Chapter 12: The Unquiet Dead
"You can't let them!" Rose stepped closer, her voice rising. She needed to make him understand what he was doing.
"Why not?" the Doctor stepped away from the wall to stand before Rose. "Because it's wrong? It's like recycling."
"It is nothing like that," Rose snapped. "And don't you dare bring up being a donor!" The Doctor blinked at that. How did she know he was going to say that? "You know why? I'll tell ya why! Because those people have a choice! They choose to be donors. The dead here? They don't! You've not giving them or their families a choice! It's disrespectful! Not just wrong!"
"It is different, Rose!" the Doctor insisted. "It's a different morality! I can't worry about a few corpses or how their families would feel when the last of the Gelth could be dying!"
"Would you be so accepting if they asked for the bodied of the other Time Lords?" Rose pointed out, trying to get him to see her point.
"Leave them out of this, Rose Tyler," the Doctor snarled dangerously at her.
"Why? Because it's a different morality?" she challenged, throwing his words back in his face. "The Gelth are dangerous! Why can't you see that? Or are you too wrapped up in your own guilt to see the signs?"
Rose could not remember a time when she saw the Doctor more angry. At least never at her. She could feel the TARDIS trying to get her to ease back, warn her. But the shots had been fired now. There was no going back.
"I wouldn't expect a pampered little ape like you to understand," the Doctor snapped, going for the throat so to speak. "You who never had to give a thing in your pathetic little life. You're just another stupid ape that I had the mistake of picking up. You think just because I told you about me you can use it against me? HA!" He laughed and the sound was so cold, it sent shivers up the spines of everyone who heard it. Rose stood her ground, even as it felt like he had punched her in the gut. "You are a stupid little ape, barely out of the trees. Do as I say. Don't forget who's in charge here."
"Obviously, NOT you," Rose snapped at him, even as the tears stung her eyes. "I don't follow orders blindly! I'm not some stupid ape who can't see a lie right in front of her. Mr. Sneed! Tell me, how did Mr. Redpath die?"
Sneed looked shaken as the Doctor and Rose turned to look at him.
"Um… he was murdered," Sneed stammered. At first he had been shocked to see and hear a woman speak as Rose was. Now he was deeply afraid as he watched the Doctor become more and more enraged. "He was killed… earlier tonight. By Mrs. Redpath."
Rose shot her hand out, as if saying 'See!?' towards Sneed. "And they tried to attack me when we opened the door, remember?"
The Doctor ground his molars together. How could she not see? This was his fault. He had to make it right. "Rose."
"What?" she snapped, clearly not wanting to hear his next excuse to justify this.
"Do. As. I say," he repeated slowly. "Or go. Home."
Rose's eyes widened to little circles of white surrounding whiskey brown. "What?" she breathed.
"You know what, nevermind," the Doctor said suddenly, stepping back. "After this, you're going home. This was all a mistake. I shouldn't have brought you with me. Stupid, stupid me. Getting tricked by another stupid ape."
Rose looked like someone had stabbed her in the chest. Her bottom lip trembled a little as she fought the pain his words caused. Swallowing, she straightened her spine and lifted her chin. She would be damned before she let the bastard see her tears over him. He left her twice before. Why did she think this Doctor would be any different?
"I don't care," Rose stated calmly. "They're not using her. Not if I have a say."
"Don't I get a say, miss?"
Rose turned quickly, looking in shock at Gwyneth.
"Don't I get a choice?" her voice was soft, gentle as Rose came back to her. She could see the blonde was trembling and fighting to hide it.
"Gwyneth," Rose whispered. "You don't understand…"
Gwyneth looked beyond Rose to look at the Doctor. His face was drawn still, stern looking. His eyes, however, looked shattered. Like someone just took his world from him. Swallowing, she looked back at Rose and touched her cheek.
'You would say that, Rose,' Gwyneth whispered in Rose's mind. 'I can see it all. Here. In your mind.'
'Then you know what will happen,' Rose told her. 'We can think of something else. Just, please.'
'It must happen,' Gwyneth closed her eyes. 'He needs to learn he can be wrong. And how much he really needs you.'
"Gwyneth," Rose started to say out loud.
"It's true," Gwyneth smiled softly, dropping her hand from Rose's cheek. "I know my own mind. And they need me. Doctor, what do I have to do?"
Dark eyes turned to him now. The Doctor blinked a few times, moving his gaze from Rose's hunched shoulders to Gwyneth's face. She was watching him with a look he had seen often in Rose's warm brown depths.
"You don't have to do anything," he told the servant girl softly.
Gwyneth shook her head and offered him a sad smile. "They've been singing to me since I was a child. So tell me."
The Doctor gave her an answering smile, but she could see how it failed to reach his eyes. Before when he and Rose had been fighting, they were bright and pale blue. Now, when he looked at Rose's back, they were dark, stormy and filled with such sadness her heart broke for him. She could already see his regret for his words.
"We need to find the rift," the Doctor told the room. Turning, he walked over to where Sneed and Charles had been silently watching. "This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mr. Sneed. What's the weakest part of the house? The place where most of the ghost have been seen?"
As the Doctor spoke, Rose turned slightly to watch him. Charles caught her look before she looked away. He turned to fix the Doctor with a disapproving frown. He knew he didn't really know them very well, he thought he knew their relationship based on the Doctor's actions and reactions to Rose. Now, the Doctor was ignoring the young woman and she looked like she was crushed but unwilling to surrender. Such a strong, bright woman should never have that look, Charles thought.
"Oh, that would be the morgue, sir," Sneed spoke up.
The room went silent.
….
The group decided to go all together, for safety and knowledge. The Doctor watched as Charles moved to escort Rose, since she refused to approach him. In fact, she had been refusing to even look at him. He couldn't understand why his hearts hurt so badly. He wanted to reach out for her hand, pull her back to his side. He was dying inside to lay his forehead against hers once more, tell her that he didn't mean it. He wouldn't take her home after this. The very thought of her being beyond where he could see her, touch her, felt like someone was tearing him apart. But she refused him. Rose offered Charles a little smile, and the Doctor saw the hint of tears. Another squeeze in his chest and he started to go to her. She was hurt. He hurt her. He was the one who put those tears in her eyes. He didn't deserve to be near her, he told himself. Maybe this would be better if she did leave him. Even as he thought that, his hearts rebelled. He knew it wasn't true.
Charles tried to cheer her up, she knew. He offered her a few encouraging words and offered to walk with her to the morgue if she wanted company. Rose only nodded. The fact that all too soon she would witness Gwyneth's death, then lose the Doctor circled round and round in her mind. She could barely hear the TARDIS as she tried to tell her that wouldn't happen. The ship would never allow it. Rose walked in silence with Charles out of the room when a cool hand touched her shoulder lightly. Turning Rose looked up into the Doctor's eyes.
"Charles," the Doctor called out, "tell Mr. Sneed and Gwyneth we'll be along in a moment. Rose and I need to talk a mo'."
Narrowing his eyes a bit at the pair, he realized quickly they were watching each other. With a sigh, he told them he would and to not take too long. The Doctor reached out and gently pushed a few stray hairs away from Rose's face. She was watching him intently, those eyes almost begging him to understand her. To stop this. He just shook his head.
"Rose," he started but stopped himself. He didn't even know what he was going to say.
The temporally displaced woman watched the Doctor a moment longer, waiting for him to continue. Instead the Doctor sighed, falling silent. Rose lowered her eyes, a fresh wave of pain washing over her at his silence. She had hoped for a moment that he would apologize. That he would tell her he wasn't really going to take her back to London and leave her behind. As he looked away from her, she refused to let him see how much the rejection from him, from this Doctor hurt her. Turning, Rose walked away from him.
The pair rejoined the group in the morgue. The room was darker than Rose remembered it. It had been the source of many of her early nightmares. To her, it was like stepping out of her nightmare into reality. The walls were a darker shade of grey, the windows that were there before were missing. There were also more bodies this time, she realized with a start. Swallowing, she moved into the room with Gwyneth, the two holding hands tightly. Gwyneth was scared but determined to fulfill the role God gave her. Rose was just as determined to find a way around the inevitable. There were tools on a table to one side that looked like they have been used recently. Shuddering, Rose almost moved to the Doctor for comfort. She stopped herself remembering how he spoke to her, what he said to her. If she went to him, asked for his comfort and protection, it would just make it harder when he dropped her off at home. No, she steeled herself to deal with the Gelth with all the strength of Commander Tyler of Torchwood. Even if she was weaponless and in a dress, she thought with a dry chuckle.
The Doctor watched two girls as they clung to each others' hands for comfort and support. He noted the way Rose's nose wrinkled at the sight of the tools of the undertaker and his trade. He found a little smile come to his lips for the first time since the fight. Why was it so different this time, he wondered. Before when they fought like that, they would make up easily and become a team. Now, Rose rejected him. He could see her fighting to stay strong, even as she hated the situation. If he had to guess, he would have bet that his little golden girl was already trying to think of ways to get Gwyneth out alive and safe.
"Talk about Bleak House," the Doctor muttered, looking around the depressing room. "I know your job is to deal with death, but do you need to make it look like a dungeon?"
Sneed looked a little bit embarrassed. "I don't normally have guests down here. Tends to work fine for me."
Rose took both of Gwyneth's hands, remaining silent to the rest of the group. If one looked close enough, both of their eyes were slightly glazed over as their minds touched each other and whispered words were exchanged.
"Doctor," Charles called out, drawing closer to Rose as his own eyes took in the room. Ever the writer, Charles took in every detail of the place. "I think the room is getting colder."
The Doctor turned to Charles and noticed that Rose was shivering slightly. Neither Sneed nor Charles seemed overly bothered by the drop in temperature. Gwyneth drew closer to Rose, who looked like she was trying to guide the younger girl away from the arch that connected this room to another storage room housing more cadavers. The Doctor moved closer to Rose and Gwyneth, but he didn't reach out for them, merely hovered near by protectively.
It was then the Gelth appeared.
They emerged from the gas lamps that dotted the walls. They circled excitedly around the room. One zoomed close to Rose, and the Doctor clearly heard the human girl snarl at it. The sound she created frightened the Gelth and it zipped back to the others circling the room.
"Bloody vultures," the Doctor heard Rose muttered darkly.
The Gelth that appeared in the parlor showed itself to the group. It hovered larger than life in its angelic form under the arch. Its gaze swept over the group before landing on the two girls. For a fraction of a second, the Doctor thought its lips curled into a snarl. There was a flick of something red that ran through the blue, but was gone as fast as it showed.
"You have come to help!" the lead Gelth called out excited. It's child like voice twinkling like bells. "Praise the Doctor! Praise him!"
"Promise me," Rose broke in, her voice strong as she gazed up at her enemy. "You promise me you won't hurt her!"
The Gelth turned its eyes towards Rose and for a half a heartbeat, it looked like it would reply to her. Then the ones circling the room let out a series of wails and screams. The leader turned its sight from Rose and focused on the Doctor. The one that would set them free and see their plan come to completion.
"Hurry!" it told the Doctor, ignoring Rose, "Please. So little time. Pity us. Pity the Gelth."
Glancing at Rose, her words echoed in his mind. A tingling in the back of his mind reminded him the TARDIS was trying to get his attention. Instead of words, she was flashing a warning there. And that warning was mauve. His spine stiffened. It was too late now to back out, he thought. At least he could attempt some damage control. If the TARDIS was sensing danger, coupled with Rose's warning, maybe he would need a little bit of caution.
"I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer," the Doctor called out. "Somewhere you can build proper bodies. I'm sorry, but this isn't a permanent solution. The people of Earth wouldn't be able to accept this."
Rose looked sharply at the Doctor, her eyes wide.
"Hurry," the Gelth begged instead of answering him. "Time runs out for the Gelth. The effects of the War grow stronger."
'Doctor.'
The Doctor jolted slightly when a somewhat familiar mind brushed against his. Glancing over at Rose, she nodded slightly to answer his silent question.
'Be careful. Please. And… I'm sorry.'
The feeling withdrew from his mind as Rose was walking with Gwyneth to the arch. He couldn't figure out what she had to apologize for. She did nothing wrong. Watching the two girls stop before the Gelth under the arch, the Doctor felt his whole body tense up.
"I can help you live," Gwyneth was saying to the Gelth, who seem to have eyes for no one else but her. "Tell me where you need me."
"Here," the Gelth smiled down at the human girl they had cultivated since she was a little thing. "Beneath the arch. Stand with me, sweet Gwyneth."
Rose tightened her grip on Gwyneth, 'You don't have to do this.'
'It will be okay,' Gwyneth's thoughts returned Rose's own mental words. 'I promise, all will be as it is meant to be before the morning comes, Rose.'
Taking a deep breath, Rose stepped away from Gwyneth. Unfortunately, where she stepped back, was not where Gwyneth thought she would go. Rose stepped back, under the archway itself.
"No!" a chorus of voices echoed around the room, ringing in Rose's ears.
"Stop her!" the Gelth were wailing, all talking at once. "Stop the wolf!"
"Kill the wolf!"
"Let us through!"
The Doctor darted forward and grabbed Rose's wrists, pulling her to his chest. Wrapping his arms tightly around her form, the others moved to his as he staggered back. Her breathing was spotty at best, rattling in her chest as she struggled to breath. As soon as she was free of the arch, the shrieks of the Gelth stopped and turned back to wailing moans. The leader was speaking again, but no one was paying it any attention.
"Rose?" The Doctor frantically whispered to her. "Come on, precious girl. Open those eyes."
"My Heavens," Charles breathed, watching as the color returned to Rose's pale cheeks. "It was like they were sucking out her life."
Sneed wrapped an arm around a fearful Gwyneth protectively as they watched the Doctor cradle Rose. "What happened to her?"
The question was directed at the Gelth, but they didn't answer. They continued to wail about needed Gwyneth to stand under the arch, how time was running out. Their words were slowly becoming more and more demanding. The group watched with wide eyes as a Gelth moved closer to Rose, as if it meant to take over her body.
"Don't touch her!" The Doctor snarled at it, sending it back to the few others that were in the room.
"Um, D-Doctor?" Charles stammered, watching as the two bodies of Mr. Redpath and his deceased grandmother, Mrs. Redpath, stumbled into the room.
Looking up, the Doctor realized a moment too late. It was all a trap.
"Stand under the arch," the blue flame like Gelth pleaded. "Establish the bridge. Let us through!"
Gwyneth took a breath and turned to Mr. Sneed. Her caring guardian for so long. The man who sent her to school, cared for her as a child, taught her as a father would a child. Leaning forward, she kissed his cheek lightly and whispered a soft thank you. Before anyone could stop her, the servant girl stepped under the arch.
The Gelth's wails of pain turned to triumph.
"She has given herself to the Gelth!" the leader crowed. "Bridgehead establishing."
Rose opened her eyes to see Gwyneth's head tilting back, her arms stretched wide. Her mouth was falling open, glowing as the Gelth continued to speak. Around them, the Gelth that were already with them took over a few bodies. She drew closer to the Doctor fearfully. The dead was so much harder to fight.
"It is begun," the leader Gelth shouted out in victory. "The bridge is made! We descend!"
As the words left the Gelth, Gwyneth's mouth started to glow brightly. More and more Gelth spilled forth and filled the air around the small group. The coloration of the lead Gelth shifted as it dropped its angelic looking form. Red flames burst into terrifying life as the true form of the Gelth was revealed.
"There's rather a lot of them, eh?" Charles observed nervously, backing away towards the door.
"The Gelth will come through in force," the leader laughed coldly.
"You said that you were few in number," Charles accused as he and Sneed backed away.
The rest of the bodies on both sides of the morgue began to rise from their beds and palets. Rose had to look away as one that had been recently cut open to be prepared for the embalming process shambled into the room towards them.
"A few, yes," the Gelth taunted with a laugh. "A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses."
Sneed was not willing to give them his sweet Gwyneth. Not without a fight. Calling out to her, he begged "Gwyneth… stop this! Listen to your master! This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child. Leave these things alone. Come back to me, my girl. I beg you…"
"Mr. Sneed!" Rose screamed as she started towards him. Looking at her was what ultimately cost the undertaker his life.
He watched as if in slow motion as the Doctor wrapped a leather clad arm around Rose's middle and pulled her back to his chest protectively. Both his and Rose's eyes were wide, full of terror. He felt the cold hands of one of the corpses reached from behind him. Cold hands cradled his head almost lovingly. He has seconds it felt to tell, to beg the mysterious Doctor to save them all.
Then it was over.
Rose covered her mouth to smother her cry as Sneed's body dropped to the ground. The Doctor tightened his grip around Rose. They watched as another Gelth entered Sneed's body. Lifting his head oddly, he looked at the pair and grinned.
"I have joined the legions of the Gelth," the body of Sneed announced proudly, gaining his feet. "Come. March with us, my friends."
"I think," the Doctor muttered into Rose's ear as he backed them away from the growing crowd of the dead. "I think it's gone a little bit wrong."
Rose only snorted at him.
They were separated from Charles. It was as if the Gelth were focusing on the two they deemed the greatest threats before going after the fearful author.
"Gwyneth!" The Doctor called as he and Rose were forced backwards. "Stop them! Send them back! Now! Gwyneth!"
"She can't hear you," Rose murmured softly.
The Doctor looked down at Rose, curious. Gwyneth hadn't responded at all to his shouts. His or Sneed's commands before his death. Looking around, the Doctor tried to find Charles in the madness around them. He was pale, terrified looking and backing away from the press of dead bodies that marched towards the Doctor and his companion. Charles was calling something out over the sounds, apologizing for something.
"Three more bodies," Gelth Sneed grinned manically. "Make them vessels for the Gelth."
The Doctor looked back behind him, for anything that he could use to protect Rose from his mistake. Seeing the barred door of a dungeon that was part of the house originally, he quickly yanked the gate open and pushed Rose inside. Turning back, he sought out Charles again.
"It's," Charles stammered out, fear gripping him tightly. "This is too much, Doctor! It's too much for me. I'm so-"
His apology was cut off by the screech of a Gelth, swooping past him once then turned to go after him. The press of the dead bodies surged forward towards the Doctor. He stepped back into the dungeon and slammed the door shut, using the screwdriver to sonic the lock closed. Looking up again, he watched as Charles ran out of the morgue. There was a brief feeling of relief in the Doctor. At least someone would live, he thought. Charles would get to safety. He only wished he could have sent Rose out with the man.
"Give yourself to glory," Gelth Sneed commanded the pair, reaching through the bars of the gate for them. "Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth."
"I trusted you," the Doctor growled now, eyes darting from face to face. "I pitied you!"
"Ha! That is where you are a fool," the Gelth called out. "We don't want your pity. We want this world. All its flesh is ours."
"Not while I'm alive," the Doctor growled. "You will never take this world."
"Then live no more," the Gelth laughed again.
Rose watched the exchange, still keeping quiet. She managed to get her breathing back under control and the first stirrings of fear to subside. Watching the Doctor, her eyes softened. Reaching out, she touched his cheek, gaining his attention. "Doctor."
"Rose," the Doctor looked at her heartbroken. "I'm sorry, Rose. I should have listened to you. I'm so sorry."
Rose shook her head slightly. "It's not your fault."
"It is," he insisted, looking away from her to the reaching dead. "I brought you here. I let you down."
Taking a deep breath, Rose reached her mind out to him once again. He jumped a little, his eyes fluttering a moment at the pleasure he felt from the touch of her mind against his own. He reached out in return and Rose barely held back the soft moan. It was so different than when John and her did this. With John, there was no real pleasure. It was a touch of minds, like two friends hugging. But with the Doctor, it was like a lover's caress all over at once.
'I will never blame you,' Rose's mind whispered softly to him, looking into his eyes.
'I can't lose you,' he admitted, reaching for her hand and squeezing it tightly. 'I did this. I should have listened to you. Oh Rose, you were right. I'm so sorry.'
Rose smiled at him, squeezing his hand in return. 'You won't. Not here.'
'How are you doing this?' he asked, trying to ignore the way her mental words were formed. So sure, full of confidence. Her fear was gone. She was calm, waiting for something.
'I was taught,' Rose admitted. 'I can't really explain now. There's no time. But soon I will. If… if you will still want to know, I mean.'
"Why so silent, Doctor?" the Gelth broke their mental conversation suddenly. "Too afraid of your fate?"
Rose gave the cadavers a dry look, "Not really."
"No one was speaking to you!" The Gelth suddenly started to rage, turning their attention to Rose. "You will make a fitting vessel for the High Gelth. His power will grow with you in his possession."
"I'm going to go with, No," Rose smirked. "No one touched this girl unless she wants them too."
"How are you so calm about this?" the Doctor broke in on what was the beginnings of what could only be called a cat fight between Rose and the Gelth.
Rose just shrugged, looking back at the Doctor with a soft smile. "Because I'm with you."
"But…" he started to protest. Looking away from her, trying to hide the pink that was staining his cheeks and the tips of his glorious ears. "Look at me. I saw the Fall of Troy. World War Five! Don't recommend that one, by the way. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party! Now, I'm gonna die in a dungeons." A look of disgust curled his lips and wrinkled his nose. "In Cardiff, of all places."
Rose couldn't help herself, she laughed at him. "It's not just dying, remember? You'd become one of them."
The Doctor shot her a playfully nasty look, "Thanks for the reminder."
Feeling the tickle in her throat, signaled to Rose that Charles had returned. Gas was starting to trickle into the room. Reaching behind her, she felt around for one of the main gas pipes. She wanted to groan when she realized there was only one, it was behind the Doctor. Shifting herself closer, she tried to reach it without getting caught by the outstretched hands of the eager Gelth legions outside the gate.
"Hey," she called, drawing the Doctor's attention back to her. "If we go down, we'll go down fighting, yeah?"
The Doctor smiled at her affectionately, "Yeah." He agreed.
"Together?" Rose asked, leaning closer to him. Her free hand almost to the gas pipe behind him.
"Yeah," he grinned down at her, leaning towards her. "I'm so glad I met you, Rose Tyler."
Her fingers grasped the metal pipe as she shifted closer, tilting her head up to him. He was leaning down with intent. "Me too," she breathed softly, her eyes started to drift close, anticipating his kiss.
"Doctor!" Charles burst into the room, ruining the moment completely for the pair. "Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now fill the room, all of it, now!"
"What're you going?" the Doctor looked confused.
Charles darted around the room, being ignored by the Gelth. He was turning off the gas lamps then turning them back on high, letting the odorless, scentless gas flow free.
"Turn it all on," Charles instructed. "Gas the place!"
The Doctor frowned moment more, before the light went on and he understood what it was Charles was trying to tell him. "Brilliant! Gas!"
Behind him, Rose was able to open the gas line. Gas started pumping into the small space around the pair. Looking over at Charles, she beamed.
"That's right!" Rose laughed. "They are gaseous! If we fill the room with gas, then…"
"It'll draw them out of the hosts," the Doctor finished Rose's sentence, smiling proudly down at his clever girl. "Suck them into the air like poison from a wound! You two are fantastic!"
In their excitement, the Gelth legions turned their attention to Charles. His smile faded as they moved away from the dungeon door. The shambled towards his slowly, the gas in the air already slowing the down as the Gelth struggled to stay within their hosts.
"I hope," Charles muttered softly. "Oh, Lord. I do hope that this theory will be validated soon." The host pressed dangerously closer to him. "If not immediately."
Rose elbowed the Doctor in the back. He turned to look at her and saw that she had the gas pipe on behind him. Terror rocked him.
"How long have you been breathing that?" he demanded of her.
"Not long enough," Rose grinned at him cheekily. "Hey! Gelth! Plenty more!"
The Doctor watched as Rose pulled the pipe off the wall, snapping it open and the gas flooded the room. Outside the gate, the cadavers collapsed suddenly to the cement floor all together. The Gelth within were forced out back into the air. They raged and screamed at the interruption of their plans. The amount of gas was preventing them from returning to the bodies. This only enraged the beings more.
"It's working," Charles called out as Rose and the Doctor burst free from the dungeon.
The pair ran across the room, coming to a stop before Gwyneth. The poor girl was staring straight ahead, pale and still. Her mouth had stopped glowing but her arms were still spread wide. Rose tried to swallow the sobs that wanted to escape her. Now wasn't the time, she was reminded by the TARDIS. She would have time to grieve after the world was safe once again. The tickling in her throat was turning to a burning. Suppressing a cough, Rose stood beside the Doctor. She was rather hoping that the physical changes that she had before she woke up in this timeline had stayed. She was starting to think maybe they hadn't.
"Gwyneth!" the Doctor begged her, hoping she could still hear him. "Send them back! They lied, they're not angels!"
Slowly, Gwyneth lowered her arms. They hung limply at her sides as she turned lightless eyes to gaze blankly at the Doctor. "Liars."
Rose tried to draw a breath, cursing inwardly at her lungs being so terribly human right now. Charles was at her side, his mouth covered with a white handkerchief. She could hear him suppressing a few light coughs himself.
"Gwyneth," Rose spoke softly, reaching out for the girl's hand. A slap of energy sent her stumbling back into Charles.
"Do not touch the key," the red Gelth snarled at Rose. A few of the Gelth swooped around Rose, trying to frighten the girl. Rose just brushed them off as the gnats they were.
"Gwyneth," Rose tried again, "send them back. You can do it. Please, Gwyneth. Not like this. Please!"
"They're too strong," Gwyneth seem to sigh out the words, looking over at Rose. "Go. Please."
Rose started coughing as she tried to speak. The Doctor looked back at Rose, fear coloring his mind and eyes. Rose could feel it, just as she knew he was feeling her mind weakening from a lack of oxygen and grief.
"Do you remember that world you saw?" Rose coughed. "My world? All those people, none of it will exist."
"You have to send them back through the rift," the Doctor finished for Rose.
The dark eyed servant girl shook her head slowly, sadly. Her voice however was firm as she spoke, "I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, here. Get out. Go."
The Doctor watched as horror was added to the sick feeling of fear and dread pumping in his veins. His own respiratory bypass had already kicked in, so the gas wasn't bothering him. Gwyneth withdrew a small box of matched from her apron pocket and looked up at the Doctor.
"Take her," Gwyneth told him. "Take Rose and go. Do this for me."
"Rose," the Doctor called out, his eyes still on Gwyneth. The weakness that he could feel coming from her was getting worse by the second. "Go, get out. I'll stay here. I won't leave her while she's in danger."
Rose only shook her head, a coughing fit stealing her words. Charles was at her side in an instant, looking at the Doctor as he tugged Rose to follow him out of the house.
"You," Rose breathed, "can't. Doctor."
"Leave this place!" Gwyneth hissed. The Gelth were drawing closer to Rose. "I can do this."
'You can't save me,' Gwyneth's voice whispered into his ear and mind. 'Let me do this. Let me take the burden, Doctor. Go. And never let her go.'
Stunned the Doctor nodded, leaning forward he touched Gwyneth's cold cheek. Realization washed over him. Behind him Rose was calling for him as Charles was bodily dragging his stubborn girl towards the stairs. Placing a soft kiss on the young girl's forehead, he stepped back.
'I'm sorry,' his mind whispered back. 'And thank you. Just watch, Gwyneth. I won't ever let her go.'
Turning on his heels, he ran towards Charles and Rose. Swinging Rose up into his arms, he yelled at Charles to run. Rose clung to his neck tightly as they raced up the stairs and down the hall. Her vision was swimming and her head was pounding from the gas. She could only imagine poor Charles was feeling worse. He had been exposed longer than she had. The two men ran into the cold night air, barely making it outside of the blast zone was the house exploded in a ball of fire. Charles was pushed forward, mercifully he landed in a soft snow bank. The Doctor and Rose were thrown forward as well. Twisting his larger frame around Rose, the pair hit the snow covered ground and slid about a foot. Unfolding himself, the Doctor fell back onto his back, panting. Rose was laying against his chest, gulping down as much fresh air as her lungs would take. Somewhere to her left, she could hear Charles doing the same thing.
A few seconds passed while the trio regained their bearings. Slowly, the Doctor sat up. He kept his arm protectively around Rose, aiding her in sitting up as well. Charles walked to them and help Rose up first, then the Doctor to his feet. They turned to watch the burning house.
"The poor child," Charles lamented with a heavy heart. Suddenly, he found himself yearning for his own family. "At such a cost."
"I'm sorry," the Doctor turned to Rose. "She closed the rift. I tried, Rose. She-"
"Was already dead," Rose murmured her eyes still on the flames. "I know. She had been since she stepped under the arch."
"How did you know?" the Doctor asked, a little bewildered. Rose's tone held no anger or animosity towards him. No blame for what befell the girl or her master.
"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy," Charles quoted, he voice heavy. "Even for you, Doctor."
"She saved the world," Rose lifted her eyes to the sky. "She saved the world, one small lone girl. And no one will ever know."
"Maybe," Charles returned softly, following her gaze to the skies above them. "Maybe not."