Chapter 11
Emerald Dragon/Parting of Ways/Born Again
By: Izzy
"You know the Doctor," the Dalek that had been pushing Rhee around the whole time she was there. She sighed knowing what it would say. "You understand him. You will predict his actions."
"No!" she shouted at the Daleks.
"Predict! Predict! Predict!" it shouted at her.
"TARDIS detected in flight." another Dalek said.
"Launch missiles. Exterminate." the first Dalek said.
"No!" she shouted. But as she stood there shaking the TARDIS appeared around her and the Dalek.
"Rhee, get down!" the Doctor shouted and she ducked.
"Exterminate!" it said as Jack fires the gun he made as the Dalek fires and misses. She ran up to the Doctor and hugged him with all her might. He smiled at her.
"You came for me," she whispered in to his neck as they hugged. She wasn't worried if he'd come for her just happy he did.
"I told you I'd come and get you," he said as he pulled her away so he could see if she was OK.
"Never doubted you," she said honestly.
"I did." he said. "You all right?" He looked her over and spun her around so he could he see all angles.
"Yeah." she giggled. "You?" He stopped her and hugged her once more. He always found it astonishing that she was always concerned about him when she was the one in danger.
"Not bad, been better." he shrugged.
"Hey, don't I get a hug?" Jack piped up, and she let go of the Doctor.
"Get you ass over her," she said as she met him half way.
"I was talking to him." Jack teased. She rolled her eyes at him and hugged him not quite as tightly as she did the Doctor. "Welcome home."
"Thank you," she said as they let go and Jack got a glare from the Doctor. "So how's the homemade gun holding up." She giggled.
"That was just a one shot wonder." Jack said.
"Like you," she teased.
"Drained the gun of all its power supply. Now it's just a piece of junk." he continued ignoring her comment but gave her a dirty look. She was defiantly his older sister, he smiled at her.
"Why is a fleet of Daleks hanging out in Earth space?" she asked for Jack's benefit.
"One minute they're the greatest threat in the Universe, the next minute they vanished out of time and space." Jack said giving her a questioning look.
"They went off to fight a bigger war." the Doctor said as he scanned the remains with his Sonic. "The Time War,"
"I thought that was just a legend." Jack said. Rhee stood silent by a coral strut while they looked over the remains. She was trying to brace herself for this. This was going to be the second hardest day of her life and she had a lot of them so that's saying something.
"I was there." the Doctor said. "The war between the Daleks and the Time Lords, with the whole of creation at stake. My people were destroyed, but they took the Daleks with them. I almost thought it was worth it. Now it turns out they died for nothing." As his story went on Rhee could tell it was making him sad. She could also tell he was trying to hide it.
"So what's the plan?" Jack asked.
"No good standing round here chin wagging." the Doctor said with a smile trying to hide the pain. "Human race, you'd gossip all day. The Daleks have got the answers. Let's go and meet the neighbors."
"Be careful," she said as he walked by her. She and Jack followed the Doctor.
"Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!" the Daleks said as they fired at the Doctor but the shield around the TARDIS was protecting him.
"Is that it? Useless! Nul points." he said with a grin on his face. "It's all right, come on out. That force-field can hold back anything." He backed up as she and Jack got out. She knew what Jack was going to say so she grabbed his arm, in order to bring him down so she could cover his mouth and look him in the eye. She shook her head. He knew by the look in her eyes that this was going to be a rough day for all, and he needed to keep him mouth shut, so he nodded and she let go of him.
The Doctor wanted to question her actions but settled on continuing to talk to the Daleks. "Do you know what they call me in the ancient legends of the Dalek Home world?" As he spoke he got close to them again. "The Oncoming Storm." He paused a moment to gauge their reaction. "You might 've removed all your emotions but I reckon right down deep in your DNA, there's one little spark left, and that's fear. Doesn't it just burn when you face me? So tell me. How did you survive the Time War?"
"They survived through me." the Emperor of the Daleks said, and Rhee's skin crawled. He moved to where the voice was coming from. As he did the light came on revealing the Emperor. She felt terrified for all life including her own. She hadn't been afraid for her own life in a long time. Normally she didn't care about her own life but now she had a reason to live. That thought made her feel wonderful, she had a reason to live! She couldn't help the smile that spread across her face. Jack gave her a weird look for smiling at the Emperor.
"Rhee, Captain, this is the Emperor of the Daleks." the Doctor said.
"You destroyed us," the Emperor said. "Doctor. The Dalek race died in your inferno, but my ship survived, falling through time, crippled but alive."
"I get it-" the Doctor started but was interrupted by the Daleks.
"Do not interrupt. Do not interrupt. Do not interrupt." they shouted. The Doctor turned to face the Daleks that had spoken to him.
"I think you're forgetting something," he said calmly like the calm before a storm calm. "I'm the Doctor, and if there's one thing I can do, it's talk. I've got five billion languages, and you haven't got one way of stopping me. So if anybody's going to shut up, it's you!" He turned back around to the Emperor. "Okey-dokey. So, where were we?" Rhee smiled at his use of her favorite word. But as she thought about it she hadn't said her favorite word since Matt and Jenny died. Well she felt happier maybe she'd use it again.
"We waited here in the dark space, damaged but rebuilding." the Emperor continued. "Centuries passed, and we quietly infiltrated the systems of Earth, harvesting the waste of humanity. The prisoners, the refugees, the dispossessed. They all came to us. The bodies were filtered, pulped, sifted. The seed of the human race is perverted. Only one cell in a billion was fit to be nurtured."
"So you created an army of Daleks out of the dead," the Doctor said.
"Made from humans," she said in disgust. "That means they're part human."
"Those words are blasphemy." the Emperor said.
"Do not blaspheme. Do not blaspheme. Do not blaspheme." all the Daleks from behind them shouted,
"Everything human has been purged." the Emperor said proudly. "I cultivated pure and blessed Dalek."
"Since when did the Daleks have a concept of blasphemy?" the Doctor said.
"Since they started using humans to grow more," she said slightly in jest but it was a true statement.
"I reached into the dirt and made new life." the Emperor explained. "I am the God of all Daleks!"
"Worship him. Worship him. Worship him." the Daleks shouted.
"They're insane." the Doctor said. "Hiding in silence for hundreds of years, that's enough to drive anyone mad. But it's worse than that. Driven mad by your own flesh. The stink of humanity. You hate your own existence. And that makes them more deadly than ever. We're going."
"You may not leave my presence." the Emperor said.
"Stay where you are." a Dalek shouted. The Doctor, Rhee, and Jack ran to the TARDIS and got in. "Exterminate!" They could still hear the Daleks as the Doctor set the coordinates. Though he was trying not to show it he was deeply disturbed by what he had just seen, she walked up behind him and lightly rubbed his back as the TARDIS groaned, he turned his head to look at her. He smiled weakly at her. "Exterminate! Exterminate!" They reappeared in the Game Station.
"Turn everything up." The Doctor shouted as they exited the TARDIS. "All transmitters full power, wide open. Now! Do it!"
"What does this do?" a man that Rhee remembered his name as Pavale said.
"Stops the Daleks from transmatting on board." the Doctor said. "How did you get on? Did you contact Earth?"
"Well, we tried to warn them, but all they did was suspend our license because we stopped the programs." Pavale said.
"And the planet's just sitting there, defenseless." the Doctor said. He hadn't shown it in his voice but she could see just how afraid and angry he was. And when he saw Lynda aboard still it made it worse. "Lynda, what're you still doing on board? I told you to evacuate everyone."
"She wouldn't go," Pavale said.
"Didn't want to leave you," Lynda said.
"There weren't enough shuttles anyway, or I wouldn't be here," one of the employees that stayed said, "We've got about a hundred people stranded on Floor Zero."
"Oh, my God," Pavale said. "The Fleet is moving. They're on their way." Rhee moved Pavale and jumped to the seat he was sitting in, to start to set things up for the Delta Wave, the Doctor was going to build.
"Dalek plan," he said as he pulled out wires and other bits he would need. "Big mistake, because what have they left me with?" Everyone looked confused except Rhee. She continued to work. "Anyone? Anyone? Oh, come on, it's obvious. A great big transmitter. This station. If I can change the signal, fold it back, sequence it, anyone?"
"You've got to be kidding." Jack said.
"Give the man a medal!" the Doctor exclaimed.
"A Delta Wave?" Jack asked. And then the Doctor noticed what she was doing and smiled. She always knew what he needed.
"A Delta Wave!" the Doctor exclaimed.
"What's a Delta Wave?" Lynda asked.
"A wave of Van Cassadyne energy," Jack explained. "It fries your brain. Stand in the way of a Delta Wave and your head gets barbecued."
"And this place can transmit a massive wave," the Doctor said. "Wipe out the Daleks!"
"Well, get started and do it then." Lynda said.
"Trouble is, wave this size, building this big, brain as clever as mine, should take about, oh, three days?" the Doctor stated. "How long till the Fleet arrive?"
"Twenty two minutes." Rhee said blankly as she worked. He continued to work. A bit later she walked over to him and started to help him. He smiled at her. Jack got the extrapolator connected to the Game Station so they would have a shield.
"We've now got a force-field so they can't blast us out of the sky, but that doesn't stop the Daleks from physically invading." Jack said. She sighed she knew what happens next but she was going to do her best to help where she could and right now that was helping the Doctor get the Delta Wave ready for him not to use.
"Do they know about the Delta Wave?" Pavale asked.
"They'll have worked it out at the same time." Jack said. "So, they want to stop the Doctor and Rhee. That means they've got to get to this level, five hundred. Now, I can concentrate the extrapolator around the top six levels, five hundred to four nine five. So they'll penetrate the station below that at level four nine four and fight their way up."
"Who are they fighting?" Pavale asked.
"Us." Jack replied. Rhee sighed at Jack's statement. She continued to work trying to block out what was going on around her. She knew if she focused on what Jack was about to do she'd cry.
"And what are we fighting with?" Pavale asked.
"The guards had guns with bastic bullets," Jack said. "That's enough to blow a Dalek wide open."
"There's four of us." the woman said.
"Then let's move it." Jack commanded. "Into the lift. Isolate the lift controls." Lynda ran up to the Doctor.
"I just want to say, er, thanks," she said. "I suppose, and I'll do my best."
"Me too." he said. They went to hug or kiss but stopped making for an awkward moment. They settled on a handshake. Then she ran off the join Pavale and the woman that had ran off while they were talking.
"It's been fun," Jack said and Rhee stood pain in her eyes but a small smile on her face. "But I guess this is goodbye."
"We will meet again Jack," Rhee said.
"Rhee, you are worth fighting for." he said as he gave her a heart felt hug. He walked over to the Doctor. "Wish I'd never met you, Doctor. I was much better off as a coward." Jack said as he hugged the Doctor the same way.
"See you in hell." Jack said as he dashed off to help the fighter downstairs. Rhee and the Doctor got back to work shortly there after. She knew that even though she wasn't Rose and she would never suggest this she still had to to keep things going in the right direction, she would have to suggest it.
"Suppose." she sighed.
"What?" he asked as they continued to work.
"Nothing." she said.
"You said suppose." he said,
"It's just I was thinking." she said. "I mean, obviously you can't 'cause you'd done it, but, you've got a time machine. Why can't you just go back to last week and warn them?"
"As soon as the TARDIS lands in that second," he explained. "I become part of events, stuck in the time line."
"Yeah," she said.
"There's another thing the TARDIS could do." he suggested. "It could take us away. We could leave. Let history take its course. We go to Marbella in 1989."
"You'd never do that," she said solemnly.
"No, but you could ask." he said. He knew she'd never ask him to abandon people in need. "Never even occurred to you, did it?"
"Never," she said with a smile that melted his hearts. He couldn't help but smile back. Suddenly a noise caught their attention.
"The Delta Wave's started building." he explained the noise. He stood up and ran to the console. "How long does it need?" She didn't need to ask if it was bad she knew. Even with her helping the Delta Wave wouldn't be refined in time. "Rhiannon Jane, you're a genius! We can do it. If I use the TARDIS to cross my old time line. Yes!" He jumped out of the seat and pulled Rhee to stand. Then pulled her into the TARDIS. "Hold that down and keep position." She did as she was told but knew that this was the only way. "Now, I've just got to go and power up the Game Station. Hold on!" She ran to the doors once the TARDIS had started to move.
"You don't have to do this alone!" she shouted but knew it was in vain. As the TARDIS traveled through the vortex a hologram of the Doctor a appeared,
"This is Emergency Program One." the holo-Doctor said. "Rhee, now listen, this is important. If this message is activated, then it can only mean one thing. We must be in danger. And I mean fatal. I'm dead or about to die any second with no chance of escape. And that's okay. Hope it's a good death. But I promised myself I'd after you, and that's what I'm doing. The TARDIS is taking you to Rose." She sighed. "I bet you know this already but the TARDIS can never return for me. Emergency Program One means I'm facing an enemy that should never get their hands on this machine. So this is what you should do. Let the TARDIS die. Just let this old box gather dust. No one can open it. No one 'll even notice it. Let it become a strange little thing standing on a street corner. And over the years, the world'll move on and the box will be buried. And if you want to remember me, then you can do one thing. That's all, one thing. Have a good life. Do that for me, Rhee. Have a fantastic life."
By the end of the message Rhee was crying. "You're all I have, how can I have a fantastic life without you!" she shouted as the hologram disappeared. She knew in her heart that this was the right thing but at the same time it hurt badly. She was sure Rose and Jackie would take her in but she also knew that he was her reason. The TARDIS arrived at the Powell Estates, she opened the doors to see Rose and Mickey waiting for her.
"I knew it!" Mickey exclaimed. "I was all the way down Clifton Parade, and I heard the engines. I thought, there's only one thing that makes a noise like that. So I called Rose."
"What's wrong Rhee?" Rose asked. Rhee didn't say anything she just hugged Rose and cried. Rose rubbed Rhee's back. "Let's go get some tea and something to eat." Rose and Mickey helped Rhee to a nearby chip shop. Once there Rose called Jackie. Jackie showed up and knew what had happened to Rhee without her having to say.
"Have you tried that new pizza place down Minto Road?" he asked trying to start a normal conversion.
"What's it selling?" Jackie said.
"Pizza." he replied. Rose knew with that wide of an opening if Rhee didn't take it she was massively worried about the Doctor. Rose laid her hand on her best friend's shoulder.
"Rhee," she said. "I know you're worried about him, but he is the Doctor."
"Two hundred thousand years in the future, he's dying," Rhee choked out as she started to cry again.
"Well, like you said two hundred thousand years. It's way off." Jackie said. Rose tried to get her mom to shut up but it was too late.
"Jackie how STUPID can you truly be?" Rhee shouted. "Because it's now. That fight is happening right now, and he's fighting for us, for the whole planet, and we're just sitting here eating fries!"
"Listen to me." Jackie said. "God knows I have hated that man, but right now, I love him and do you know why? Because he did the right thing. He gave you a second chance."
"But what do I do every day, Jackie?" Rhee shouted. "What do I do? Get up, catch the bus, go to work, come back home, eat chips and go to bed? Is that it?"
"It's what the rest of us do." Mickey said.
"I already had that life!" Rhee shouted. "I don't want that now!"
"Why, because you think you're better than us?" he said. Rose elbowed him for that.
"No, it was. It was a better life." she said as all her anger left her. "And I don't mean all the traveling and seeing aliens and spaceships and things. That don't matter. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life. You know he showed you too. That you don't just give up. You don't just let things happen. You make a stand. You say no. You have the guts to do what's right when everyone else just runs away, and I just can't ever again!" She ran out of the chip shop. Rose followed her to a park.
"I'm sorry about my mum and Mick," Rose said.
"You don't have to," she said hoarsely from all the yelling she did as the shop.
"I know what you mean about a better life," Rose said. "Maybe we can get back to him."
"I know I can get back to him," Rhee said.
"Then why aren't you?" Rose asked.
"Because I can't do it alone!" Rhee cried, desperation thick in her voice.
"What is that?" Rose said as she pointed to the wall across from them, it said 'Emerald Dragon'. Rhee stood up and went over to it and sighed. Rose ran to another "Over here. It's over here as well!"
"That's been there for years." Mickey said as he walked up to them, Jackie behind him. "It's just a phrase. It's just words."
"No don't you see it's a message linking Rhee to the Doctor!" Rose said happily.
"But if it's a message, what's it saying?" Mickey said.
"It's telling us we can help her get back." Rose proclaimed. "The least I can do is help her be with him." Rose smiled at Rhee, who was still sad looking. Rose ran up to Rhee and grabbed her hand. Rose pulled Rhee all the way back to the TARDIS. "All the TARDIS needs to do is make a return trip. Just reverse."
"It's not that easy," Rhee said sadly.
"The Doctor always said the TARDIS was telepathic." Rose said. "This thing is alive. It can listen."
"It's not listening now, is it?" Mickey said as he finally caught up. Jackie entered shortly after him.
"Rhee," Rose said. "You said that you know how to get back to him." Rhee nodded. "Well how can we help you get back to him?"
"I need to get inside here." Rhee said as she patted the piece of the console that opened last time she saw them. "Last time I saw you, with the Slitheen, this middle piece opened, there was this light, and the Doctor said it was the heart of the TARDIS. If we can open it, I can make contact, and ask her directly to go back."
"Rose." Mickey said.
"Mm?" Rose asked as she turned back to him.
"This sounds dangerous," he said. "And you have told me how much you love Rhee but this would be sending her to her death."
"I have nothing Mickey-sama," Rhee said sadly. "My family died. And the only family I have left is what I have built here." She sighed and walked to him putting her hand on his shoulder. "And that includes you and Rose, just as much as the Doctor and Jack. I don't just abandon family."
"Okay, if that's how you feel, let's get this thing open." Mickey said and Rhee smiled.
"Though sadly your Mini isn't enough to open this panel." Rhee said.
"Lock the door." Jackie said. "Walk away. You may not be my daughter but she told me how you protected her. You have family here."
"My Mum wouldn't give up," Rhee said.
"Well, she's not here, is she?" Jackie said. "And even if she was, she'd say the same. No mother would let their child kill themselves."
"No, she wouldn't." Rose said. "I have never met Rhee's mom but if she is anything like Rhee or Dad she would tell her to fight. And so would Dad. He'd tell us to try anything. If we could save the Doctor's life, try anything."
"Well, we're never going to know." Jackie said. "They're both gone!"
"Well, I know because I saw him." Rose said.
"Don't be ridiculous." Jackie said.
"The Doctor and Rhee took me back in time, and I saw Dad." Rose said.
"Don't say that." Jackie said.
"Remember when Dad died?" Rose asked. "There were two people with him. Two girls, a blonde girl, and a girl with brown hair. The blonde held his hand and the other girl held the hand of the blonde. You saw them from a distance, Mum. You saw them! Think about it. That was us." She gestured to herself and Rhee. "You saw me." She stressed me in that sentence.
"Stop it." Jackie cried.
"That's how good the Doctor and Rhee is." Rose said. "She helped me say goodbye."
"Stop it! Just stop it!" Jackie started to really cry and she ran out.
"If my Mini won't work then what will?" Mickey said trying to get Rose's mind back to the task at hand.
"Maybe your mom was right Rose," Rhee said as all three of them walked out of the TARDIS. "Maybe I should just get used to being on Earth again."
"I'm not having that," Both Mickey and Rose said.
"I'm not having you just, just give up now." Mickey said. "No way. We just need something stronger than my car. Something bigger." A large yellow van drove up.
"Something like that." Jackie got out and threw the keys at him.
"Right, you've only got this until six o'clock, so get on with it." she said. Rose and Rhee both were amazed at Jackie. Rhee had worried for a bit if Jackie would help her.
"Mum, where the hell did you get that from?" Rose asked.
"Rodrigo. He owes me a favor." Jackie said. "Never mind why, but you were right about your dad, sweetheart. He was full of mad ideas, and it's exactly what he would've done. Now, get on with it before I change my mind." Jackie looked at Rhee. "I'm sorry for saying that about your mum she is one hell of a woman to have raised such a great friend to my daughter."
"And you're one hell of a woman too," Rhee smiled. "Sorry for calling you stupid." She turned to Rose. "Stay out here I'll worry bout the inside." She hugged Rose. "Let's do this!" Rhee connected the van to the console and whispered, "I'm sorry." Turned to the opened doors and gestured for them to start. "Keep going!"
"Put your foot down!" Jackie shouted.
"Faster!" Rose shouted.
"Come on Mickey-sama," Rhee shouted. "Petal to the metal!"
"Keep going!" Jackie shouted.
"Come on, come on!" Rose shouted.
"Almost there!" Rhee shouted.
"Give it some more!" Jackie shouted. Suddenly the console panel burst open and Rhee looked dead into it. Making wishes with all her heart. Two wishes. 'I wish the Doctor was never lonely ever again,' and 'I wish he would be safe, I want him to protect him from the Daleks'.
"Rhee!" Rose cried out in fear for her friend's life.
"Rhee!" Jackie and Mickey shouted at the same time Rose cried out. The doors to the TARDIS slammed shut and gold enveloped the TARDIS and Rhee along with it. She felt warmth through out her body and she began to hear an alien voice sing to her. It was in an language she didn't understand and wasn't translated so she figured it was Gallifreyan.
Meanwhile on the Game Station, the TARDIS appeared where it was sitting not but a hour ago. The Doctor's eyes widened as the doors swung open revealing Rhee covered in a golden light. "What 've you done?" He asked with panic in his eyes.
"I looked into the TARDIS, and the TARDIS looked into me." she said in a voice that was different than her normal voice. He would almost say her voice was celestial.
"You looked into the Time Vortex." he said, fear in his voice. He was losing her. "Rhee, no one's meant to see that."
"This is the Abomination!" the Emperor on the screen said.
"Exterminate!" a Dalek said that wasn't too far away from them. She raised her hand as it fired, the beam disappeared before it even reached them.
"I am the Emerald Dragon." she said all accent was gone. "I create myself. I take the words, I scatter them in time and space. A message to lead myself here." She waved her hand and the words 'Emerald Dragon' floated away.
"Rhee, you've got to stop this." he said. "You've got to stop this now. You've got the entire vortex running through your head. You're going to burn." He was worried about her. He knew no creature alive even one as fantastic as his Rhee could survive the vortex inside them.
"I want you safe." she said. He felt her love for him and was shocked by it. "My Doctor. Protected from the false god."
"You cannot hurt me. I am immortal." the Emperor said.
"You are tiny!" she proclaimed anger rich in her voice. "I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them." The Daleks start to fade away, into dust. "Everything must come to dust. All things. Everything dies. The Time War ends."
"I will not die. I cannot die!" the Emperor shouted over the screen then the screen turned off.
"Rhee, you've done it. Now stop. Just let go." he said.
"How can I let go of this?" she asked. "I bring life." He knew she revived Jack but he was wrong.
"But this is wrong!" the Doctor said as he got up from the floor. "You can't control life and death."
"But I can." she said. "The sun and the moon, the day and night. But why do they hurt?"
"The power's going to kill you and it's my fault." he said sadly.
"I can see everything. All that is, all that was, all that ever could be." she said. Images of her and the Doctor's wedding, then images of Pete's world.
"That's what I see. All the time. And doesn't it drive you mad?" he asked as he got closer.
"My head." she cried.
"Come here." he said as he grabbed her hands.
"It's killing me" she said tears rolling down her face.
"I think you need a Doctor." he said as he pulled her close and kissed her. The vortex transferred. He tried to keep his mind clear as it moved into him. He was able to keep his mind clear however his heart was another matter entirely. He had two wishes as well, 'I wish she was safe,' and 'I wish she didn't have to be alone anymore'. Once the vortex was free from Rhee, she fainted. He caught her, then released the vortex back to the TARDIS. Once he was done, he picked her up and carried her back into the TARDIS.
Sometime later she woke up. "What happened?" she asked because her head was so foggy. And for some reason her whole body ached.
"Don't you remember?" he asked as he looked at the monitor.
"It's all so foggy," she said. "I remember singing. Not me singing but someone else."
"That's right." he said in just. "I sang a song and the Daleks ran away."
"I was with Rose and fighting with Jackie," she said as she struggled to remember what happened but then she remembered what happened in the show and swallowed hard. She quickly stood up from where he had put her on the floor. She looked at him worried.
"Rhiannon Jane Riwitis." he said her name with such love it took her breath away. "I was going take you to so many places. Barcelona. Not the city Barcelona, the planet
Barcelona. You'd love it. Fantastic place. They've got dogs with no noses. Imagine how many times a day you end up telling that joke, and it's still funny."
"Then, we'll still go." she said.
"Maybe you will, and maybe I will." he said as she could see the pain on his face. "But not like this."
"That's OK," she said as tears filled her eyes. He doubled over in pain. "Doctor!" She took a step toward him.
"Stay away!" He shouted.
"What happening?" she asked even though she knew.
"I absorbed all the energy of the Time Vortex, and no one's meant to do that." he said. "Every cell in my body's dying."
"Can't we do something?" she asked, suddenly the pain in her own body became great. She felt like she was being ripped apart, but by some stroke of skill or luck she remained standing and the Doctor didn't notice that she was in a lot of pain too.
"Yeah, I'm doing it now." he said strained as he looked back at her. "Time Lords have this little trick, it's sort of a way of cheating death. Except it means I'm going to change, and I'm not going to see you again. Not like this. Not with this daft old face. And before I go, I just want to tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And do you know what?" She shook her head. "So was I." He grinned at her the burst into a golden light revealing the Doctor's next incarnation.
"Hello." he said in his new south London accent. "Okay. Oo, new teeth. That's weird. So, where was I? Oh, that's right. Barcelona." He grinned at her. He dashed over the console and started to set a coarse for Barcelona. "6 PM... Tuesday... " Rhee watch with great amusement. "October... 5006... On the way to Barcelona!" He stands up and looks at her with a grin on her face. "Now then... what do I look like?" She goes to say something and then he stopped her. "No, no no, no no no no no no no. No. Don't tell me." She stared at him in awe. "Let's see... two legs, two arms, two hands... " He grabbed his wrist and gave it a twist. "Slight weakness in the dorsal tubercle." She smiled because she knew hair was next. "Hair! I'm not bald! Oh, Oh! Big hair!" He felt down the side of his face. "Sideburns, I've got sideburns! Or really bad skin."
"Sideburns," she said.
"Little bit thinner... " he said as he slapped his stomach. "That's weird. Give me time, I'll get used to it." He felt under his shirt and found a mole in the middle of his back. "I... have got... a mole. I can feel it. Between my shoulder blades, there's a mole." He smiled as he rolled his shoulders to see if the mole caused movement problems. "That's all right. Love the mole." He finally turned to her and they smiled at each other. "Go on then, tell me. What do you think?"
"Do you want the honest truth?" she asked. He nodded slowly worried that she didn't like how he looked. "Foxy." She smiled at him.
"Foxy?" he asked.
"Well I have a few other words to describe you but I think those I will keep to myself until a later date," she said with a sly smile. A smile he had never seen on her, he couldn't tell if it was a good smile or a bad smile. "Sadly I'm gonna have to ask ya to take me back to Rose for a moment, 'cause I left and know she would want to know if I'm OK."
"Alright cancel Barcelona." He said. "Change to... London... the Powell Estate... ah... let's say the 24th of December." He looked over at her with a smile. "Consider it a Christmas present." She moved to the console because if her memory served her right his regeneration was going to go wrong very soon. "There." He gagged and a look of fear crossed his face. "Uh oh."
"You alright?" she asked as panic laced her voice. He coughed and a bit of regeneration energy came out of his mouth.
"The change is going a bit wrong and all." he said. He gagged again then coughed. "I haven't used this one in years." He pulled a switch and the TARDIS shook. It nearly knocked her over.
"What'd you do?" she exclaimed.
"Putting on a bit of speed! That's it!" he shouted with a crazy look in his eye. She tried to hold on, but with every button he pressed, she was jerked and she could her the TARDIS cry out. "My beautiful ship! Come on, faster! That's a girl!" She was worried about him but she was also worried about what he could do to the TARDIS in this state. "Faster! Wanna to break the time limit?"
"Stop it! You're hurting her!" she cried out.
"Ah, don't be so dull... let's have a bit of fun!" he said sounding crazier by the minute. "Let's rip through that vortex!" He looked up to see the look of anger in her face. "The regeneration's going wrong. I can't stop myself." He grimaced pain. "Ah, my head..." He pushed more buttons. "Faster! Let's open those engines!"
"What's that?" she asked as a warning bell rang. Suddenly he was beside her.
"We're gonna crash land!" he said sounding crazy and happy. He laughed like a manic.
"Well then, do something!" she shouted at him. "I don't want the TARDIS hurt!" She felt another stabbing pain run through her body. "Ah!"
"Too late! Out of control!" he giggled. "Oh, I love it! Hot dog!" He jumped around as the TARDIS kept shaking. She held on tight trying to just stay standing. "Christmas Eve...!"
Notes: This ends Shattered hearts. Next up is Mending Hearts. Which is second in the series.
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