Sparrow Saga: Book 1 - Time Lady Sparrow

Chapter 2: Echoes of Time

The night was cold, and the air felt heavy with accusation. Everywhere she went, there was suspicion in the eyes of the people she passed. Mickey Smith—the last person to see Rose Tyler—was now the center of rumors, of whispers that slid through the streets of London like a poison. She could feel the weight of it pressing down on her, but she wasn't the same Mickey anymore. And she wasn't going to let these lies destroy her life.

It had been two weeks since the TARDIS had vanished with Rose aboard, and already the gossip had spread like wildfire. The media hadn't picked up on it yet, but the neighborhood had. Everyone seemed to have a theory about what had happened to Rose, and more often than not, Mickey was the villain of their story. It was clear that people thought she had something to do with Rose's disappearance.

Time to take control.

She sat down with the police, knowing this moment would define the next twelve months. The plan had to be perfect—half-truths, wrapped in just enough fiction to seem real, just enough to lead them away from what had actually happened.

"The last time I saw Rose, she was being dragged by these... mannequins." She let the words sink in, seeing the skeptical looks of the officers. This part needs to be believable, she reminded herself.

"Mannequins?" one officer asked, raising an eyebrow.

Mickey—no, she—nodded slowly, choosing her words carefully. "Yeah. I know it sounds crazy, but they were human-sized. Someone was controlling them, like puppets or something. They grabbed her in the alley near Henrik's."

The officers exchanged glances, clearly doubting her story. So she added more human details, grounding it in something that could be believed. "They had something strapped to their arms, some kind of device, like a taser. I got hit by it, and it knocked me out for a bit. When I came to, I saw Rose... she was talking to a man, tall, Northern accent. He offered her a trip... somewhere."

"A trip?" another officer asked, scribbling notes furiously. "You don't remember who this man was?"

Mickey rubbed her temple, as if trying to recall a foggy memory. "No. I was still out of it... disoriented. But Rose, she went with him. She wanted to. I tried to stop her, but she was already too far gone."

She let her voice soften, hinting at exhaustion. "I thought she'd be back by now, but... she's not."

The officers nodded, slowly backing off. Her story had just enough truth—the part about Rose leaving with someone—that they'd stop considering her a suspect. Phase one complete.

The days passed, and though the rumors didn't vanish entirely, she could feel the tension beginning to ease. People started to see her less as the villain and more as the grieving boyfriend left behind, and that was just the way she needed it. But even as she played her part, there was more to be done.

The TARDIS hummed in her mind, a constant reminder that she wasn't just some ordinary person stuck waiting for Rose to return. She—Mickey—had power now. And with that power came the responsibility to set things right, not just for herself, but for the timeline.

She spent hours in secret, connecting to the TARDIS from afar. The ship reached out to her, its song familiar and soothing. It knew her. It trusted her. And together, they began to alter the course of events in ways that no one, not even the Doctor, would realize. Her fingers traced the patterns of time through the connection, and she saw the points that needed intervention.

In his mind's eye, Mickey saw the events unfolding aboard Platform One. The Doctor had brought Rose there to see the last moments of Earth, but what the Doctor didn't know was that disaster was looming. Lady Cassandra was about to orchestrate a massacre, the station staff would die, and even Jabe, the kind-hearted tree alien, would perish in a selfless act of bravery.

Not this time.

She could feel the TARDIS's agreement as she sent out a ripple through time. It was subtle, almost imperceptible, but effective. Just before the events of the episode, she planted a quiet suggestion into the mind of the engineer responsible for maintenance checks. He would now notice a slight malfunction in one of the shields—a malfunction Lady Cassandra had planned to exploit. The engineer would fix it without fanfare, unaware of the lives he was saving.

The deaths that had originally occurred simply... wouldn't happen.

And yet, the timeline would remain intact. The Doctor and Rose would never know how close they came to disaster, because the change was small, like adjusting a single thread in a tapestry without tearing the whole thing apart.

Mickey's next focus was Cardiff, 1869. The Doctor and Rose were set to encounter Charles Dickens and the Gelth, gaseous beings attempting to use corpses as vessels. The original timeline had Gwyneth, the servant girl, sacrificing herself to close the rift and stop the Gelth from invading Earth. But Gwyneth didn't have to die.

Through the TARDIS, she reached back, just before the critical moment, sending another ripple. This time, it was a whisper in Gwyneth's mind, guiding her to realize the true intentions of the Gelth earlier than she had in the original timeline. Instead of sacrificing herself, she would refuse to help them entirely, forcing the Gelth to retreat before they could launch their full attack.

Mickey smiled as she saw the future change—subtle but profound. Gwyneth would live, and the rift would still close, but the Doctor wouldn't have to lose another innocent life. Again, the timeline remained mostly unchanged, except for the lives saved.

Mickey stepped back, opening her eyes and releasing her connection with the TARDIS. She could feel the satisfaction radiating from the ship, its energy calming her in a way that made her forget, if only for a moment, that she was stuck in a male body.

This is what I was meant to do, she thought, her resolve growing stronger with each change she made. She wasn't disrupting the timeline, merely... adjusting it. Correcting it. The Doctor could have saved those people if he'd been more careful, more aware. But he was reckless, sometimes too arrogant to see the smaller details. That's where I come in.

And soon, Rose would return. She could already see the Doctor's arrival in her mind, feel the moment approaching. But this time, she wouldn't be the same Mickey Smith waiting on the sidelines.

She would be ready.

And when the time came for her to regenerate... She smiled softly, feeling the warmth of the TARDIS in her thoughts. Sparrow would take flight.