40Thanks for all the reviews! A big shout out to my fellow Australian Laura (aka aussieflower) - thank you for the message and kind words!
Now, on with the story...
It was dark when Rose woke. She sat up suddenly, gun in hand until she realised where she was and relaxed slightly. Tucking the gun back into the back of her jeans, she listened to the quiet hum of voices below her before standing up and heading out of the room.
It was dinnertime downstairs and the almost 30 members of the household were greedily gulping down their meagre servings of stew, the only meal of the day.
"Rose!" Sarah-Jane called from her position in the kitchen. "I saved you a serve."
"I'm not hungry thanks," Rose replied as she moved through the crowded rooms. "Give it to someone who needs it more."
"You have to eat," someone spoke up. Her names Ebony, thought Rose. "You need your strength here; if you don't eat you die."
Rose nodded her head in acknowledgement and took the bowl from Sarah-Jane. She dipped her finger in and brought it to her mouth. It was disgusting; its watery consistency tasted like rotten cabbage and carrot, mixed in with chicken noodle soup. Trying not to grimace, lose brought the bowl to her mouth and downed the foul mixture in a few large gulps.
"Awful, isn't it?" Sarah-Jane commented.
"Just a bit," Rose agreed putting the bowl down on the sink.
"But food is food, and it's all we have," said Sarah-Jane. "Now Rose, if you feel up to it I'd really like to know how it is you are here."
"It's a long story," Rose warned.
"We have nothing but time," Sarah replied.
Taking seats at the recently vacated table, Rose began. "It started at the Battle of Canary Warf. Do you remember that?"
Sarah nodded, as did a number of people around them who had begun to listen.
"We were there, the Doctor and me. And my mum and Mickey; even my dad from a parallel universe. The Doctor worked out that the only way to stop the daleks and the cybermen was to pull them all into the void, but him, Mickey and my dad and me were all covered in voidstuff – it's like radiation you get from crossing the void – so we would have got dragged in too. He used the Dimension Cannon that Mickey had created to send us all to the parallel world so we would be safe. He tried to get me to stay there but I wouldn't, I came back. The Doctor and I opened the void and held onto some clamps to stop from being dragged in, but I slipped and fell. I would have ended up in the void if it wasn't for my dad – he came back through and caught me as I fell. And then we were back in the parallel universe, the void closed and I was stuck."
Rose paused and took a deep shuddering breath. The room was silent; everybody was listening now, hanging onto her every word. Finally she continued.
"I don't know how long it's been in this universe, but I was stuck there for three years. But I wasn't just doing nothing; I was working on a way of getting myself back. My dad, he is head of an organisation called Torchwood that deals with aliens and the likes so I was working for them. We were working on getting the Dimension Cannon operational again, and a month ago we succeeded. Since then I've been hoping through different universes. I thought I had landed in another alternate universe, and it wasn't until you recognised me Sarah-Jane, that I realised I had the right one," Rose finished. "And now, I would like someone to tell me what the hell is going on here, because this is nothing like the earth I left three years ago!"
Between the group of them, they explained to Rose the events of the year since Harold Saxon had been elected Prime Minister.
"You all voted for him?" Rose asked in disbelief.
"Well, we didn't know!" someone protested. "He sounded so good, and right… it wasn't like we knew he was a psycho!"
"Sorry," Rose said quickly.
There was a pause before another man in the back of the room spoke up. "This Doctor of yours, does he have a blue box?"
"Yes!" Rose exclaimed, standing up quickly. "How did you know?"
The man pushed his way to the front of the room. "I was in London, back when it all started. There was this girl, Martha Jones her name was."
A number of people around the room started murmuring. "Martha Jones, you've met Martha Jones?" someone asked disbelievingly.
"Quiet!" Sarah-Jane called. "Let Benji speak."
More confident now, the man called Benji continued. "She said she knew how to stop the Master. Then she told us a story, a story about a man called the Doctor. A man that travelled around in a blue box and that has saved the earth countless times. She said that we all have to think of the Doctor on the same day, at the exact same time." Benji paused. "I didn't believe her; how is thinking about some mystery man gunna stop the Master? But if you know him too… maybe her story was true."
Who is this mystery woman, Rose wondered. Putting that thought aside, she turned to Benji. "Right, I need to know every single detail of what Martha Jones said. Because I know the Doctor, and if anyone can save the world, it's him."
The next half an hour was spent listening to Benji tell his story. Every so often, someone else would speak up, adding a few words about what they had seen or heard. Together, they slowly pieced together the puzzle of Martha Jones and the Doctor, and finally Rose was confident she had the entire story. She stood up from the table.
"I've got to go Sarah," Rose said as she pulled on her jacket. "If telling this story will help the Doctor save the world, then that's what I have to do."
"It's too dangerous out there Rose! What if something happens to you? The Doctor will be devastated!" Sarah-Jane replied, trying to make her stay.
"If something happens to me, the Doctor will never even know I was here," Rose said harshly. "And you won't tell him."
"Well, if you won't stay, then Luke and I are coming with you," Sarah-Jane said.
"I still can't believe you have a son, amazing." Rose paused and looked directly at her. "I'm not going to be able to convince you otherwise, am I?"
"No."
"Okay then," Rose sighed. "But we have to leave now. It will be safer to move in the dark."
She turned to the group surrounding them. "You lot, you have to spread the story. Learn it from Benji and then tell everybody. When the time comes, every single person needs to be thinking of the Doctor. Okay?"
The group nodded eagerly; this was the first sign of hope they had had in a long time. Within five minutes, Sarah-Jane and Luke had collected their small piles of possessions and were saying goodbye to their friends. And then they were out the door and into the night.
- DW -
Cloaked in the darkness of night, they made their way silently across Cardiff. It was a slow process as they had to stop, and sometimes take detours whenever they came across a patrol – human soldiers or Toclafane.
The sun was just beginning to rise and the workers of the night shift return to their houses when they decided to stop and find shelter. They were in a business district, and the street was lined with glass from shattered window fronts. After checking to see that there were no metal spheres nearby, the trio slipped quietly inside the nearest shop.
Before the invasion it had been a modest electrical store, but everything of value had been stolen or trashed by looters long ago. Broken appliances and glass lay strewn across the floor, covered by a thick coating of dust.
Rose made her way straight to the back of the little shop and disappeared through a doorway. "There's an door out through the storeroom. I've jammed the door for now, but it'll be handy if we need to make a quick exit," she called softly back to Sarah-Jane. She came back into the store and began moving junk off the tables nearest the front windows.
"What are you doing?" Sarah asked curiously as her and Luke watched on.
"Making a barricade," she grunted as she tipped a table on its side. "It won't stop bullets but it will give us some cover from prying eyes and give us some warning if someone comes along."
Within a few minutes she had constructed a decent barrier between the broken windows and the rest of the shop. "There," she said, dusting off her hands. "As long we stay low, we should be able to move around without being spotted."
Rose then dug into the right front pocket of her jeans and after digging around for a moment she pulled an entire blanket from it. "Bigger on the inside," she explained to their astounded looks. "Now both of you should go and get some rest while I take first sentry duty. I've only got the one blanket sorry."
"Luke, you go get settled in. I'll be in in a little while," said Sarah-Jane.
"Okay mum," Luke replied taking the blanket and heading towards the storage room at the back of the shop.
Rose sat down behind the barricade, and Sarah copied her. From her position, Rose could see both ways down the street through gaps between the tables. As she sat, she pulled her gun out of its holster and placed it on the ground in front of her, then dug into her pocket again. From it she pulled another two pistols and a handful of ammunition magazines.
"I want you to take these," she said to Sarah-Jane, holding out one of the guns and some ammunition.
"Rose, I can't do that," Sarah replied with mixed emotions. "You know what the Doctor says; no guns."
"The Doctor isn't here to save us this time," Rose replied bluntly still holding out the weapon. "Think of Luke, Sarah-Jane. If you won't take it to protect yourself, as least take it for his sake."
There was silence for a moment before Sarah spoke hesitantly. "What have you been doing in that parallel world? The Rose I knew a year ago was a peaceful person; she would never even consider using a gun, let alone carrying three! You act like you are a soldier now."
"That Rose grew up," Rose said harshly, but then she sighed and her shoulders hunched over. "I'm sorry Sarah-Jane; that was rude. A lot has happened in the years I've been gone."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Sarah asked softly.
"Not particularly". There was silence, then Rose sighed again. "I work for Torchwood. I knew a lot about aliens – more than most of the people that worked there – so I was made the leader of a team pretty quick. It helped that the TARDIS was still in my head and translating alien languages, so I could speak on behalf of the human race. Most of the aliens we came across were friendly; some were looking for refuge, some had crashed, some were just after directions. But some of them weren't so friendly."
She paused and took a shuddering breath. "I've seen good people – my friends – be murdered by races that think that planets like ours are just theirs for the taking. I learnt pretty quickly that talking doesn't always work. Sometimes you have to fight to protect what's yours, and if being armed and prepared to use it means we lose less human lives, that's something I'm willing to accept."
"Rose…" Sarah-Jane murmured.
"If I hadn't tried talking creatures out of taking over earth, then some of my friends would still be alive," Rose finished. "Please Sarah-Jane, take the gun."
"Okay, I'll take it," Sarah agreed albeit reluctantly. She picked the weapon up from where it was sitting on the floor, tucked it into her jeans like she had seen Rose do earlier and put the spare ammunition in her pocket.
"Now, about tonight," Rose said, changing the subject. "I think you and Luke should stay in the area and tell the story. I want to sneak into one of these rocket factories to see what they are doing for myself. We can meet back here at the change of shift in the morning."
"Okay," Sarah said. "But you promise to be careful. Don't take any risks; I want to see you back here safely."
"I will," Rose promised. "You should get some sleep Sarah. I will wake you in a few hours so you can take a turn at being sentry."
With that, Rose turned back to the road to keep a look out, and Sarah-Jane slipped away into the back room to sleep. A few minutes later Rose dug into her bigger on the inside pocket for a third time, this time pulling out a mobile phone. She typed out a quick message and pressed send, then settled in for what was most likely going to be a few uneventful hours.
I know Rose and Sarah-Jane might seem a bit OC, but I think that extreme times call for extreme measures and in a situation like this one you might be likely to turn away from your moral beliefs. Plus, as I said, Rose has had a lot of time in the parallel world and she has changed a lot.
Now, I have an important question for you. Hypothetically, you have a bunch of rockets/missiles that you want to get rid of. Do you A: make then faulty so they cant fly, or B: blow them up? Im quite partial to the blowing up idea, but I thought Id get your opinion too.
Please review and let me know what you think!