The Time Shadow |COMPLETED|

Chapter 18

The Doctor's and Rose's look quickly gazed upon Shereen, as her wide smile appeared, her body approching slowly.

"Excuse me?" the girl tried to remain calm in front of her 'friend'.
"Oh, come on." the woman sighed. "The memories I am having are not saying you're that stupid. Well, at least you weren't."

Shereen stood now right between the Timelord and Rose, hands crossed. Jackie was only watching, a bit confused by what was happening; and although creeped out by the way Shereen was smiling, she took a step closer.

"Oi! You, old woman! Stay back or I'll have to kill you!" Shereen demanded with her hand.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Rose defended her mother. Who the bloody hole was she to talk to her mother like that?
"Ohh, always the same questions. What is wrong with you? Who are you? Why are you doing this? I am getting really annoyed by them." the woman sighed. "I've been in this body for so long. It's starting to feel itchy."
"Who are you?" the Doctor's deep eyes shot towards Shereen, his voice deepening after realizing.
"You see?!" Shereen laughed. "What did I tell you? 'Who are you?'. Like that question is going to make this conversation creepy."

The Doctor was fighting with his brain at the moment. How was it possible for his best friend to behave like that? How could he be so blind? After all these years, all the pain and rage and darkness. He was fooled by a human. At least someone whose role was a human.
She couldn't be a Slitheen. She really couldn't, because she smelled good, sometimes even too good that reminded him of Rose. And to be fair, Slitheen stink.
She also couldn't be Gelth. That was completely impossible, since the Tardis doesn't work on gas.
There had to be a logical explination for all of it, right? And God, he felt so thick at the moment.
What was she?

"Rose, step away from her." the Doctor tried to instruct, his eyes still gazing upon Shereen, whose smile widened.
"So, you finally refreshed yourself?" the woman said.
"No, I didn't. I just feel you are not worth it. And you know what I do with things that are not worth?" his voice got louder. "I put an end to it. So you might better hurry up and tell me what you are, or I swear I will-"
"What? Kill me and donate my soul inside this bucket Tardis of yours? Fascinating. I wish you were one of my kind, Doctor, but you are stupid. And I am kind of hungry. What do you think?"

Shereen's eyes shot upon Rose ,and with a move of her hand and a little touch, she made the girl yell, a very deep pain driving through her body. It felt like thousands of needles sewed her skin with bloody flesh, and it rushed towards her brain as well her heart. Rose felt her breath heavy, and her neck hurt as her body started being lifted up a bit.

The Doctor and Jackie both tried to run up to their flower, only to be stung with the same pain, the Doctor a bit deeper. Jackie was grabbed by Shereen's free hand and put in the same position as Rose, and the Doctor laid in front of them, down on his knees.

"Stop it.." Rose cought with pain as she tried to speak. "You..are- hurting them."

The black haired woman concentrated a bit more on Rose, which yelled as she felt her brain melting; making the Doctor's gaze colder, desperate and angry. His deep and dark windows to his soul inspected the image. No. Rose was in danger..She was in danger and it was all his fault.

He tried to move himself, but his body felt so heavy, and the pain was pressing him so much, the pressure scale changed, and he could only see blurry now. Why was he seeing blurry? He never had problems with his eyes.
Were those...tears?

Ohh..but of course they were. Of course! The only thing that he forgot to be aware of! The only thing that caused his heart to sink. He only ignored the pain, thinking it was normal. The thought of Gallifrey was normal to ignore if he still wanted to be able to think straight.

He felt a bit proud of himself for finding the truth, ashamed of finding it so late...and completely broken for letting this happen to Rose.

His eyes changed their direction on Jackie, who was struggling to escape, then on Rose, who looked so damaged, but still alive, still breathing, still capable of being rescued.

"She is a Progonth." the Doctor gasped as an image of his home exploding shot his brain. "She is using my past to invoke feelings of pain, sadness and anger. That's what you have always been." he adressed himself to Shereen.
"And I feel very..hungry. Do you know what's it like to play all that drama for so long? I felt hungry the moment I felt your past and Rose's. But..I never thought about her." she looked at Jackie. "Lonely mother. Her daughter left her a whole year..Then again and again. Crying every night..Even drinking at some times.."
"Doctor,what is she talking about?!" Rose fought against the pain.
"She is feeding on sad memories, Rose. No one can esc.." he cought. "Escape her. Show your true face then. See who we are dealing with."

The Progonth turned from Jackie to the Doctor the moment she heard the question. She waited for this moment so long. She wanted so much to get out of the stupid body, and grinned leaning her head backwards.
The three people watched as a bright light escaped through the skin just like air through clothes, and a very ancient song reached their ears as the Progonth transformed itself in what seemed to be a very glowy spirit. It looked very beautiful to be fair, every detail sparkled and her voice became supreme and charming.
But it was the bad one.

The Progonth took a deep breath, her hands still holding onto the Tyler women, who seemed to quietly calm themselves a bit. The alien looked the Timelord deep in the eyes, as it was sending him a message.

"I can feel that both of them, the injuries among the past, are tasty..Doctor." the spirit smiled. "Choose, Timelord! Make your choice, therefore the two of them will fade away, together. Who will you choose? The soul of a wolf, or the innocent one? The one with fire through her veins, or the one whose tears have cursed her heart?"

The Doctor's soul sank. It felt like an almost deja-vú, a choice he had to make for living or dying. No. He wasn't going to do it. The war was over, still why was it continuing? Why from all of them..it had to be Rose? Why her? Why break his soul in a way no one did before?
He never believed in Gods or Demigods or Satan. He never believed in prophecy. He only believed in one thing. Just one thing..

"I can't do this!" he finally replied, and as the Progonth heard his sentence, a more painful feeling was sent towards him. He started yelling for some time, his tears falling down his cheeks; while Rose cried with him.

She felt like she saw this before. A vague dream, blurry images and noisy sounds. She's been here before. She saw it, still, never felt like believing it.
There was a choice to be made.. And she was ready for it. Shereen was dead. The one she knew was long gone..So what point in doing this? She had to stop it all, somehow. To save him. Her Doctor. The one and only, stupid alien.
She had to sacrifice. Because she loved him. And that never had to change.

"Oh.." the light exclaimed "But you already have made your choice, deep down inside your brain..and soul. Only you won't do it, for the sake of your love for her. Isn't it, Doctor? Or should I better call you by your real name, H-"

A/N: Please forgive any grammar mistakes guys. Really, please forgive me. And if you see any, comment. I want to thank you for reading this. It really means a lot and warms my heart up. I don't ever need a Valentine. I have got ya.

PS: I want to start a youtube page where we can talk about books, fanfictions and so on. And for the first episode, I was thinking about a Q&A. So let the questions flow!!!