Seuls - Chapter 9

[mtemplar_fic]

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 Two Three Four Five Six Seven Eight

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






Chapter 9

Rose slowly regained consciousness and raised her head, blinking rapidly as she came to full awareness. The room she found herself in was dim... and was most definitely not the room she'd been left in previously. There was no skull, no dais, no uncomfortable chair - rather, she was lying face down on something soft and furry. She stretched out a hand, feeling her arm creak in protest. Wherever she was, it was obvious that she hadn't moved in a long while. Her fingers sank into soft fur, and she realized she was no longer wearing her parka. She didn't feel cold, just a bit stiff. She rolled slowly onto her back, letting her vision adjust to the dim light, and gasped. A familiar chandelier hung high overhead, its blue-green glow flickering within. She was back in the room where the Doctor was being held, but where was he? And how had she gotten here?

She sat up on the pelt-covered platform, immediately regretting it as a wave of dizziness hit her. After the room stopped spinning, she realized she could see the manacles that had bound the Doctor. The chains that had bound his legs were still intact at the end of the vessel, but the chains that had bound his arms were broken. Well, she clarified, one was broken, while the other hung over the side of the icy hull. Had he managed to escape? She hauled herself up and over the side of the carved vessel and cried out in surprise as she impacted with an object. A fairly solid object that was still chained by one wrist to the platform above. It moaned loudly as Rose crashed to the ground next to it.

"Doctor?" Rose said softly, biting her lip as she saw him wince in pain in the dim light. "Are you all right?"

"No," he responded, his voice wavering slightly. "Your ankle? How does it feel?"

Rose watched him intently as his eyes squeezed shut in pain. He was sitting on the icy floor in his suit and stockinged feet, with his knees drawn up to his chest. She noted that he was clutching his left arm protectively against his body. "You're hurt," she said softly. "This isn't a time to be worrying about my ankle."

"Welcome back," he said, managing a tired grin, his voice sounding unusually high-pitched.

The light in the room was gradually increasing, and Rose surmised that the dawn was approaching. She could see that a manacle still encircled the Doctor's left wrist, but the attached chain was broken, leaving a few links dangling from the cuff. His trainers were missing, and she guessed that he'd somehow lost them while slipping his feet free of their manacles. The chain binding the Doctor's right wrist was still attached to its mooring above. Rose glanced at the bloodied snow alongside where the Doctor sat, and realized that his left wrist was gouged and bleeding. She looked for something to bandage it with, finally settling on tearing a strip of her t-shirt from beneath her hoody. As she picked up his limp hand to dress his wound, she was startled by his sudden hiss of pain. "Doctor?"

"Shoulder," he rasped out, grimacing. "It's dislocated. Now that you're awake, I'll try to pop it back into place. But if there's any way you could break or undo this chain," he said, rattling the chain on his right wrist so that it jingled, "it'd be greatly appreciated."

Rose stared at him incredulously about his matter-of-fact attitude in regards to his injury before nodding and gingerly climbing back up into the carved vessel, trying not to tweak her angrily throbbing ankle or disturb the chain that still tightly tethered the Doctor. "How did you get down there," she asked, "and how did your shoulder get dislocated? Was it those men again? 'Cause I'd like to give them a piece of my mind right now -"

"Rose, it's not important," the Doctor interrupted. "I was trying to free myself in a hurry and... I fell. It'll heal up, no need to waste any time worrying about it."

Rose tugged carefully on the chain, but it held fast. "I don't know how you managed to break the other chain," she said, grunting. "This one's being pretty stubborn."

"Hurry, Rose."

"'M workin' on it," she replied brusquely. She tried tugging the chain in a different direction, but it remained firmly attached to the mooring. An idea occurred to her, and she slipped off the boot from her uninjured foot and started to hammer away at the mooring with the heel.

"Rose - what are you doing? They'll hear you!" the Doctor called, alarmed.

"It won't budge," Rose said, grunting as she tried to apply more force. Her hands felt strange as she did so - it was an odd sensation, almost as if she were watching someone else perform the action. "Doctor?" she said uncertainly, after tugging her boot back on with some difficulty.

"I don't think I'm able to pull," the Doctor said, his voice strained. "Sorry."

"Something's wrong," she managed to get out before another wave of dizziness passed through her. "'S like... I'm not myself." She couldn't hear if he answered, couldn't hear anything above a sudden odd, yet familiar loud roar that rang in her ears. It sounded much like the crashing waves of the ocean as they rushed onto a rocky shore. Her vision tunneled and dimmed, and she dropped like a stone to the pelt-covered platform as everything went black.

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

Rose slowly blinked her eyes open as the world swirled back into existence. The room was spinning, and she quickly squeezed her eyes shut again, her stomach lurching. After a few moments, she cautiously opened them again, taking in her surroundings. She was still in the large chamber, lying on her back on the pressed snow of the floor. She carefully rolled to her side and up on an elbow, the snow scrunching beneath her. A low moan sounded to her right.

"Doctor?"

He was slumped against the side of the vessel, pale and trembling. His eyes looked sunken and hollow, and rusty blood from the wound on his forehead had left a trail down his face. Angry, purple bruises at his temples stood out starkly from the paleness of his skin. His right arm stuck up crazily in the air, still firmly tethered by the chain to the mooring above. Rose quickly went to him, her disorientation forgotten.

She knelt at his side, noting the occasional deep groove in the packed snow where he lay, along with scattered, small areas of rusty discoloration. It looked as if he had struggled with whoever had been here in the room with them, but she couldn't see any other marks or footprints in the snow other than the ones that had been left before.

The Doctor moaned wretchedly before slowly opening his own eyes. "Rose?" he said, uncertainly.

"Doctor, what's happened?" She quickly scanned the room again, making sure no one was lurking in the shadows. She reached out a hand to smooth his fringe from his forehead and away from his wound, but snatched it back quickly after seeing his eyes widen.

"Your ankle?" he rasped, his eyes nervously darting back and forth between her face and her left foot.

"'S ok, I'll live," she murmured. "Your shoulder?"

He let out a heavy sigh. "Still bad," he said quietly. "But I'll live." He grinned weakly at her before grabbing at the chain that tethered his right wrist. Grunting, he hauled himself up to a sitting position, keeping his left arm close to his body. "I think I'll be needing a hand with this after all," he said, tilting his head toward his left shoulder.

"I... I don't know what to do," Rose stammered, not wanting to hurt him.

"I'll talk you through it, but we need to hurry, before...." He trailed off, looking at her uncertainly.

"Before what?"

"Never mind, it's not important." With a small grunt of pain, the Doctor slowly let his left arm fall to the side. "You'll have to try to do this as quickly as you can, and yes, it's going to hurt, so don't worry about it."

Rose gulped and scooted closer to where the Doctor sat, his back propped against the carved vessel. "And it's ok if I touch you?" she asked.

"You're going to have to," he said, gritting his teeth. "It'll be ok. Pick up my hand."

Rose steeled herself, trying to ignore the nervous flutter of her stomach. She carefully grasped the Doctor's hand, feeling slightly sick at the unusual lack of resistance. There was no familiar squeeze, no toying with her fingers, just the dead weight of the Doctor's hand in hers.

"You'll have to support my forearm, one hand under my wrist, the other under my... ah, elbow -" The Doctor's voice rose slightly in pain as Rose grasped his arm.

"Sorry," Rose said, biting her lip.

"It's fine, Rose. Now you'll have to keep my forearm squarely b...bent," he stammered, "and my arm close to my body. Rotate my forearm out toward you. S...slowly, please."

Rose cringed as she maneuvered the dead weight of the Doctor's forearm, trying to move as slowly and carefully as possible. "How... how far out do I need to move it?" she asked quietly, her voice cracking in worry.

"Just until you feel some r...resistance... ah, right there," he exclaimed, his face paling further. "Keep hold of my elbow and wrist - now you need to bring my arm forward as far as it'll go."

"Ok," Rose said, watching the Doctor's face closely as she slowly maneuvered his arm. He was sweating profusely despite the extreme cold, his eyes were shut tightly as he bared his teeth, grunting with discomfort. She swallowed, wishing that she could take the pain from him.

"That's it," the Doctor whispered. "Ah...almost there. Now rotate my wrist back toward me and p...push up." He grasped at the chain that still tethered his right arm, his knuckles white.

Rose did as the Doctor asked, trying to move his arm as slowly as possible. He hissed in pain before Rose felt his shoulder suddenly give, as the bone clicked back into place. His mouth dropped open and his head lolled briefly, and Rose wondered if he had passed out. She carefully lowered his forearm, looking for something she might use as a sling. Finding nothing, she stripped off her hoody, shivering in her thin t-shirt beneath. She began to loop it under the Doctor's injured arm and around his neck, when he suddenly leaned forward, pressing his face to the crook of her neck. Rose started, partly in surprise and partly at the feel of his warm breath on her exposed skin. "Doctor?"

He was panting lightly, and didn't answer her. Rose finished tying the sleeves of her hoody together around the Doctor's neck, effectively immobilizing his left arm, and carefully moved to lean up against the side of the longboat, keeping his head pressed to her chest. The Doctor sagged heavily against her chest, his right arm still awkwardly tethered, and her breath hitched in her throat. Unshed tears began to blur her vision as she worried about how badly he might be hurt.

"Rose?" came his low, soft voice.

The sound of his voice sent waves of relief flooding through her, and she shivered, now noticing the cold as it began to seep into her back and limbs. "Shhhh, 's ok," she murmured to him, trying to keep the tears at bay through sheer force of will. Suddenly he shifted against her, moving his lips to hers. He kissed her slowly, gently - his tongue sweeping between her lips, parted in surprise. "Doctor," she managed to get out between kisses. "Your barriers... they're not...."

"Hmmm?" he said, trying to kiss her again. Rose put her hands against his chest and forced herself to carefully push him away. He blinked at her, puzzled.

"Your barriers," she huffed, trying not to lose her nerve. "They have to stay up, remember?"

The Doctor stared at her for several moments before looking down, his chin to his chest. "I'm sorry."

"'S ok," Rose murmured, unable to resist smoothing his fringe from his forehead, her fingers trailing down his temples. Then she suddenly stopped.

She looked at her hand against the paleness of his face. She blinked in disbelief. Then she looked again.

The bruises at the Doctor's temples exactly matched the spread of her own fingers.

Comments

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

Have I sent you the next few yet? *can't remember for the life of her*

[garpu.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen any past this one, nope.

I sent you my chapter 10, right?

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

Shite, sorry. Um... *looks* I still have your chapter 9. This weekend was really, really busy, sorry.

[garpu.livejournal.com]

OH crap. No worries. I sent you chapter 9. I had ch. 10 open in another desktop, so that's what I was looking at. I need more coffee. It's ch. 9 I couldn't remember if I sent or not. :)

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

Ok, so we both fail. *grins* I think you sent two of chapter 9?

[garpu.livejournal.com]

Yah. Most recent one's the correct one. Or: keep me away from a text editor at 1:30 a.m.

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

*ponders how long that lasso would have to be to yank you away*

[garpu.livejournal.com]

If I'm left to my druthers, my natural schedule is being awake from 10 a.m. until 2 a.m, anyway. I seem to have my peak level of activity around midnight. Sucks, if I'm required to be awake and alert at or before 9 a.m., though.

[mtemplar-fic.livejournal.com]

Wow. I'm usually up at 4am, and strangely cheerful, unless I've been up several times during the night.