mtemplar_fic | Fic: Seuls

Title: Seuls
Author:

mtemplar
Rating: Adult
Characters: The Doctor (Tenth), Rose Tyler
Disclaimer: I do not own 'Doctor Who' and am making no profit from this fanfiction.
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Graphic Sex, Graphic Violence, Romance
Spoilers: Set mid Series 2
Author's Notes: This story follows the events in To Have And Not To Hold (first chapter of that story is here) and Not Here (the first chapter of that short follow-up is here). It is loosely based on the Fourth Doctor serial 'Image of the Fendahl', and contains elements from the 1996 TV movie and the novel 'The Taking of Planet 5'. Huge hugs to

principia_coh for the amazing icon and banner!
Betas: Many, many thanks to

platypus,

brit_columbia and

garpu!

Summary: The Doctor and Rose have been mysteriously diverted to the ice planet Seuls, located within the constellation of Canthares. It soon becomes apparent that things are not at all as they should be, and the newly-formed bond between them will be tested as the trap of an ancient enemy is sprung.

Previous Chapters: One

Crossposted to time_and_chips, dwfiction, Teaspoon and The Zero Room.

Chapter 2

We're going to crash!

Rose clung to the back of the captain's chair as the Doctor frantically worked at the console with one hand, his other gripping hard at the organic surface in an attempt to keep himself steady. The TARDIS jerked violently to and fro, and the groaning noise of materialization could be heard, only to stop suddenly as the TARDIS came to a bone-jarring halt, sending the Doctor skittering into one of the coral struts.

"You ok?" Rose asked, finally letting up her near death-grip on the chair.

"Oww... not again," she heard him mumble from the grating.

Rose shook her head as she carefully climbed down from the chair. The Doctor had sat up, with one hand pressed to his forehead in a familiar gesture. "And you call me jeopardy-friendly," she said under her breath. "Here, let me see."

He was oddly quiet as he allowed her to examine him, and Rose was relieved to see that he had only sustained a minor bump on the head. On impulse, she pressed her lips softly to his forehead, noting that he jumped slightly when she did so. "There... all better. Any idea where we are?"

"I haven't a clue," the Doctor said. "Just that we're near the source of the disturbance, more or less."

Rose helped him to his feet and watched as he gingerly stroked a portion of the console, as if in apology for the rough landing. He pulled the monitor closer to himself and peered into it.

"It looks as though we're in the Canthares system," he murmured. "On the planet of Seuls, in your not-so-distant future. There's a mining colony here, but it shouldn't be advanced enough to generate the force that we felt...." He trailed off, doing a double-take at the monitor. "That's odd."

"What is it?" Rose slid up alongside the Doctor at the console, trying to look at what he might find so intriguing.

"Nothing, it's nothing," he said quickly, backing away from the console and reaching for his coat, which had somehow managed to cling to the coral strut where he had flung it previously. "We'll just have to locate the source of that signal and shut it down. Oh, and Rose?" he said, over his shoulder as he opened the doors to stride out.

"Yes, Doctor?"

"You'd better fetch a coat from the wardrobe. And perhaps a change of footwear. Seuls can be quite cold and requires the wearing of mittens."

Rose grumbled as she started toward the interior of the TARDIS. Why couldn't he ever take her to a beach?

***************

Outfitted in a hooded, fur-trimmed parka and bundled up with a scarf and mittens, Rose exited the TARDIS to a blast of wintry air that stopped her in her tracks and made her eyes water. "Blimey, that's cold," she gasped, looking around for the Doctor. He was kneeling in the snow a short distance from the TARDIS, examining something he found of interest. "Aren't you freezing?" she asked, noting that he wore only his topcoat over his pinstriped suit.

"Me? Nah," he said, standing and shoving his hands into his pockets. Together they surveyed the bleak landscape before them - massive blocks of whitish-grey ice and snow stretched as far as the eye could see. There was no evidence of habitation; in fact, the silence was almost deafening - save for a sudden, loud cracking noise in the distance accompanied by a tremor beneath their feet.

"What was that?" Rose whispered, watching as her breath froze and hung in the air.

"Calving, most likely," the Doctor replied. "We appear to have landed on a rather large glacier."

"That sounds amazingly safe," Rose muttered. "Don't glaciers have those hidden crevasses you could fall into?" she asked, shivering with the cold. "Maybe we should just go back inside and get some cocoa."

"Mmmmm... cocoa. Maybe later. Right now, we have to shut down that signal - otherwise, we might have a direct continuum implosion on our hands," the Doctor said, sighing. "That'd be messy."

Rose had no idea what the Doctor was talking about, and stopped herself from inquiring further, knowing that she'd get a response like 'Well, it implodes via the phasmotic metahedron, of course' - and she'd just have to nod as if she'd understood.

The Doctor saw her look and babbled on, obviously thinking she was interested. "Last I checked, though, the civilization on this planet wasn't capable of generating a delta-class psionic wave. Might have to bring that up with the colonists - that is, whenever we manage to locate them... Rose?"

Rose, not paying attention, was busily stamping her feet to warm them and gazing wistfully at the TARDIS doors.

"I wouldn't stamp my feet if I were you. Crevasses, remember?" he said, waggling an eyebrow at her.

Rose froze mid-stamp and gingerly tip-toed over to where the Doctor stood grinning at her.

"The glacier's not that fragile. Just watch where you step," he said, taking her mitten-covered hand in his bare one to lead her over the densely packed snow and ice.

***************

After what seemed like an eternity of walking, the Doctor and Rose reached the edge of the glacier. Rose could barely make out the small blob that was the TARDIS in the distance, and the landscape below them was shrouded in a dense, icy fog. The Doctor pulled his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket and aimed it forward, frowning.

"What is it?" she asked quietly.

"This isn't right," he responded, giving her a glance filled with a familiar intensity. His earlier light-hearted mood had changed to a deadly, excessively solemn one, and Rose was suddenly uncomfortable. "Can't you feel it?"

"Yeah, it's cold," she said, shifting her feet. "I think I should have worn some thicker socks."

"No, no, no - that's not what I meant," the Doctor said impatiently. "My higher senses rarely even tingle these days, but they're definitely picking something up. This isn't right."

"You just said that," Rose interjected. "What do you mean?"

"Even a time-embedded species like yours has a primitive time-sense, Rose," he said, screwing his eyes shut as he swayed slightly on his feet. "It's the sense that screams 'wrong!' at you, say, when a friend remembers a past event differently, or when you find your missing mobile in a spot you know you searched thoroughly a few minutes ago. Blimey, I think I'm going to be sick," he said, sinking to his knees on the ice.

Alarmed, Rose sank to the surface with him, rubbing his back. "Maybe we should go back to the TARDIS?" she suggested nervously. "You did whack your head pretty hard before."

"The base of the mining colony should be down there... history's been altered. It's gone!" He slumped against her, breathing hard. "We need to get out of here... back to the TARDIS. She'll offer some shielding while I try to figure this out."

"Shielding against what?" Rose assisted the Doctor to his feet and he reeled, stumbling slightly as they began the return trip to the relative safety of the TARDIS.

"I'm not sure," the Doctor muttered, leaning heavily on her while trying to move quickly, his eyes wide. "But it's big. Big, big, big. I can feel it. It's pushing at my barriers."

"Your barriers? You don't mean...that you're...."

"No, no - not like that. It knows we're here. I think we've walked into a trap, Rose... we need to hurry." His face was grimly determined and he didn't seem to see her as he increased his pace.

"What about the...the continuum zone thing? You said it'd be messy," she said, trying to match his long strides.

"You'll be staying in the TARDIS while I go back to shut down the signal," he said, his tone clipped and controlled.

"What? Have you taken complete leave of your senses?" she snapped as she tried to keep up with him. "Whatever's out there is affecting you, not me. I'm not letting you go by yourself!"

"This has nothing to do with you, Rose. Whatever it is, it wants me and I don't know why. It should leave you alone, as long as you're not with me," he said coldly over his shoulder.

She shook her head, tears threatening. "No! You're mad if you think I'm just going to wait for you in the TARDIS. I'm never letting you trick me like that again! When we were at Satellite Five, you sent me away and I made it back to you, but it was too late! You died right in front of me!" she shouted, grabbing at the tail of his coat to stop him.

He wheeled on her, his eyes wild. "Don't you see? I'm doing this for you. I've had my entire family, everyone I care about taken from me and I won't let it happen again. You're all that I have and I am going to keep you safe. I won't let it get to you!"

Rose shook her head, equal parts touched and angry. "You want to protect me? That's fine! We'll look out for each other!"

His hands rose to clutch at his own hair, mussing it thoroughly. "How can I keep you safe from something I can only sense?" he cried. "Something that's strong enough to manipulate the timelines? I can't see what's attacking us! We're surrounded and my higher senses are screaming!" Rose could see that he was just barely keeping himself in check.

"You need me! You're not thinking straight - I can help you!" she yelled, her voice wavering. Tears were now freely streaming down her face and freezing on her eyelashes.

He suddenly closed the distance between them, grabbing her roughly by the arms. She stared up into his face, his features distorted by the raw emotion she saw there. "Rose," he said through clenched teeth, his voice low and hoarse. "It's the only way, do you understand? I have to go back alone. I'm not going to risk you!" His long fingers gripped her tightly, transmitting the trembling of his body through to hers. "I'm going and you can't go with me!" He was breathing erratically, and Rose was unable to speak - she just stood helplessly in his grasp watching in disbelief as he became more and more unhinged. "You can't go with me, Rose... you just can't... you can't... you...." His voice finally gave out and his face crumpled as he stared at her in speechless astonishment, the seconds ticking by at an agonizing crawl.

Rose ignored the blast of icy wind that knocked her hood from her head as she tried to swallow around the lump in her throat. She hesitantly reached out a hand to him, but the Doctor suddenly flung his arms around her, clutching her to his chest tightly, and burying his face in her hair and the collar of her parka. Her mittened fingers dug into the back of his coat, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't hold him any tighter. "Doctor, what's wrong with you... " she began, but found that she couldn't continue because his lips were suddenly pressing against her own. Startled, she broke the kiss to find him staring at her with a dumbfounded expression on his face, and her mouth tingled from what had not been, as far as she knew, a barrierless kiss.

Her mind racing with the thought, she slid her hands to his neck and shifted to bring her lips back to his. He released his tight hold on her and plunged his fingers into her windswept hair and she pressed against him, tightening her arms around his shoulders. Breaking the kiss, he trailed gentle kisses down her jawline and she felt as if she were melting, despite the intense blasts of cold from the relentless wind. Her head fell back as he nosed her scarf away to move his mouth to her neck while her mittened hands slid to the back of his head. He took a shaky breath and seemed about to say something, but she moved her lips back to his, effectively cutting off his words. She angled her head towards him, small sounds escaping her throat as he kissed her in such a way that she almost forgot to breathe.

He broke the kiss, panting heavily. "I know what you taste like, Rose," he said raggedly. "I don't know how I know that, and it's driving me mad." He leaned forward to nuzzle her neck as she reeled back slightly in shock. Did he remember?

"Your barriers," she gasped as she felt his warm tongue snake out to lick and suck at her exposed collarbone. "I didn't do anything... oh!" He nipped at her before pushing away, staggering back from her.

"No," he muttered, shaking his head rapidly. "You need... you need to stay away from me. Don't touch me." Rose watched, panting and shivering with the sudden return of the cold, as he righted himself. "Go back to the TARDIS," he said in a strangely flat voice, not looking at her.

A quick, hot anger lit within her. "No!" she exclaimed, stamping a foot. "I'm stayin' with you!" A loud cracking noise sounded beneath her feet, and the next thing Rose knew, she was falling through the ice, the Doctor's shout of panic ringing through the freezing air.

Current Music: 'Seuls' - Coulais

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

principia-coh.livejournal.com

Oooooooh! Back for real comments later!

ETA: That is true: from the only time(s) he remembers, he wouldn't know what she tastes like (in a more Biblical sense), would he?

Edited Date: 2008-11-26 04:34 pm (UTC)

From:

mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com

He has some vague memories, though nothing concrete of course, from lessee - I think it was chapter 16/Seize (?) in THANTH, of what Rose tastes like - in the more Biblical sense, as you so politely put it. *grins* Oral fixation, ahoy!

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Fic: Seuls - Chapter 2

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