Sweet as Sugar
folder
1 through F › Doctor Who
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
43
Views:
11,317
Reviews:
19
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
1 through F › Doctor Who
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
43
Views:
11,317
Reviews:
19
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Disclaimer:
I do not own Dr. Who, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.
23
Sweet as Sugar Chapter Twenty Three
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Mucho huge thanks to Goddess Foxfeather for being a wondermous beta despite being the BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™ and thanks to all of y’all for your patience with my erratic updating. I have FINALLY gotten my computer fixed so yay! More regularity in updating! For sure and for real this time lol.
Rose felt as if she were standing in one of those glass balls that Mickey was so fond of, the kind with the crackling electricity inside, a storm of light that hummed beneath her fingertips. The Rani and the Doctor flanked her in the doorway to the Rani’s TARDIS. Jack was being hustled away by Bara, the large being with the ocean colored skin pushing him gently with one large, webbed hand on his back. “Is he going to be okay?” she asked quietly, licking her lips nervously. “Jack, I mean. Is he going to be okay with Bara?”
The Doctor looked at her out of the corner of his eye, watching the quick dart of her tongue across the pink of her mouth. He knew that she was not simply feigning her worry for the sake of appearances; he nodded and patted her wrist encouragingly. “Of course he is. Bara has claimed him as property and I highly doubt that he would harm him now, not when he’s just gotten him back.” He smiled brightly, a boyish expression that was given lie to by the fact the expression did not quite reach his eyes. “It’d be a poor sport who broke his new toy out of spite, wouldn’t it?”
“Jack isn’t a toy,” she snapped frostily, unable to help herself. “He’s our friend!” Unconsciously she leaned towards the Doctor, seeking the warmth from his familiar form even as her own trepidation chilled her to the core.
“He is no longer our worry,” The Rani said flatly. She did not even glance at her two captives as she turned away from the door, striding to the control panels with the slightest sway to her hips. If Rose did not know better, she thought with a twinge of green bitterness, she would think the Rani was trying to be enticing.
The TARDIS door shut at some unheard command and the Doctor turned first, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets as he regarded the Rani thoughtfully. He could feel the slight tremor in Rose, the ever-present knowledge that she was a human, Earth born and bred, gnawing at him in a way that not even Adric’s frailty had been able to manage. Telling her about Adric had been something he had regretted at first, rough-voiced confessions during a dire strait, floating aimlessly in the space-time continuum. He had thought they might die that one unending stretch of time, the TARDIS not responding to his commands and pleas and threats, Rose shaking so hard she seemed to vibrate, pressed against the wall of the control room. But now, he was glad he had told her of Adric and what he had done. He was happy the memory of the boy—he would never be a man in any species now—had survived regenerations and thousands if not millions of ideas and thoughts and worries. Rose moved slowly to join him, shifting so carefully it was as if she were sore to the bone. “You want Rose for your goddess,” the Doctor said pleasantly, a mental steel door clamping down on thoughts of Adric and death, feelings of helplessness that no amount of power in the world could erase. “Then what? You don’t do anything by halves, Ushas. You enslave domes, you create your world…then what? This isn’t just for fun, is it?” His tone left no doubt to the fact that he had posed a rhetorical question. He took a few steps, a fair lilt in his walk, towards the Rani, stopping only when she pinned him with a narrow-eyed glare. “No use in your secrecy now, darling, you’ve got us.” He lifted his hands and spread them wide. “Do with us as you will.”
“Doctor,” Rose said with a distinct break in her voice. She did not like the tendrils creeping through her spine and belly. Ever since the incident preceding his regeneration, she had been able to feel things more keenly, more real than before she had met him, before she had saved him. She felt a sharp change in the current in the room, a fracturing of the energy between the Doctor and the Rani. If he had asked her, she would not be able to explain it, that millisecond of warning before the Rani moved, pressing a panel on the controls before her. The TARDIS lurched painfully, groaning as it seemed forced into directions it had no desire to follow. Rose staggered forward, the diaphanous gown she still wore tangling around her knees and ankles as she tried to catch herself. The Doctor managed to brace himself, sliding only a little. Only the Rani remained unmoved, her hands on the tall control tower before her.
Rose’s sharp yelp of frightened surprise still ringing in his ears, the Doctor managed to get to the controls as the Rani jabbed at a domed red button just out of his reach. “You’ve taken down the buffers,” he growled, gritting his teeth as the TARDIS lurched again, sending Rose falling onto her backside and sliding into the wall behind her. A distinct sensation of vertigo overcame the Doctor and his twin hearts seemed to beat out of rhythm for just a moment, then all fell still and silent. The Rani exhaled softly, a slight smile playing at her lips as she smoothed her hair and tugged her tunic back into place over the long skirt she wore.
“It was the only way to get here,” she said as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the universe. The TARDIS door hissed open next to Rose, letting in a gust of stale, musty air mingled with the scent of ozone and something sweet and slightly floral. The Doctor’s expression froze into one of near-horror, his face going pale as death as Rose struggled to her feet, cursing the skirts of the gown she wore. “Welcome home, Doctor,” the Rani intoned softly. “It’s been a long time.”
“Where are we?” Rose breathed, her eyes fixed solely on the Doctor’s countenance. “Doctor, what is it?” She found herself at his side before she realized she was moving, her trembling hands plucking at his sleeve. She had seen him angry before, fearful but brave, but never absolutely frozen, still as the grave.
“Welcome to Gallifrey, Rose,” the Rani said, sauntering past them both on her way to the door. “You are our Eve.”
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Mucho huge thanks to Goddess Foxfeather for being a wondermous beta despite being the BUSIEST WOMAN ALIVE ™ and thanks to all of y’all for your patience with my erratic updating. I have FINALLY gotten my computer fixed so yay! More regularity in updating! For sure and for real this time lol.
Rose felt as if she were standing in one of those glass balls that Mickey was so fond of, the kind with the crackling electricity inside, a storm of light that hummed beneath her fingertips. The Rani and the Doctor flanked her in the doorway to the Rani’s TARDIS. Jack was being hustled away by Bara, the large being with the ocean colored skin pushing him gently with one large, webbed hand on his back. “Is he going to be okay?” she asked quietly, licking her lips nervously. “Jack, I mean. Is he going to be okay with Bara?”
The Doctor looked at her out of the corner of his eye, watching the quick dart of her tongue across the pink of her mouth. He knew that she was not simply feigning her worry for the sake of appearances; he nodded and patted her wrist encouragingly. “Of course he is. Bara has claimed him as property and I highly doubt that he would harm him now, not when he’s just gotten him back.” He smiled brightly, a boyish expression that was given lie to by the fact the expression did not quite reach his eyes. “It’d be a poor sport who broke his new toy out of spite, wouldn’t it?”
“Jack isn’t a toy,” she snapped frostily, unable to help herself. “He’s our friend!” Unconsciously she leaned towards the Doctor, seeking the warmth from his familiar form even as her own trepidation chilled her to the core.
“He is no longer our worry,” The Rani said flatly. She did not even glance at her two captives as she turned away from the door, striding to the control panels with the slightest sway to her hips. If Rose did not know better, she thought with a twinge of green bitterness, she would think the Rani was trying to be enticing.
The TARDIS door shut at some unheard command and the Doctor turned first, his hands stuffed deep in his pockets as he regarded the Rani thoughtfully. He could feel the slight tremor in Rose, the ever-present knowledge that she was a human, Earth born and bred, gnawing at him in a way that not even Adric’s frailty had been able to manage. Telling her about Adric had been something he had regretted at first, rough-voiced confessions during a dire strait, floating aimlessly in the space-time continuum. He had thought they might die that one unending stretch of time, the TARDIS not responding to his commands and pleas and threats, Rose shaking so hard she seemed to vibrate, pressed against the wall of the control room. But now, he was glad he had told her of Adric and what he had done. He was happy the memory of the boy—he would never be a man in any species now—had survived regenerations and thousands if not millions of ideas and thoughts and worries. Rose moved slowly to join him, shifting so carefully it was as if she were sore to the bone. “You want Rose for your goddess,” the Doctor said pleasantly, a mental steel door clamping down on thoughts of Adric and death, feelings of helplessness that no amount of power in the world could erase. “Then what? You don’t do anything by halves, Ushas. You enslave domes, you create your world…then what? This isn’t just for fun, is it?” His tone left no doubt to the fact that he had posed a rhetorical question. He took a few steps, a fair lilt in his walk, towards the Rani, stopping only when she pinned him with a narrow-eyed glare. “No use in your secrecy now, darling, you’ve got us.” He lifted his hands and spread them wide. “Do with us as you will.”
“Doctor,” Rose said with a distinct break in her voice. She did not like the tendrils creeping through her spine and belly. Ever since the incident preceding his regeneration, she had been able to feel things more keenly, more real than before she had met him, before she had saved him. She felt a sharp change in the current in the room, a fracturing of the energy between the Doctor and the Rani. If he had asked her, she would not be able to explain it, that millisecond of warning before the Rani moved, pressing a panel on the controls before her. The TARDIS lurched painfully, groaning as it seemed forced into directions it had no desire to follow. Rose staggered forward, the diaphanous gown she still wore tangling around her knees and ankles as she tried to catch herself. The Doctor managed to brace himself, sliding only a little. Only the Rani remained unmoved, her hands on the tall control tower before her.
Rose’s sharp yelp of frightened surprise still ringing in his ears, the Doctor managed to get to the controls as the Rani jabbed at a domed red button just out of his reach. “You’ve taken down the buffers,” he growled, gritting his teeth as the TARDIS lurched again, sending Rose falling onto her backside and sliding into the wall behind her. A distinct sensation of vertigo overcame the Doctor and his twin hearts seemed to beat out of rhythm for just a moment, then all fell still and silent. The Rani exhaled softly, a slight smile playing at her lips as she smoothed her hair and tugged her tunic back into place over the long skirt she wore.
“It was the only way to get here,” she said as if it should have been the most obvious thing in the universe. The TARDIS door hissed open next to Rose, letting in a gust of stale, musty air mingled with the scent of ozone and something sweet and slightly floral. The Doctor’s expression froze into one of near-horror, his face going pale as death as Rose struggled to her feet, cursing the skirts of the gown she wore. “Welcome home, Doctor,” the Rani intoned softly. “It’s been a long time.”
“Where are we?” Rose breathed, her eyes fixed solely on the Doctor’s countenance. “Doctor, what is it?” She found herself at his side before she realized she was moving, her trembling hands plucking at his sleeve. She had seen him angry before, fearful but brave, but never absolutely frozen, still as the grave.
“Welcome to Gallifrey, Rose,” the Rani said, sauntering past them both on her way to the door. “You are our Eve.”