletor let Rose stay out of all this," Jack said. "Me too. Especially since we might have to take a few lives before we get out of this," the Doctor said. "We'll have enough to worry about without worrying about her." "Which is why you sent her home that day," Jack said. "And I thought that's what happened." "She came back," the Doctor said. "She opened the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the energy. She became a living god for a time, Jack. She's the reason you're immortal. She brought you back from the dead but she couldn't control it." "So why did you leave me then?" "Because you're unnatural now. You're a fixed point in time and a Time Lord flees from that." "You're not running now," Jack said. "Because I'm forcing myself to stay around you. I still feel the urge to flee but I can suppress that." "Gee, thanks," Jack said dryly. "Sorry, it's instinct. But now that I've been around you for awhile the urge is fading." "And Rose doesn't know any of this?" "She knows you're immortal but I don't know if she knows she's responsible for that. She forgot most of it when I took the power out. I've had to fill her in on what happened but I didn't tell her about you because I thought it would upset her." "That she made me this way?" "And that I left you behind. I figured you were safe and getting on with your life so we went on traveling." "I waited for you. Nearly a hundred of years of waiting because you made such a big impact on my life that I couldn't imagine my life without you in it." "Jack. You shouldn't have done that. You shoulda just forgotten me." Jack let out a barking laugh. "Forget you? The most remarkable man I've ever met? Are you kidding me? I couldn't forget you if I tried. I doubt anyone who's traveled with you has forgotten you." "Two of them have," the Doctor said wistfully. "What's that mean?" The Doctor shook his head. "It's nothing. Just old friends and old memories," he said. "The focus should be on the here and now. I'm sorry for leaving you behind, Jack. I did it because I was uncomfortable with what you became but that doesn't mean I don't want to be your friend." "Good. Because I still want to be friends with you." "Only friends?" the Doctor said. Jack chuckled. "Well, no. But you won't let me get any farther than friendship," he said. The Doctor grinned at that. He took a sip of wine and glanced over when Jack eyed someone over his shoulder. He saw the burly man heading towards him. "Hello, gentlemen," he said. "Or should I say, gentleman and…lady," he said, giving the Doctor a pointed look. "I wouldn't call him that, the man may not be muscled like you but his brains more than make up for it," Jack said. "Oh really?" the man said. "Well, we'll see about that. Name's Trevor. And you are?" "The Doctor." "Jack." "Doctor, eh? You might need to heal yourself before this is through," Trevor said to the Doctor. "So you two are a couple of the greatest fighters of all time, eh?" "Problem with that?" Jack said. "No, I like a little competition now and then. I like to kill them as well. Keeps my muscles fit and trim," he said, giving them a menacing look. Jack snorted at that and Trevor got in his face. "Problem with that, nancy boy?" he said to him. "No. But you might have a bit of trouble when you try to kill us," Jack said. Jack watched while Trevor looked at the Doctor and gave him a look of contempt and he smirked at that. He'd witnessed numerous times when people underestimated the Doctor based on his appearance and this version was even more unassuming than the last one. He figured that was one of the Doctor's greatest assets in battle and probably one of the reasons he had survived so long. The Doctor met Trevor's look with a calm, bored look while he sipped his wine. Trevor was about to say something to him when the horns sounded again. "Time for us to assemble at the stage," the Doctor said to Trevor. "As much as I'd like to stick around and listen to you gloat about killing us, they're calling for us and I like to be punctual. Cheers, mate." "Buh-bye," Jack said to Trevor. Trevor growled deep in his throat before he and everyone else followed them out of the tent.
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