The Time Shadow |COMPLETED|

Chapter 30

The Doctor breathed heavily as he entered the TARDIS again. He walked up to the panel and sent them above a planet called Kastiello, then encountered the Time Machine inside a time bubble.
He walked up the stairs and slowly entered the emergency room. The bright light that earlier embraced Rose's body, started fading away, and he approached her bed relieved. He laid his hand on hers and slightly squeezed it, as he took a seat besides her.

Rose Tyler looked better now, much more better. She was still thin, but not extremely. The TARDIS was feeding her the energy and nutrients she needed, of course, the only game he had to play now, was the waiting game.

The Doctor prepared a cup of very sweet tea and returned. He made himself comfortable and took a sip of the hot steamy tea. This was going to take a long time.

It's just like you said, Doctor. Everything has an end, even if you don't want to. I age, and you don't. I could spend the rest of my life with you, but you can't... the further I go, the darker it becomes.. the Daleks find a way of coming back.. they are so many, thousands of them.. I watch my people die, from up there, from Torchwood. And I feel invaded. They are dying and I can't do a thing.. And there I am, fighting and hanging, my body floating. The wall wants me too, and I look at you, a big concern into your eyes as you yell towards me 'Hang on!'. But I can't, because my hands are slipping, and therefore I try with all my might, I can't. My heart is beating full with fear.. I stand in front of another empty and white wall. And it's darker where I am, colder..

'Take me back!', 'Take me back!'

But as you said it. It is just a dream..

"Doctor?!"

His eyes shot wide open. Was he having a dream? No, no. It couldn't have been. He was able to control his each part of the brain, even his own dreams. But, it was though. Could it be that he grew so weak over the time? That his consciousness became its own person?

He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and tried to concentrate, then blinked a few times, and when he realized, he literally jumped. Why was he asleep in the first place?

"Rose."
"Doctor?! Where am I?!"
"Rose, calm down." he took both her hands in his and squeezed them. "Look at me. Rose, look at me. You're okay. You're in the TARDIS."
"The TARDIS?" she stopped, shocked. "No. No. I was.. Why am I not dead? I was supposed to be dead. Shereen? Where is Shereen? What happened to her? Why am I still-"
"Rose!" he cupped her face. She looked him frustrated in the eyes. "I am going to prepare a cup of tea for you, okay? Then, I'm going to explain everything to you. Alright?"

Rose nodded.

"Alright." the Doctor said once again as he pressed a kiss on her forehead.

When he returned with a plate with vegetables, fruits and a cup of tea, she was already sitting a bit higher, rubbing her hand continuously. The Doctor placed on the little table besides her the plate.
Rose slowly grabbed the cup and took a sip. They waited in silence a couple of seconds.

"What is happening?" her voice finally reached his ears. He prepared himself by taking a deep breath.
"You are inside the TARDIS."
"Yeah, I know that. How come I am not dead?"
"Remember the Progonth?"
"The one that took Shereen's form and played the whole time as a friend of mine? The one that stole her memories and used them against us? How could I ever forget."
The Doctor nodded. "Do you remember what happened to you?"

Rose blinked, as she placed her cup of tea on the table.

"I died. " she replied.

The Doctor deepened his hands inside his trouser's pockets, and looked up.

"That's what I thought as well, Rose. She tried to. But, it was not necessary. She kept you as her own living energy source, feeding herself now and then. She kept you very weak but still in touch with your own lifeline."

Rose stared at the ceiling above her head quietly. She felt so frustated and at the same time terrified; only the thought of that alien feeding with her energy scared her. But, what did he meant by energy?
She took a look at her shoulders.

"What happened to my hair?" she said as she touched it. Her eyes shot towards him. "How long has it been?"

He silently sighed.

"I don't know. But.. by the length of you hair it should've been..one year." the Doctor rubbed the back of his neck. "I am sorry. I am so sorry, Rose. It's all my fault."
"Don't talk like that."
"It is." he argued. "And I cannot forgive myself for it."
"Doctor.."

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds, him, hurt and slightly ashamed, her, completely astonished, in a very weird way. Rose looked away as she raised her hand.

"How am I still alive? You said it yourself, she drained my energy off. I shouldn't have been able to be kept alive just like that."

The Doctor proudly and vaguely smiled.

"Good point." he approached a desk in the room from where he extracted a white paper and then returned to his seat. "The TARDIS used the same trick she used on Shereen a long time ago."
"What?"
"Don't worry. Everything is fine with you."
"How do you know that?" she tried to remain calm. Knowing that her brain could become telepathic and later maybe even burn, petrified her.
"Because, you are not normal, Rose. " the Doctor took out a pen and started scribbling. He sketched three pairs of DNA structures, one looked different from the other two. She waited in silence until he was finished.

"Look." he handed her the paper. "The first one is the sketch of a completely normal and healthy living human. As you may see, that one there is a double-helix based on two strands running in opposite directions. Each sugar molecule is covalently linked to one of 4 possible bases; Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine. Completely normal DNA structure. Now, if you take a look at the second one, you'll see a visible difference. That DNA there, is quadruple-helix DNA, and it's yours."

Rose took a careful look at the construction of each structure. She wasn't very good in biology, that was for sure. Especially when it came to anatomy. Her friends in high school would mock her every time for it, making jokes. They weren't with bad intention, and she didn't really mind it; but she could still spot the weirness in the sketches.

"The third one is mine." he continued.

Her eyes flung wide open.

"But, it's the same one as the second." she said.
"Yes."
"The same one you drew over there."
"Yes."
"Does that.." she exhaled loudly. "Does that mean.."
"Yes."

The Doctor could feel her tension grow more and more with each second. And when he tried to grab her hand, she pulled away.
His heart shrunk.

"But..how?"

"Rose, remember Game Station?" the Doctor seemed quiet calm, although his thoughts were rushing faster than the light inside his head. When she nodded, he continued. "That was the day you saved me from the Daleks. That's how I survived, we both did."
"What do you mean?"
"You looked inside the heart of the TARDIS. You poured inside your brain the whole time vortex. That remarkable and incredibly stupid move was bringing you to the end of days, was burning you from inside." he sighed. "That's how you became Bad Wolf, Rose. And the Progonth knew it all along. It knew you were going to sacrifice yourself for me. It was feeding with your Timelord energy. Méchant loup, she said. It translates for Bad Wolf. It took you with, knowing that you had that energy and that you weren't aware of it or of regeneration. The Progonth kept a toy filled with strength inside a tube for itself. And that means you."

Rose reached her face with her hands, flabbergasted by his words. Was he joking? Because if he was, she bloody didn't like it.
The girl felt tears stream out her eyes.

"I'm so sorry..Rose." he whispered. "I though I should..let you know the truth about yourself. I'm sorry."

The Doctor stood up his chair and slowly leaned in, to press a gentle kiss on the top of her head. He ambled towards the door and opened it, then heartbroken exited.

A/N: so, I really felt like writing more. So here it is. Hope you enjoyed reading it ^_^.