Tardis…
The Tardis is in a rather jerky flight.
"Hold that one down!" The Doctor said.
"I'm holding this one down." Rose said.
"Well, hold them both down."
"It's not going to work." Rose said, and she tries to stretch across half the console.
"Oi! I promised you a time machine and that's what you're getting. Now, you've seen the future, let's have a look at the past. 1860. How does 1860 sound?"
"So, what happened in 1860?" Weiss asked, as Jared is snacking on the chocolate chip cookies Ruby made.
"I don't know, let's find out. Hold on, here we go!"
"1860, is it gonna be old fashioned?" Ruby asked. "Like really old? Is it?"
"Yup." Jared said, smiling. "And both of you can wear those combat skirts to where we're going."
"This, in what sounds like an industrial revolution." Weiss said, looking down at her white combat skirt. "You sure that this is the perfect thing to wear?"
"Positive!"
"You must have thought ahead when asking Ruby and me to come with you guys for this."
"Yeah."
"I'm sure wherever the Doctor takes us, it will be cool." Ruby said, and the TARDIS materializes at the end of a snowy street.
The Doctor, Rose, Jared, Ruby, and Weiss, are lying on the floor. It must have been a rough landing.
"Blimey!" Rose said, shocked.
"You're telling me. Are you all right?" The Doctor asked, looking at Rose.
"Yeah. I think so. Nothing broken."
"You're definitely a backseat driver." Weiss said, lifting herself off the ground. "With your bad flying, I wonder if we made it?"
"Where are we?" Ruby asked, as Jared lifted her off the ground.
"I did it. Give the man a medal. Earth, Naples, December 24th, 1860." The Doctor said, looking at the TARDIS scanner.
"That's so weird. It's Christmas." Rose said.
"All yours."
"But, it's like, think about it, though. Christmas. 1860. Happens once, just once and it's gone, it's finished, it'll never happen again. Except for you. You can go back and see days that are dead and gone a hundred thousand sunsets ago. No wonder you never stay still."
"Not a bad life."
"Better with five. Come on, then." Rose said, walking towards the TARDIS doors.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" The Doctor asked.
"1860."
"Go out there dressed like that, you'll start a riot, Barbarella. There's a wardrobe through there. First left, second right, third on the left, go straight ahead, under the stairs, past the bins, fifth door on your left. Hurry up!"
"You're wearing that to 1860." Weiss said, looking at the outfit Jared is wearing. "A hoodie and a pair of jeans. Just wear a suit and tie."
"A suit and tie in the cold? This isn't a family Christmas get together. Or any parties that has my family there. Where I have to wear formal wear. Hoodies all the way!" Jared said, giving Ruby a high five. "Let Rose change her outfit. The Doctor will just change his coat, anyway."
"Ooo, you're gonna get in trouble with the Doctor later." Ruby said, as Jared nodded his head. "So, should we go back to Beacon now?"
"Nah, maybe after the Slitheen. I'll come with you guys and meet Team CFVY and Team SSSN."
"Team SSSN? You keep bringing that up." Weiss said, crossing her arms. "What kind of team name is that?"
"Says the one who loves to roast other people." Jared said, laughing a lot. "A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, and ghosts. Now that's gonna be fun for us, Little Red and ice queen."
Jared, Ruby, and Weiss, is walking around the console room when Rose entered it, appropriately coiffed and attired for 1860.
"Now that's what I call period clothing." Weiss said, and the Doctor is working under the TARDIS console. "You love your hoodies."
"So, they're comfortable and easy to wear!" Jared said, as he is leaning against the TARDIS console.
"When did you get into hoodies?" Ruby asked.
"Oh, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away."
"Blimey!" The Doctor said, stopping what he was doing, to stand up and look at the blonde.
"Don't laugh." Rose said.
"You look beautiful, considering."
"Considering what?"
"That you're human."
"You placed me and him in the same room on purpose, didn't you?" Weiss asked, looking at Jared.
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't." Jared said, shrugging his shoulders.
"I think that's a compliment." Rose said.
"Something tells me that it wasn't a compliment." Ruby said, sadly.
"You're definitely gonna stand out like us. Well, aren't you going to change?" Weiss asked.
"I've changed my jumper. Come on." The Doctor said.
"You stay there. You've done this before. This is mine.��� Rose said, and she opens the TARDIS doors.
Outside the Tardis…
"Ah, Christmas 1860 with Ruby Rose and Weiss Schnee." Jared said, when Rose steps gingerly out into the fallen snow. "All of these Christmases I could have with Team RWBY and Team JNPR."
"Ready for this? Here we go. History." The Doctor said.
Outside the theatre…
The Doctor, Rose, Ruby, Weiss, and Jared walk down the street while a choir sing God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen.
"Weiss, you look like a spoiled brat." Rose said, looking over at Weiss. "How come?"
"Well, it's a long story. And maybe I could explain it one day if you ever decide to go to Beacon with us." Weiss said, walking beside Ruby.
"But Beacon, your show, RWBY. It's all fiction here. An anime." Rose said. "How can I go there?"
"Maybe the Doctor can make some really cool bracelets. That lets us travel between universes." Ruby said, happily. "That would be so cool!"
��Bracelets?" Weiss asked, while they move on before the hearse stops. "Really?"
"Yeah."
The Doctor buys a newspaper, he then spoke, "I got the flight a bit wrong."
"I don't care." Rose said.
"It's not 1860, it's 1869."
"I don't care."
"And it's not Naples."
"I don't care."
"It's Cardiff."
That stops Rose in her tracks.
"Right."
"Cardiff, the one city that just screams boring today." Jared said, eating some chocolate chip cookies. "Want some?"
"Oh, yes, please!" Ruby said, and she began eating the cookies Jared had in his backpack. "Chips Ahoy, huh?"
"They're one of my favorites!" Jared said, happily. "But Cardiff back then, it's a bust. Cardiff now...as in the time period we're in...awesome!"
"How is this awesome?" Weiss asked, as they hear screaming nearby. "Oh, that's why it's awesome…"
"That's more like it!" The Doctor said, excitedly.
Theatre...
A blue gas entity is coming from the corpse and flying around the auditorium. The audience flees.
"Stay in your seats, I beg you. It is a lantern show. It's trickery." Dickens said.
"Excuse me." Sneed said.
"There she is, sir!" Gwyneth said.
"I can see that. The whole blooming world can see that!"
The police is arriving outside, blowing his whistle.
"Fantastic." The Doctor said.
"Now that's the coolest thing I've ever seen!" Ruby said, as the corpse collapses.
"Ah, Charles Dickens and ghosts, in Christmas 1860…" Jared said, grabbing Ruby's hand. "I definitely love this!"
"Did you see where it came from?" The Doctor asked.
"Ah, the wag reveals himself, does he? I trust you're satisfied, sir!" Dickens said.
Sneed and Gwyneth pick up the corpse.
"Hey!" Ruby said, activating her semblance, leaving a trail of rose petals behind, to go after Sneed and Gwyneth. "Come back here!"
"Oi! Leave her alone! Doctor, Ruby and I will get them." Rose said, running on foot to catch up with Ruby.
"Be careful!" Jared said, worried about his friends. "Team Rose!"
"Now that was intentional." Weiss said, crossing her arms. "I can tell."
"Did it say anything? Can it speak? I'm the Doctor, by the way." The Doctor said.
"Doctor? You look more like a navvie." Dickens said.
"What's wrong with this jumper?"
Outside the theatre…
"What're you doing?!" Ruby exclaimed, as she is now in front of Gwyneth and Sneed, with Rose Tyler behind her. "Leave her alone!"
"Oh, it's a tragedy, misses. Don't worry yourselves. Me and the master will deal with it. The fact is, this poor lady's been taken with the brain fever and we have to get her to the infirmary." Gwyneth said, looking at Ruby and Rose.
"She's cold. She's dead! Oh, my God, what'd you do to her?" Rose asked.
Sneed sneaks up behind Rose and puts a pad of cloth over her mouth. She struggles briefly then passes out. He also does the same to Ruby, for the silver-eyed girl to struggle too briefly before passing out.
"What did you do that for?" Gwyneth asked.
"They've seen too much. Get them in the hearse. Legs." Sneed said.
Theatre…
"Wow, that thing is made out of gas!" Weiss said, as the blue entity flies into a gas light. "You're right about today. It is awesome."
Outside the theatre…
"Rose!" The Doctor said.
"Ruby!" Weiss and Jared said at the same time.
"You're not escaping me with your friends, sir. What do you know about that hobgoblin, hmm? Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it?" Dickens asked.
"Yeah, mate. Not now, thanks. Oi, you! Follow that hearse!" The Doctor said, as he got into a nearby carriage with Weiss and Jared.
"I can't do that, sir." The driver said.
"Why not?"
"I'll tell you why not. I'll give you a very good reason why not. Because this is my coach." Dickens said.
"Well, get in, then. Move!" The Doctor said.
Coach...
The driver cracks the whip and the carriage moves down the street.
"Come on, you're losing them." The Doctor said, losing his patience.
"I should have walked and used my glyphs." Weiss said, letting out a sigh.
"Your semblance wouldn't have cut it for 1860." Jared said, looking over at Weiss. "It would be far too noticeable."
"Everything in order, Mister Dickens?" The driver asked.
"No! It is not!" Dickens said, angrily.
"What did he say?" The Doctor asked.
"Let me say this first. I'm not without a sense of humour."
"Dickens?"
"Yes."
"Charles Dickens?"
"Yes." Dickens said.
"Doctor, Weiss, meet the Charles Dickens." Jared said, laughing a lot. "This is the real reason why I said that Cardiff was boring until today."
"Should I remove the lady and gentlemen, sir?" The driver asked.
"Charles Dickens? You're brilliant, you are. Completely one hundred percent brilliant. I've read them all. Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and what's the other one, the one with the ghost?" The Doctor asked, rambling on like no tomorrow.
"A Christmas Carol?" Dickens asked.
"No, no, no, the one with the trains." The Doctor said.
"I believe you're looking for the Signal Man, Spaceman." Jared said, still laughing. "I'm more for Shakespeare, but what can I do? That won't happen for a while."
"The Signal Man, that's it. Terrifying! The best short story ever written. You're a genius." The Doctor said, still fanboying.
"When I thought Blake was the worst who liked dusty old books." Weiss said, sadly. "And who liked to read them."
"You want me to get rid of them, sir?" The driver asked.
"Er, no, I think they can stay." Dickens said.
"Honestly, Charles. Can I call you Charles? I'm such a big fan." The Doctor said.
"A what? A big what?"
"Fan. Number one fan, that's me."
"How exactly are you a fan? In what way do you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool?"
"Not that type of fan." Weiss said, rolling her eyes. "It means you like something, you're in love with it. Devoted to it. Wish I could be in something more exciting than sitting in a carriage."
"Mind you, I've got to say, that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what's that about? Was that just padding or what? I mean, it's rubbish, that bit." The Doctor said.
"I thought you said you were my fan." Dickens said, looking at the Doctor.
"Ah, well, if you can't take criticism. Go on, do the death of Little Nell, it cracks me up. No, sorry, forget about that. Come on, faster!"
"Who exactly is in that hearse?"
"Two of our friends. Rose is only nineteen and Ruby is only fifteen. It's my fault. They're in my care, and now they're in danger." The Doctor said.
"And Ruby is the leader of my team." Weiss said, looking at Dickens. "We have to save her. And Rose, too, I guess."
"Why are we wasting my time talking about dry old books? This is much more important. Driver, be swift! The chase is on!" Dickens said.
"Yes, sir!" The driver said.
"Attaboy, Charlie." The Doctor said, smiling.
"Nobody calls me Charlie." Dickens said.
"The ladies do."
"How do you know that?"
"I told you, I'm your number one…"
"Number one fan."
"For the record, I'm not calling him that." Weiss said. "Blake might."
Chapel of Rest…
"The poor girls are still alive, sir! What're we going to do with them?" Gwyneth asked, looking down at Ruby and Rose.
"I don't know! I didn't plan any of this, did I. It isn't my fault if the dead won't stay dead." Sneed said.
"Then whose fault is it, sir? Why is this happening to us?" Gwyneth asked, and she left the room with Sneed.
The gas lamp flares and there are whispered voices.
Hallway…
"I did the Bishop a favour, once. Made his nephew look like a cherub even though he'd been a fortnight in the weir. Perhaps he'll do us an exorcism on the cheap." Sneed said, as someone knocks on the door. "Say I'm not in. Tell them we're closed. Just, just get rid of them."
(Jared's POV)
Front door…
Sneed goes back down the corridor. Rose and Ruby wakes up as blue gas from the lamp animates young Mister Redpath, who had been placed in a coffin.
Gwyneth opens the front door to Charles Dickens, Weiss Schnee, the Doctor, and I.
"I'm sorry, sir. We're closed." Gwyneth said.
"No, you're not closed." Weiss said, getting ready to be all critical and get her roasting stage on. "This is a morgue. A place to watch over the dead. Since when does it need office hours?"
"Especially Undertakers. The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master." Dickens said, agreeing with Weiss.
"He's not in, sir." Gwyneth said.
"Don't lie to me, child. Summon him at once."
"I'm awfully sorry, Mister Dickens, but the master's indisposed."
"So, are you having gas problems?" I asked, when a gas lamp flares. "It should be easy to fix like a video game."
"What the Shakespeare is going on?" Dickens asked.
"Doctor, sonic." I said, and the Doctor handed me his sonic screwdriver. "Thanks."
I took out my phone and asked the sonic screwdriver at it to give it universal roaming. I then proceeded to call Ruby Rose.
"What are you doing?" Weiss asked, as I tossed the Doctor back his sonic screwdriver.
"Making sure that the ghosts don't get Ruby." I said, as I immediately called Ruby. "Come on, pick up, pick up."
Chapel of Rest…
Rose sees her other companion, that isn't Ruby.
"Are you all right? You're kidding me, yeah? You're just kidding. You are kidding me, aren't you?" Rose asked, and Ruby answered the phone call. "Who's calling you?"
"Jared." Ruby said, holding her Scroll near her ear. "This is kind of a bad time right now."
Redpath climbs out of the coffin and walks zombie-like towards them.
"I don't think they're kidding, Rose." Ruby said, ending the call, as she runs for the door with Rose. "We need to get out of here."
Front door…
"We don't have time for this." Weiss said, barging her way through, with me right behind the ice queen. "We need to find Ruby and Rose."
"Yeah!" I said, and the Doctor goes past Gwyneth to the flaring gas lamp. "Ruby is my top priority right now!"
"The three of you are not allowed inside." Gwyneth said.
"There's something inside the walls." The Doctor said, while Mrs Redpath reanimates in her coffin. "The gas pipes. Something's living inside the gas."
Chapel of Rest…
"Let us out!" Rose said, angrily.
"They're just ghosts." Ruby said, taking out her Crescent Rose, and putting it into scythe mode. "I can take them down!"
"Not without hurting them!" Rose said, as Ruby nodded her head, with the silver-eyed girl deactivating her weapon. "Just let us out!"
Front door…
"Open the door!" Rose said.
"That's Team Rose." I said, smiling. "Ruby Rose and Rose Tyler!"
"Please, please, let us out!" Rose said.
Hallway..
The Doctor runs down the corridor behind Weiss and me and into Sneed.
"How dare you, sir." Sneed said, looking at Dickens. "This is my house!"
"Shut up." Dickens said.
"I told you." Sneed said, looking at Gwyneth.
Chapel of Rest…
"Let us out! Somebody open the door! Open the door!" Rose said, as Redpath grabs her.
"Oh, no...you don't." Weiss said, kicking the door inwards. "You're not taking her."
"Weiss!" Ruby said, and the Doctor is next to me. "Jared!"
"Hello, Little Red." I said, smiling. "Crescent Rose couldn't help?"
"Well, they're no Grimm." Ruby said, sadly.
"I think this is my dance." The Doctor said, pulling Rose away from Redpath.
"It's a prank. It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence." Dickens said.
"No, we're not under some mesmeric influence." Weiss said. "Meet the walking dead."
"The Walking Dead!" I said, laughing a lot. "And this is something Supernatural."
"Hi." The Doctor said, looking at Rose.
"Hi. Who's your friend?" Rose asked, looking at Charles Dickens.
"Charles Dickens."
"Okay."
"My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?"
Redpath replies with several voices. "Failing. Open the rift. We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us. Argh!"
The gas leaves Redpath and his mother and returns to the gas lamp. The corpses collapse.
Living room…
Gwyneth pours tea.
"First of all you drug us, then you kidnap us, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man." Rose said, angrily.
"I won't be spoken to like this!" Sneed said, annoyed.
"Then you stuck me and Ruby in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave me to die! So come on, talk!"
"You harm one of my best friends! And you almost killed her by sticking her in a room full of ghosts. Or zombies! Whatever they're called!" Weiss said, going on the same roasting level as Rose. "You have a lot of explaining to do, old man."
"It's not my fault. It's this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs, the er, dear departed started getting restless." Sneed said, sadly.
"Tommyrot." Dickens said.
"You witnessed it. Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps."
"Five sugars, one cream." Gwyneth said, handing Ruby Rose her cup of coffee. "Just how you like it, miss."
"Thanks." Ruby said, drinking her cup of coffee. "And cookies on the side too?"
"Ruby, you're just so innocent and pure." I said, happily. "Maybe that's why I like you."
Gwyneth places the Doctor's cup on the mantlepiece beside him, "Two sugars, sir, just how you like it."
"One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service. Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned." Sneed said, recalling what happened.
"Morbid fancy." Dickens said.
"Don't deny it, Mr. Dickens." Weiss said, crossing her arms. "You were there."
"I saw nothing but an illusion."
"If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up. What about the gas?" The Doctor asked.
"That's new, sir. Never seen anything like that." Sneed said.
"Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through." The Doctor said.
"So, what's the rift?" Ruby asked. "Is it good?"
"Sometimes good, sometimes bad." I said, smiling. "It depends on what can come out of it. It's a weak point in time and space, Ruby…"
"A connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time." The Doctor said, as I nodded my head.
"That's how I got the house so cheap. Stories going back generations." Sneed said, as Dickens slams the door as he leaves. "Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine."
Hallway…
"So, Christmas 1860." Weiss said, as she is walking down a hallway with Ruby and me. "Charles Dickens and ghosts. Well, what's 'A Christmas Carol?'"
"You've never read that story?" I asked, as Ruby is drinking another cup of coffee. "Or at least watched a play of it?"
"Well, that story must be one we would like." Ruby said, grinning, after sipping some more of her coffee. "What's it about?"
"Oh, it's this story. A story where a rich old man hates Christmas. He basically hated everyone, makes them work overtime. Especially during Christmas." I said, pausing to think about what happens next.
"He sounds like my dad. I am a heiress to the Schnee Dust Company after all." Weiss said, proudly. "What happens next?"
"Three ghosts visits this man on Christmas Eve to show him the error of his ways. The ghost of Christmas Past, well, they show the rich old man his past. About what he was like before he was rich, so outgoing and carefree. From childhood to young adulthood."
"And people know this story?" Weiss asked. "For how long?"
"Centuries." I said, shrugging my shoulders. "The ghost of Christmas present shows the rich old man the present day. And what is going on with one of his employees. He sees how poor they are."
"Let me guess, the ghost of Christmas future comes! It shows him that bad things happened! He must have died, people robbed from him. And one of the family members died!" Ruby said, excitedly, now intrigued about the story.
"It is a bit generic when you think about it." Weiss said, crossing her arms. "A children's story with elements that are dark. And not made for kids."
"But the ending gets me every single time. The old man, after knowing that he died in the future. And one of the children of his employees being dead too. He decided to change his ways, and be good and help out others!" I said, happily. "Maybe I'm misremembering this story. I don't know for sure!"
"Jared, you're not as bad as I thought." Weiss said, letting out a sigh. "You were as bad as Ruby, when I first met her. But now, I see that things will turn out nicely."
"We're basically just exploring this old house." Ruby said, and I nodded my head. "Finding clues?"
"Nah, I just don't want to listen to what I already know." I said, looking at Ruby. "The Doctor and Charles Dickens talk about the supernatural. And Rose and Gwyneth are talking about the maid's psychic abilities. I think."
"Oh." Ruby said, as she grabbed my hand, dragging me away from Weiss. "So, let's check up on them!"
"I'm not sure that doing it is a good idea." Weiss said, sadly. "It could go wrong."
(Open POV)
Pantry...
Gwyneth lights the gas lamp. Rose starts the washing up, "Please, miss, you shouldn't be helping. It's not right."
"Don't be daft. Sneed works you to death. How much do you get paid?" Rose asked.
"Eight pound a year, miss." Gwyneth said.
"How much?"
"I know. I would've been happy with six."
"So, did you go to school or what?"
"Of course I did. What do you think I am, an urchin? I went every Sunday, nice and proper."
"What, once a week?"
"We did sums and everything. To be honest, I hated every second."
"Me too."
"Don't tell anyone, but one week, I didn't go and ran on the heath all on my own."
"I did plenty of that. I used to go down the shops with my mate Shareen. We used to go and look at boys." Rose said.
"Well, I don't know much about that, miss." Gwyneth said.
"Come on, times haven't changed that much. I bet you've done the same."
"I don't think so, miss."
"Gwyneth, you can tell me. I bet you've got your eye on someone."
"I suppose. There is one lad. The butcher's boy. He comes by every Tuesday. Such a lovely smile on him."
"I like a nice smile. Good smile, nice bum."
"Well, I have never heard the like."
"Ask him out. Give him a cup of tea or something, that's a start."
"I swear it is the strangest thing, miss. You've got all the clothes and the breeding, but you talk like some sort of wild thing."
"Maybe I am. Maybe that's a good thing. You need a bit more in your life than Mister Sneed."
"Oh, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Thank you, miss. But I'll be with them again, one day, sitting with them in paradise. I shall be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your dad's up there waiting for you too, miss."
"Maybe. Er, who told you he was dead?" Rose asked.
"I don't know. Must have been the Doctor and Jared." Gwyneth said.
"My father died years back."
"But you've been thinking about him lately more than ever."
"I suppose so. How do you know all this?"
"Mister Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you've got dozens of servants, haven't you, miss?"
"No, no servants where I'm from."
"And you've come such a long way."
"What makes you think so?"
"You're from London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that. All those people rushing about half naked, for shame. And the noise, and the metal boxes racing past, and the birds in the sky, no, they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you, you've flown so far. Further than anyone. But not as far as Jared Shay, Teams RWBY and JNPR. The things you've seen. The darkness, the big bad wolf. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, miss." Gwyneth said.
"It's all right." Rose said.
"I can't help it. Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it."
"I think now is our cue, ladies." Jared said, entering the room with Ruby and Weiss.
"Your visions, they're getting stronger." Weiss said, looking at Gwyneth. "And more powerful overtime."
"Well, you must be special then. With that much power…" Ruby said, sadly. "That much power for you to have."
"Is that right?" The Doctor asked, also coming into view.
"All the time, ladies and gentlemen. Every night, voices in my head." Gwyneth said.
"You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key."
"I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts."
"Well, that should help. You can show us what to do."
"What to do where, sir?"
"We're going to have a seance."
Living room...
Everyone is gathered around a table.
"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town. Come, we must all join hands." Gwyneth said.
"I can't take part in this." Dickens said, angrily.
"Don't be such a Scrooge." Jared said, scoffing.
"Humbug? Come on, open mind." The Doctor said, agreeing with Jared.
"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask. Seances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing." Dickens said, angrily.
"Don't make fun of Gwyneth like that. She's a nice girl. A spirit medium, is a happy medium." Ruby said, smiling.
"Yeah, don't antagonise her. I love a happy medium." The Doctor said.
"I can't believe you just said that." Rose said.
"Come on, we might need you." The Doctor said, and Dickens sits down between Ruby and Weiss. "Good man. Now, Gwyneth, reach out."
"Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden." Gwyneth said.
The whispering starts.
"Can you hear that?" Rose asked.
"Yeah, I can." Jared said, nodding his head. "Who you gonna call? Ghostbusters! I ain't afraid of no ghosts!"
"Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly." Dickens said.
"Look at her." Rose said.
"I see them. I feel them." Gwyneth said, and gas tendrils drift above their heads.
"What's it saying?"
"They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through." The Doctor said, looking at Gwyneth.
"I can't!" Gwyneth said.
"Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link."
"Yes." Gwyneth said, as blue outlines of people appear behind her.
"Great God! Spirits from the other side." Sneed said.
"They must be from the other side of the universe." Jared said, smiling. "Solid, liquid gas. Gasoline. Petroleum. Diesel. Just throwing it out there!"
"Now that is really cool!" Ruby said, looking at the ghosts. "I like this."
"More like creepy." Weiss said, crossing her arms.
The figures speak with two children's voices, and Gwyneth speaks with them.
"Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us." The Gelth said.
"What do you want us to do?" The Doctor asked.
"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge."
"What for?"
"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction."
"Why, what happened?"
"Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came."
"What war? Sorry, we don't know wars from here." Weiss said, out of the loop. "Only some of the major ones that Jared told us."
"The Time War. The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away. We're trapped in this gaseous state." The Gelth said.
"So that's why you need the corpses." The Doctor said.
"We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us."
"We can't give them corpses!" Ruby said, looking at the Doctor.
"Yeah, we can't." Rose said, agreeing with Ruby.
"It's just wrong." Weiss said.
"Really wrong." Jared said, with a four vs one vote.
"Why not?" The Doctor asked.
"It's not. We mean, it's not…" Rose said.
"Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives." The Doctor said, looking at his four companions.
"Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth." The Gelth said, and they go back into the gas lamps and Gwyneth collapses across the table.
"Gwyneth?" Rose asked.
"All true." Dickens said.
"Are you okay?"
"It's all true."
"Ah, the walking dead." Weiss said, leaning against the wall. "You had to bring us here for this, Jared. We were perfectly safe inside the TARDIS."
"But you need to experience travel across time and space." Jared said, looking at Weiss. "It can't just happen within the TARDIS."
"Have you not seen the simulator room?"
"Jared is right though, we can always go back to Beacon at any time." Ruby said, reassuring Weiss. "The portal to our world is still there."
"Right, let's just lay you down here." Rose said, and Gwyneth has been laid on the chaise longue. "It's all right. You just sleep."
"But my angels, miss. They came, didn't they? They need me?" Gwyneth asked.
"They do need you, Gwyneth. You're they're only chance of survival." The Doctor said.
"I've told you, leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles. Drink this." Rose said, passing Gwyneth a glass of water.
"Well, what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again. What are they?' Sneed asked.
"Aliens." The Doctor said.
"Like foreigners, you mean?"
"Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there."
"Brecon?"
"Close. And they've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes."
"Which is why they need the girl." Dickens said.
"They're not having her." Rose said.
"But she can help. Living on the rift, she's become part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge and let them through." The Doctor said.
"Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers." Dickens said.
"Good system. It might work."
"Yeah, the dead walking like no tomorrow, it can't happen." Ruby said, walking away with Jared and Weiss.
"It honestly can't." Jared said, knowing that the Doctor and Rose are arguing nearby. "I know what I want to happen. And it's not that."
"Ghosts possessing humans. That's something supernatural. But alien ghosts, that's a whole different story." Weiss said.
"It really is."
"The Gelth can't use Gwyneth as a vessel." Ruby said, annoyed. "It's pretty weird. And sad."
"Don't I get a say, miss?" Gwyneth asked, as Jared, Ruby, and Weiss walked back towards her and the others.
"Look, you don't understand what's going on." Rose said.
"You would say that, miss, because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid."
"That's not fair."
"It's true, though. Things might be very different where you're from, but here and now, I know my own mind, and the angels need me. Doctor, what do I have to do?"
"You don't have to do anything." The Doctor said, looking at Gwyneth.
"They've been singing to me since I was a child, sent by my mam on a holy mission. So tell me."
"We need to find the rift. This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mister Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?" The Doctor asked, now looking at Sneed.
"That would be the morgue." Sneed said.
"No chance you were going to say gazebo, is there?" Rose asked.
Morgue…
A cold basement where the recently departed lie under white sheets.
"Urgh. Talk about Bleak House." The Doctor said.
"Yeah, this place could do with a makeover." Weiss said, agreeing with the Doctor. "So damp, old, and creepy."
"The thing is, Doctor, the Gelth don't succeed, 'cos we know they don't. We know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869." Rose said.
"This is where I come in, when I used to be into a lot of science fiction." Jared said, frowning. "Well, time won't ever stay as it is. It's always changing, every single second. Your world, Rose. It can be rewritten, changed. With me, Ruby, and Weiss here. When we're not supposed to be…"
"It means that nothing is safe. Whatever changes we make, and if we can ever go back home. The future could change, if we die here." Ruby said, sadly. "Jared, how old am I gonna be after the Vytal Tournament?"
"16, I guess." Jared said, rubbing the back of his head. "But that's gonna be with a time gap, Ruby."
"Doctor, I think the room is getting colder." Dickens said.
"Here they come." Rose said.
A Gelth comes out of a gas lamp by the door and stands under a stone archway, "You've come to help. Praise the Doctor. Praise him."
"Promise you won't hurt her."
"Hurry! Please, so little time. Pity the Gelth." The Gelth said.
"I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, all right?" The Doctor asked.
"My angels. I can help them live." Gwyneth said.
"Okay, where's the weak point?"
"Here, beneath the arch." The Gelth said.
"Beneath the arch." Gwyneth said, and she stands under the arch, inside the Gelth.
"Gwyneth, stop!" Ruby said, looking at the maid. "Please!"
"You can change your mind." Weiss said, agreeing with Ruby. "You can turn back now!"
"You don't have to do this." Rose said.
"My angels." Gwyneth said.
"Establish the bridge. Reach out to the void. Let us through!" The Gelth said.
"Yes, I can see you. I can see you. Come!"
"Bridgehead establishing."
"Come to me. Come to this world, poor lost souls!"
"It is begun. The bridge is made." The Gelth said, and Gwyneth opens her mouth, and blue gas comes out. "She has given herself to the Gelth. The bridge is open. We descend." The sweet blue apparition turns flame red with sharp teeth. It's voice deepens and hardens. "The Gelth will come through in force."
"You said that you were few in number." Dickens said.
"A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses." The Gelth said, as the dead get up.
"Gwyneth, stop this. Listen to your master. This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone, I beg of you…" Sneed said.
"Mister Sneed, get back!" Rose said, worried.
A corpse grabs Sneed and snaps his neck. A Gelth zooms into his mouth.
"I think it's gone a little bit wrong." The Doctor said.
"Ya think?" Weiss asked, backing away with the Doctor, Rose, Jared, and Ruby.
"This isn't our day." Jared said, frowning. "You guys can attack now."
"With what?" Ruby asked, as she looked down at her Crescent Rose. "Oh…"
"I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come, march with us." Sneed said.
"No." Dickens said.
"We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead." The Gelth said.
"Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back now!" The Doctor said, angrily.
"Six more bodies. Convert them. Make them vessels for the Gelth." The Gelth said.
Dead Sneed backs Rose, the Doctor, Weiss, Ruby, and Jared up against a metal gate.
"Doctor, I can't. I'm sorry. This new world of yours is too much for me. I'm so…" Dickens said, scared.
The Doctor, Rose, Ruby, Weiss, and Jared hide behind the metal gate, where the corpses cannot reach them.
"Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth." The Gelth said.
"I trusted you. I pitied you!" The Doctor said.
"We don't want your pity. We want this world and all it's flesh."
"Not while I'm alive."
"Then live no more."
Dickens runs out of the house, but blue gas seeps out round the door. He runs down the street, chased by a Gelth.
"But I can't die. Tell me I can't. I haven't even been born yet. It's impossible for me to die. Isn't it?" Rose asked.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor said.
"Ruby, Weiss, I have a plan." Jared said, looking at White Rose. "Mix your fire and water dusts."
"Why?" Ruby asked, taking out her Crescent Rose and she is doing as she is told. "What could it do here?"
"Oh." Weiss said, changing the settings of her Myrtenaster to have the water and fire dusts at the front. "Why didn't I think of that sooner?"
"Because I want us to be one step ahead of the Doctor and Charles Dickens." Jared said, laughing a lot. "That's why!"
"But it's 1869. How can we die now?" Rose asked.
"Time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the twentieth century, you could be born in another universe, and die in the nineteenth century and it's all my fault. I brought you four here." The Doctor said.
"It's not your fault. We wanted to come."
"What about me? I saw the fall of Troy, World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm going to die in a dungeon in Cardiff."
"It's not just dying. We'll become one of them."
"Those two could be so slow sometimes." Weiss said, holding out her Myrtenaster. "How long until Charles Dickens comes back here?"
"A minute, tops." Jared said, as Ruby and Weiss have their weapons ready with the fire and water dusts. "That's when."
"I hope it isn't long." Ruby said. "I don't want to die here…"
"We'll go down fighting, yeah?" Rose asked.
"Yeah." The Doctor said.
"Together?"
"Yeah." The Doctor said, holding Rose's hand. "I'm so glad I met you."
"Me too."
Dickens runs in, "Doctor! Doctor! Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it, now!"
"What're you doing?" The Doctor asked.
"Turn it all on. Flood the place!"
"Brilliant. Gas."
"Since when do you know so much about elemental dusts?" Weiss asked, looking at Jared.
"Duh, you!" Jared said, happily. "That's where. And I did look at some wiki pages back home ahead of time."
"What, so we choke to death instead?" Rose asked.
"Yup, that's the plan!" Ruby said, aiming her Crescent Rose at the Gelth. "Jared did figure it out first!"
"Well, he did watch this on the telly."
"Am I correct, Doctor? These creatures are gaseous." Dickens said, looking at the Doctor.
"Fill the room with gas, it'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!" The Doctor said.
The corpses leave the Doctor, Rose, Jared, Ruby, and Weiss, and start shambling towards Dickens.
"I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately." Dickens said.
"Plenty more!" The Doctor said, riping a gas pipe from the wall.
"Even more than that!" Ruby said, as she and Weiss are releasing the mix of elemental dusts that consists of water and fire at the Gelth, to make steam/gas dust. "I think that's more than enough, don't you think?"
"Yeah." Weiss said, and the Gelth leave the corpses. "It's working."
The Doctor, Rose, Ruby, Weiss, and Jared come out of the alcove.
"Gwyneth, send them back. They lied. They're not angels." The Doctor said.
"Liars?" Gwyneth asked.
"Look at me. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!"
"I can't breathe." Rose said.
"Charles, get them out." The Doctor said.
"I'm not leaving her." Rose said.
"Yeah, we're staying." Ruby said, looking at Gwyneth.
"We're not leaving her, ever." Weiss said.
"We'll be fine." Jared said.
"They're too strong." Gwyneth said.
"Remember that world you saw? Rose's world? All those people. None of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift." The Doctor said.
"I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out." Gwyneth said, taking out a box of matches from her apron pocket.
"You can't!" Rose said, angrily.
"You don't have to do this!" Ruby said.
"Leave this place!" Gwyneth said.
"Rose, Jared, Ruby, Weiss, get out. Go now. I won't leave her while she's still in danger. Now go!" The Doctor said, as Rose, Dickens, Ruby, Weiss, and Jared leave. "Come on, leave give that to me."
Hallway…
"This way!" Dickens said.
"I can't believe we're doing this." Weiss said.
"We have to. Even if we don't want to. But I have a feeling...I don't know…" Ruby said, sadly.
"Me too, I wish time could be rewritten." Jared said, running behind Ruby and Weiss.
Morgue…
Gwyneth doesn't move. The Doctor feels for a pulse in her neck.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor said, as he kisses Gwyneth's forehead. "Thank you."
The Doctor runs out. Gwyneth opens the box and takes out a match. The Gelth swirl around her as the Doctor runs through the house.
Street…
The Doctor runs out and KaBOOM! The Doctor goes flying across the street.
"She didn't make it." Rose said, frowning.
"A girl like that, it's just…" Ruby said.. "I wish she did though."
"I'm sorry. She closed the rift." The Doctor said.
"At such a cost. The poor child." Dickens said, sadly.
"I did try, you lot, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes."
"What?" Weiss asked. "How could she have been already dead?"
"I think she was dead from the minute she stood in that arch."
"But she can't have. She spoke to us. She helped us. She saved us. How could she have done that?" Rose asked.
"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Even for you, Doctor." Dickens said.
"She saved the world. A servant girl. No one will ever know." Rose said.
"We'll know." Ruby said, showing a glimmer of hope.
Outside the Tardis…
"Right then, Charlie boy, I've just got to go into my, er, shed. Won't be long." The Doctor said.
"What are you going to do now?" Rose asked.
"I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital." Dickens said.
"You've cheered up." The Doctor said.
"Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I know I've just started. All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor. I'm inspired. I must write about them."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Weiss asked. "Writing about the Gelth?"
"Won't you get in trouble?" Ruby asked.
"I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this Earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word, tell the truth." Dickens said.
"Good luck with it. Nice to meet you. Fantastic." The Doctor said.
"Bye, then, and thanks." Rose said, as she shakes Dickens' hand then kisses his cheek.
"Oh, my dear. How modern. Thank you, but, I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?" Dickens asked.
"You'll see. In the shed." The Doctor said.
"Upon my soul, Doctor, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this. Who are you?"
"Just a friend passing through."
"But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor, do they last?"
"Oh, yes!"
"For how long?"
"They'll last forever!" Jared said, happily. "Throughout time and space. They'll be turned into films and such! And be told in many different play formats. And parodied on TV shows and films."
"Right. Shed. Come on, Team Rose, ice queen, and the fanboy." The Doctor said, as Ruby, Weiss, Rose, and Jared entered the TARDIS.
"In the box? All of you?" Dickens asked.
"Down boy. See you." The Doctor said, and he entered the TARDIS last.
Tardis…
"Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?" Rose asked.
"In a week's time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies. Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story." The Doctor said.
"Oh, no. He was so nice."
"But in your time, he was already dead. We've brought him back to life, and he's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie boy. Let's give him one last surprise."
Street…
The Tardis dematerialises in front of Charles Dickens' astonished eyes. He laughs, and walks away. Somewhere a choir sings Hark the Herald Angels.
"Merry Christmas, sir." A man said.
"Merry Christmas to you. God bless us, everyone!" Dickens said, happily.