'Til Death Do Us Part

Chapter 3

Rose's POV

"Hello?" I asked, walking out of the TARDIS on a planet that was tinged red and was quite rocky. "Anyone there?" 

I got no reply, but that was okay. If it was a planet inhabited by life, then they'd be around somewhere. With that, I started to walk across the hard surface of the planet and the white skirt I was wearing tore at the knee. I should've known to wear less dressy clothing. Nobody walked across an alien planet in a skirt and white top. 

"...thyself," a voice said from just a bit further up. I expertly jogged across the terrain making no noise at all and saw a ragged man standing in front of a rocky bar in which a young woman was lying across. His face was covered in blood, and he held his hands out in front of him, glowing yellow energy pulsing out of them and flowing into the air. 

I gasped quietly enough that nobody could hear me. Was this another Time Lord, or...or was this the Doctor in a different life? Whoever he was, more energy was pulsing out of him and he threw his head back, the energy seemingly pouring out of his neck now, as well. I looked away quickly, knowing that it would be deadly if I looked at the actual light. 

Once I opened my eyes again - which was a good fifteen seconds later - a different man stood in his place. He wore the same clothes, but he looked much older and had greying hair. 

"Doctor no more," I heard him say and was shamed to admit that I screamed at that point out of shock. I immediately covered my mouth, but it was too late. The Doctor turned around and walked slowly, kicking pebbles of red rock out of his way. He looked revengeful - nothing like the Doctor that I knew - but I figured that it was okay. He was still the Doctor, and he was capable of being like /my/ Doctor. I cautiously walked out from behind the cave-like rock and faced him. 

"Who are you?" he asked, coming to a stop a few feet in front of me. His voice was a bit scratchy, but his features looked quite like a tough-but-teddy-bear-like close up. "Are you part of the Sisterhood?" 

"What?" I asked, taken aback. My eyes darted down to the girl lying motionless. She wasn't breathing. I drew my attention back to the man who claimed to be the Doctor. "Who are you? You're not the Doctor." 

"No...I'm not," the man grimaced and got the dazed look that my Doctor sometimes got when he became caught up in his own thoughts. "Well, I am, but not anymore. I must fight front-line. Cass died, and...well, that's not important." 

"Not important?" I repeated. "You just lost one of your companions. She's /dead/ and all you say is that it wasn't important?" 

"She's not one of my companions," the Doctor-but-not waved his hand dismissively. "Just another traveler. You, on the other hand...Who are you?" 

"It's best that you not know," I said smugly and walked over to the girl named Cass. A goblet was placed beside her, and it had just a little bit of liquid left in it. "What's this?" 

"Drink it," his scratchy voice instructed me, but I wasn't daft. I looked into his eyes and saw just how old he was. He had seen his friends die and civilizations collapse. He had seen a fall of his own species...but...that wasn't right. 

"That's right," things suddenly clicked in my mind and I was overwhelmed with dread. "You're him. You're the Doctor that fought...yes, you're him. You're really him. I..." 

I turned my back to Cass and faced the Doctor who kept his hard expression the same. My mind raced as I tried to figure out what to do. I couldn't really go back to the TARDIS, because if there was one thing I learned from the Doctor, it was that we didn't run away from things. I had even said so myself that we were to take a stand for what was right. 

"I have to help you," I admitted quietly, more to convince myself, and he looked at me like I was crazy. Before I could think about what I was about to do, I whirled around and snatched up the goblet, drinking the rest of the liquid that would probably kill me.