The Assassin of Madness

Chapter 9

So my stories have been getting very decreasing views, and I want to say that you're all so so kind, and those of you who have stuck around and have commented consistently.  It means so much to me.   

However, after these two stories I'm not sure I'll be doing any more full length stories for awhile, unless someone has a burning urge for me to do something specific.  THE ONE SHOTS WILL STILL BE UPDATED.  Thank you for your continued support. If there are enough people that don't want me to take 'full-length hiatus' I won't, but like I said, the views has been decreasing a lot since The Queen and the Rose, so I don't expect it.

Much love! <3  Here's your next chapter!

When Rose came to, she was on a very cold floor and her head was killing her.  She shifted slightly, trying to get the nerve to open her eyes and sit up.  Counting to three in her pounding head, she sat up slowly, feeling all her muscles ache.  She blinked her eyes open, trying not to squint at the dim light that surrounded her. 

Her vision was blurry for a few moments but once it cleared she remembered what had happened to them.  She was in a cell, about ten by ten feet, and when she looked to her left she could see through a row of identical cells, all with a single twin bed horizontally against the one solid wall.  Why the guards who had knocked them out hadn't bothered to at least set her on the bed made her feel a bit put out; her shoulder was sore from the way she'd been laying when she was unconscious.  

The cells were freezing, due largely to the fact that there was only one wall, and there were very tiny windows at the top of said wall.  They were closed, but cold seemed to be seeping through anyway.  She shivered, lamenting the fact that the outfit she'd picked that morning was not really warm.  

She heard an anguished groan to her right and she saw another row of cells, and upon looking down saw the Doctor curled up in the cell next to hers.  Slowly, she turned her head to the left and saw Jack, still unconscious and in the cell there.  The Doctor shifting around grasped her attention and she scooted to the right side of the cell, thinking about reaching out to touch his shoulder but deciding not to scare him with it.  

"Doctor," She whispered.

He made a low sound and sat up slowly, pressing his hand to his forehead.  "Rose?" he asked, and then turned to face her.  "Oh, you're alright," he said, relieved.  "Where's Jack?"

She pointed over her shoulder at the other cell.  "Next to me," she said, "He's still knocked out."

"Understandable," he said, wincing.  "How are you not still knocked out?"

"Dunno, but my head hurts," she said, "How much time has passed?"

The Doctor sat quietly for a moment, calculating.  "It's been about thirty minutes," he said to her.  

She shivered and nodded slowly.  "Alright, yeah," she chewed her lip nervously.  "How come Jack isn't awake yet?  Is he dead?"

"No," the Doctor drew out the word slowly, making it at least five syllables too long.  "He can't die, Rose."

Rose furrowed her brows at him and stared, trying to understand what, exactly, was going on.  "What do you mean he can't die?  I thought... I though he died, back on Satellite Five."

"Like I said before, Rose, Bad Wolf," he said.  He reached through the bars to cup her cheek, and she moved forward to accommodate him.  "You had all that power, just lighting you up inside, coursing through you.  You took it, and sensed that Jack had been killed, and you filled him with power.  That power brought him back to life forever.  He can't die."