The Time Shadow |COMPLETED|

Chapter 28

He spent almost half of the time trying to find a source of light, an end to the path he was walking with hope. Frustrated and slightly annoyed, he noticed the neverending darkness and direction guiding him through..possibly nothingness. As he approached one of the walls, he raised his sonic and flashlight. The signal seemed to come through it, although no sonic waves were released till' the end.
The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck as he continued walking. He could hear some squishy sounds under his feet, probably because of all the dirt. And that wasn't everything. From far, but not that far, he could perceive the drops of liquid embracing the floor, which to his consciousness, raised his expectations.

She was alive. That was enough for him. In the last dozens of years he thought he lost everything, every strange step he took cursed him with the thoughts that haunted. Every memory hurt, every wander around the TARDIS wounded his hidden soul behind the chest, every second drained his capacity of rightly thinking. The Doctor was lost, he wasn't himself. He turned into something he surely wasn't planning to become; but although every happening caused damage, he would never go back. Because this, everything, even a tear, demonstrated how much he cared about her.
And how he wanted to wrap his arms around her and hug her tightly, maybe even more, if it was possible. He didn't know how the Progonth actually used Rose, in which way. Obviously, not a nice one. Keeping her hidden behind those tripological walls, in a dark cage, where she could not see the outside.

The Doctor's sonic flickered, and as it did so, he stopped and turned 90 degrees. He approached the wall and sniffed it, then sonicked it.
Yes! The signal was becoming stronger, which meant it was driving to the source, which meant also to Rose.

Five minutes later, the Doctor found himself still looking. Therefore the sonic waves were starting to slowly built up, he felt angry. He wasn't sure what was causing it, but it was there and that meant no good. Probably for the fact that he faced again the only thing that turned him into the person he was at the time, or maybe because the bloody sonic wasn't reading anything new. Or maybe because he wanted so much to see her, and it took so long. All of them, simmering inside his brain, weren't the best cure to what he was thinking.

"What do you mean by that? The TARDIS was actually able to disguise herself as a bench?"
"Technically yeah."
"And if you were to land, I don't know, in a park, with dozens of benches, how were you supposed to find her?"
"Well, funny story. This happened once, with Sarah Jane. Somehow, I managed to repair the chameleon circuit, or I thought I did. She disguised herself as a bench, then when we came back, she became a tree. Imagine, two whole hours spent sitting on every wet bench, trying to catch a signal, anything!"
"You kidding me. And what did you do?"
"I did nothing. Sarah Jane did. She leaned against a tree, hiding from the rain. Somehow, she managed to find the TARDIS, and off we went. That was the last day I accepted to make the chameleon circuit work."
"Well, no wonder."
"What do you mean?"
"You never repair things, Doctor. You only destroy."
"Oi! What's wrong with my sonic? My sonic is working."
"What?"

The Doctor abruptly stood in place, eyes widened. He turned off his 'sonic torch' , and listened. From the other side of the grubby hallway, he could hear the noise that he was actually expecting. The so called Shereen managed to get through. If he wanted to get everything done, then there was only one last thing he could do.

Run!

His footsteps were as presumed not anything but very loud and splashy. The Doctor wished so much to be a Reaper at the moment, not only because the thing could fly, but also erase from the history. And Progonths were on his black list.
He ran as fast as he could, sometimes looking back, sonic pointing, and before he even knew it, he was standing in front of a big metallic and strong door. But that wasn't gonna keep him away.

Thank God it does steel. he kissed his screwdriver.

He quickly entered the not-lighted quarters, closing the door behind him and blocking it afterwards.

That should buy me some time.

The Doctor took a deep breath. This place smelled quietly different from the others. So many dissimilar molecules and particles in the air; it was cleaner. Only if he could see..

Got you! he thought as he found a switch, a very massive switch.

He pressed it roughly, his eyes quickly drifting on the surrounding the moment the lights went on. And as he watched completely astonished around, he loudly clapped. That's how he knew, by the way the sound wave traveled, and the echo flew, that the room wasn't actually only a room for its size. It was more like a..fabric. Full of computers, surprisingly working, metals and too advanced guns for the planet.
The Doctor reached to his pocket and took out his specs, then approached a computer. After analyzing and finding out nothing too important, he retreated. He ruffled his hair as he walked further.

The Timelord felt a slight cold breeze reach his skin and he tightened a bit his coat. That was weird, there was no conditioner air or ventilation, so why was it becoming so..

No.

The Doctor froze in time, and it wasn't because of the temperature. He stared at it some couple of minutes only to realize..how much he wished to kill Shereen.

There, right in front of him, was placed a long tube, massive, connected to more than 30 cables. On the surface, was levitating the freezing gas, in the interior, the blue liquid was boiling. And still, it wasn't damaging any of her..body.
The Doctor's hands reached his face to rub it. He slowly approached the tube and placed his hand on it, leaving fingerprints behind. He pressed his forehead against it and sighed, his eyes still fixed on her.

"I'm sorry.. I'm so so sorry, Rose."

There she was, captured inside a big boiling and at the same time freezing cylinder, cables connected through and into her skin. She was floating, her legs weren't reaching the floor, and blimey..she was only bone and skin. He hair was so long, but still so damaged, her nails were grown and obviously so unhealthy..in other words, Rose was..

Broken.

"Hello, Rose." he said looking at her face. After some couple of seconds, he sadly and silently laughed. "You know..this was the part where you say 'Hello', and then I'd smile because of your smile."

He walked around the "cage" she was captivated into.

"And then you were supposed to tell me to shut up even though I didn't say anything.. And I would laugh while you give me a warm hug."

The Doctor approached a desk from where he chose a gun.

"But..you can't reply, can you? Don't worry.."

He lifted the big gun on his arm, and sighed with relief and a small smile in the corner of his mouth.

"ALLONS-Y!"

A/N: Ello! How's it goin'? ;) Did you enjoy reading this? Good, then..don't forget to vote and comment, cuz I like hearing your thoughts. Or in my case, seeing. ^_^
Please forgive any grammar mistakes. It's 2 in the morning. xD I will surely edit this when I don't feel like sleeping on myself.

Love you.