Sweet as Sugar
folder
1 through F › Doctor Who
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
43
Views:
11,319
Reviews:
19
Recommended:
0
Currently Reading:
0
Category:
1 through F › Doctor Who
Rating:
Adult ++
Chapters:
43
Views:
11,319
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.
25
Sweet as Sugar Chapter Twenty Five
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Foxfeather is an Uberbeta and goddess. *G * AND she’s patient, lol. J Thanks to everyone for reading and sticking with this… I’ll be heading towards wrapping this up soon but I have a few other (shorter) fics on the backburner I’m going to start posting soonish.
“Rose,” the Doctor’s voice was as brittle as black ice, sending a sharp twist of pain through his companion’s heart, “get back inside the TARDIS. Now.”
“Now, Doctor,” the Rani smiled, reminding Rose forcibly of the estate agent her mother had been friends with some years before, smile never reaching her eyes and voice promising the world but only giving you an out of date globe, “you spoil my good mood, you really do.” She insinuated a hand between the Doctor’s back and Rose’s stomach, pushing the Doctor forward, out of the TARDIS and into the wide, almost cavernous hall where they seemed to have come to rest. He moved perforce, his body stiffening visibly as his feet touched the floor. Slowly, light began to come up from some hidden source and the walls were revealed to be a deep, burnished silver inlaid with an amber colored stone that radiated a warm glow. “Do you recognize this place, Theta? Do you know where you are?”
“Call me that again,” he snarled, his teeth practically bared in the miasma of anger and confusion and raw uncertainty beating at his brain, “and I will kill you.”
“He’s out of mercy,” Rose said quietly. “I’ve heard him say so meself.” She took a step forward, teetering on the edge of the TARDIS’s doorframe, her bare feet half on and half off the narrow ledge of metal and plastic. She looked up at the Rani with narrowed, angry eyes. She felt the stirring of the wolf within her again, a warm and suffusing sensation that seemed to radiate from her belly, through her veins. She felt the golden light in her again, felt it spring so suddenly to life. She did not know what the Rani saw in her eyes but she was grimly pleased, almost ecstatic, that the Time Lord (or was it lady, Rose wondered in the part of her brain that was still the girl from London, still in disbelief about Time Lords and interstellar travel) withdrew a pace or two. “Why did you do this? Why are you doing this to him?” She fought the urge to fly at The Rani, dig her fingers into the soft flesh of her throat, and make her feel a fraction of the pain she knew that the Doctor was feeling right at this moment.
The Doctor only half-heard what was going on behind him. His brain was filing away the sound of the conversation—or half conversation—for future perusal and possible amusement or horror later while the rest of his awareness was focused on the sight before him. It was strongly familiar, a sight burned into the mental eyes of every young Time Lord when they first began their training. He took a handful of steps away from the TARDIS and let out a whooshing, pained sigh. “The Tomb of Rassilon,” he said flatly, no emotion coloring his voice. “You have brought us to the Tomb of Rassilon.” He turned slowly, his face bearing no trace of whatever his true feelings were. “Rose, get back inside. Now. Do it or I will do it for you.” He did not look at his companion but stared at the Rani, his eyes boring into her as if he could see her very soul, if she had such a thing.
“Doctor,” the Rani purred, “do cease with the dramatics. You assume I created the most morbid segment of our training from thin air… It created itself. I merely rebuilt a burned out shell of a world. Gallifrey was not as destroyed as you’d like to think. How do you think your TARDIS remained functional? Faerie dust?” She snorted, shoving past Rose, striding past the Doctor with a definite purpose in her step. “The most remote of our tribes remained, isolated in the radioactive zones on the far reaches of the remains of our world. They’re still there, sickening, dying. Some of them will mutate then die but most will just…” she paused, flicking Rose a glance over her shoulder, “die.” She had reached a spot several yards past them, out of easy reach but still close enough that she did not have to raise her voice to be heard. “Venus was a test. The goddess games…those were tests. You’ve proven yourself to be quite malleable, Rose, quite adept at adjusting to new situations. More than that…you’re devoted.” Her voice dripped with some innuendo neither Rose or the Doctor caught, but the Doctor decided it was time to speak up.
“The tomb is in the Death Zone. Why here? What good does it do to bring us to this benighted part of Gallifrey, assuming you’ve rebuilt the planet as it was. Planning on re-enacting some of our old gladiatorial games, are we?” His voice was fairly booming in the tomb, echoing off of the stones as he walked slowly towards the Rani. “Rose is not your brood mare to revive a dead race.”
Rose felt color suffuse her face as a very human thought crossed her mind. She had some notion that alien races tended to reproduce in test tubes and special chambers but she knew how she’d like to try it. The thought was never really far from her mind, not lately anyway. She felt almost ashamed for thinking of it at that moment, for letting a base desire for the impossible flicker to life in her brain while they faced the unknown, the bizarre and terrible. “Doctor,” she said quietly, shivering slightly as he turned his hard gaze on her, “she said it wasn’t destroyed… I thought you saw it burn…”
He nodded once, sharply. “I did. I saw my world die.” He returned his intent stare to the Rani and uttered the words that had been preying on his mind since the TARDIS doors opened. “Where are the rest of them?”
Disclaimers Apply
A/N Foxfeather is an Uberbeta and goddess. *G * AND she’s patient, lol. J Thanks to everyone for reading and sticking with this… I’ll be heading towards wrapping this up soon but I have a few other (shorter) fics on the backburner I’m going to start posting soonish.
“Rose,” the Doctor’s voice was as brittle as black ice, sending a sharp twist of pain through his companion’s heart, “get back inside the TARDIS. Now.”
“Now, Doctor,” the Rani smiled, reminding Rose forcibly of the estate agent her mother had been friends with some years before, smile never reaching her eyes and voice promising the world but only giving you an out of date globe, “you spoil my good mood, you really do.” She insinuated a hand between the Doctor’s back and Rose’s stomach, pushing the Doctor forward, out of the TARDIS and into the wide, almost cavernous hall where they seemed to have come to rest. He moved perforce, his body stiffening visibly as his feet touched the floor. Slowly, light began to come up from some hidden source and the walls were revealed to be a deep, burnished silver inlaid with an amber colored stone that radiated a warm glow. “Do you recognize this place, Theta? Do you know where you are?”
“Call me that again,” he snarled, his teeth practically bared in the miasma of anger and confusion and raw uncertainty beating at his brain, “and I will kill you.”
“He’s out of mercy,” Rose said quietly. “I’ve heard him say so meself.” She took a step forward, teetering on the edge of the TARDIS’s doorframe, her bare feet half on and half off the narrow ledge of metal and plastic. She looked up at the Rani with narrowed, angry eyes. She felt the stirring of the wolf within her again, a warm and suffusing sensation that seemed to radiate from her belly, through her veins. She felt the golden light in her again, felt it spring so suddenly to life. She did not know what the Rani saw in her eyes but she was grimly pleased, almost ecstatic, that the Time Lord (or was it lady, Rose wondered in the part of her brain that was still the girl from London, still in disbelief about Time Lords and interstellar travel) withdrew a pace or two. “Why did you do this? Why are you doing this to him?” She fought the urge to fly at The Rani, dig her fingers into the soft flesh of her throat, and make her feel a fraction of the pain she knew that the Doctor was feeling right at this moment.
The Doctor only half-heard what was going on behind him. His brain was filing away the sound of the conversation—or half conversation—for future perusal and possible amusement or horror later while the rest of his awareness was focused on the sight before him. It was strongly familiar, a sight burned into the mental eyes of every young Time Lord when they first began their training. He took a handful of steps away from the TARDIS and let out a whooshing, pained sigh. “The Tomb of Rassilon,” he said flatly, no emotion coloring his voice. “You have brought us to the Tomb of Rassilon.” He turned slowly, his face bearing no trace of whatever his true feelings were. “Rose, get back inside. Now. Do it or I will do it for you.” He did not look at his companion but stared at the Rani, his eyes boring into her as if he could see her very soul, if she had such a thing.
“Doctor,” the Rani purred, “do cease with the dramatics. You assume I created the most morbid segment of our training from thin air… It created itself. I merely rebuilt a burned out shell of a world. Gallifrey was not as destroyed as you’d like to think. How do you think your TARDIS remained functional? Faerie dust?” She snorted, shoving past Rose, striding past the Doctor with a definite purpose in her step. “The most remote of our tribes remained, isolated in the radioactive zones on the far reaches of the remains of our world. They’re still there, sickening, dying. Some of them will mutate then die but most will just…” she paused, flicking Rose a glance over her shoulder, “die.” She had reached a spot several yards past them, out of easy reach but still close enough that she did not have to raise her voice to be heard. “Venus was a test. The goddess games…those were tests. You’ve proven yourself to be quite malleable, Rose, quite adept at adjusting to new situations. More than that…you’re devoted.” Her voice dripped with some innuendo neither Rose or the Doctor caught, but the Doctor decided it was time to speak up.
“The tomb is in the Death Zone. Why here? What good does it do to bring us to this benighted part of Gallifrey, assuming you’ve rebuilt the planet as it was. Planning on re-enacting some of our old gladiatorial games, are we?” His voice was fairly booming in the tomb, echoing off of the stones as he walked slowly towards the Rani. “Rose is not your brood mare to revive a dead race.”
Rose felt color suffuse her face as a very human thought crossed her mind. She had some notion that alien races tended to reproduce in test tubes and special chambers but she knew how she’d like to try it. The thought was never really far from her mind, not lately anyway. She felt almost ashamed for thinking of it at that moment, for letting a base desire for the impossible flicker to life in her brain while they faced the unknown, the bizarre and terrible. “Doctor,” she said quietly, shivering slightly as he turned his hard gaze on her, “she said it wasn’t destroyed… I thought you saw it burn…”
He nodded once, sharply. “I did. I saw my world die.” He returned his intent stare to the Rani and uttered the words that had been preying on his mind since the TARDIS doors opened. “Where are the rest of them?”