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The Metacrisis Doctor (handysparehand) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2011-10-13 20:29:00

Entry tags:

rose tyler, the doctor (metacrisis)

Who: Meta!Ten and "Rassilon", open
When: Tonight
Where: Outside the TARDIS, wherever it happens to be parked
What: The Doctor faces down his fears ... or does he?
Warnings: None, believe it or not! Possible violence in comments, however.
Status: Open (can also stand alone)

The Doctor had been thinking. There wasn't much else to do, trapped in the TARDIS while Rassilon prowled outside. He was grateful for the Eleventh Doctor's kindness in letting him remain on board, but the necessity of keeping out of Rassilon's sight rankled at his pride. He was as much the Doctor as his Time Lord counterpart, wasn't he? Why should he be treated any differently just because he had a human heart? So his body was more fragile and his ability to regenerate absolutely nil. So what? Why couldn't he look after himself? Why did he need to depend on others to protect him from a psychotic Time Lord who made the Master look downright sensible? It was ridiculous, and he was starting to feel like he should stop hiding and just storm through the TARDIS doors and deal with Rassilon himself. The only thing stopping him was that tiny, niggling sense of doubt, of inferiority. As often as the Metacrisis Doctor insisted he was still the Doctor, sometimes, he wondered if he was in fact a bit less.

Frankly, he was becoming frustrated not only with the situation, but with himself. He needed to move, to do something. Rassilon was staying near the TARDIS for a reason. He was ignoring the other targets in the city for a reason. Perhaps it was terribly self-centered for the Metacrisis Doctor to think of himself as that reason, but Rassilon had appeared in his apartment. Rassilon had followed the TARDIS after River and the Eleventh Doctor had picked him up. Rassilon had tried to kill him the moment he'd stuck his head outside for a look. The Metacrisis Doctor wondered if it were simply convenience. If Rassilon knew he had used the Moment, perhaps the other Time Lord was simply waiting to catch both of the Doctors, and to Hell with anyone else in Colligo.

The Metacrisis Doctor had begun a project shortly after Rassilon had taken a shot at him. Rose's words over the network had set him to wondering if there was indeed something he could do, and he had simply been so wrapped up in what Rassilon would to him if he didn't come up with the perfect plan that he'd been afraid to try any plan at all. As he worked, he reflected on the knowledge that his Time Lord counterpart probably wouldn't approve of what he was about to try. When the Metacrisis Doctor was returned to his proper timeline, he was going to be marooned in an alternate universe for a very good reason: he was too dangerous, too violent. The device he was assembling would only reinforce that perception. It was, put simply, a gun, a rather unusual and high tech gun, but still a gun, and intended to kill.

Once the weapon was completed, the Metacrisis Doctor waited for a moment when he could steal out of the TARDIS without being seen. When he found the moment arrived, he moved quickly, slamming the door shut behind him and ducking around and behind the TARDIS as Rassilon raised his glove and took yet another shot him.

"You finally decided to come out, Lord Doctor," the other man called, sounding amused in spite of the gravity of the situation. He was probably enjoying this, the Doctor thought spitefully. Doctor-hunting was probably Rassilon's idea of a big game safari. "Only you aren't the Lord Doctor, are you? I could feel it the moment I realized you were in that building with me. A single heartbeat. You're no Time Lord. You're less than a Time Lord. You're an abomination."

"Yes, well, at least I haven't tried to destroy the universe lately," the Doctor called back. "How's that been going, by the way? You seem to be a bit distracted. Last time I saw you, you were ready to sink the ship. Rassilon, the Great Time Lord Quitter."

"Talk all you like, Doctor. It still will not change what you are: a shadow, an insubstantial ghost of something more."

"I've met ghosts," the Doctor responded, glibly. "I liked them better than you." If he could just get Rassilon to drop his guard, give him a chance to line up a shot, this could be over in seconds. He eased around the corner of the TARDIS and frowned when he realized he couldn't see the other man. He pulled back slowly, so very slowly, his heart starting to pound against his ribs, and turned around.

Rassilon was standing there, smiling. Of course he was, the Doctor thought. The monsters were always, always behind you.

"Goodbye, Doctor."

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blaidd_drwg_
2011-10-14 06:11 pm UTC (link)

Rose was very worried about the Doctor, given the current circumstance. She knew nothing of this Time Lord, he had never been mentioned to her, but if he frightened the Doctor then surely he must be bad. She had never really seen him scared before and hat just made her scared. But it also made her determined to help him.

She left the house and came pretty close to running just to try and get to him. She had to see him as soon as possible. And when she finally set eyes on him she stalled. That must be him. That must be the bloke who had terrified the Doctor into being more willing to stay inside.

"Doctor!" She stayed where she was, though, but didn't remove her eyes from him.

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handysparehand
2011-10-14 06:18 pm UTC (link)

As it turned out, Rose was just what the Doctor needed. Her shout snapped him out of the momentary paralysis that had come with being face-to-face with Rassilon at such close quarters, and he ducked out of the way before he could get himself killed standing there like an idiot. If he was going to die, he wasn't going to do it where Rose could see.

Not even needing to think about it, the Doctor sprinted across the open space between him and Rose and caught her hand, pulling her with him toward the cover of the nearest building.

"You know," he gasped out between breaths, "ordinarily I'd be very cross you just attracted his attention, but that was brilliant timing. Thanks."

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blaidd_drwg_
2011-10-14 06:26 pm UTC (link)

She grabbed his hand, running with him and keeping a strong hold on him. Pressing in against the building, she chanced a glance to see if they were followed and frowned when she couldn't see him. That couldn't be good, could it? When the Doctor began to speak, she looked up at the Doctor and laughed a little.

"You're welcome."

Squeezing his hand, she took a few more moments to stay quiet and just get her breath back before looking back at him. She was confused as to why he had just stood there, after all.

"I've never seen you that scared before. But I just don't get it. You're the Doctor. He's from your past, you defeated him before even if it was in the Time War. But all of that...it's behind you. And you're stronger than before. You don't hide."

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handysparehand
2011-10-14 06:42 pm UTC (link)

It took a few moments for the Doctor to catch his breath. He didn't have a Time Lord's endurance anymore, and running took more out of him now than it had in the past. "I didn't defeat him," he told Rose, sneaking a glance of his own and frowning when he couldn't see Rassilon either. "What I did isn't winning by any stretch of the imagination. He's not just a Time Lord, Rose. He was one of the first. The things he knows, the things he can do ... " The Doctor shook his head. "He's as close to a god as Time Lords get."

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blaidd_drwg_
2011-10-14 07:16 pm UTC (link)

"So?"

She wasn't trying to be annoying or defiant, she just really had no idea why that would stop him. Moving so she was standing right in front of him she made sure his eyes were on hers before she began to speak again. She just couldn't believe he was thinking this way.

"You've faced down so many things. Devils, Daleks, ghosts, Cybermen. And you're going to let someone from your own race defeat you? How many people on Earth try and pass themselves off as better? Dictators. And every time the human race stood up and stopped them believing in their god like appearance. And you're human. But more importantly, you're the Doctor. There's no reason in hell you should let this one make you run and hide."

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handysparehand
2011-10-14 07:24 pm UTC (link)

"Am I? Am I really?" The Doctor's eyes were haunted as he looked down at Rose. "Are we sure I really am the Doctor and not just a copy? A duplicate. Same face, same memories, but you can do that with a computer, just download the information. It doesn't mean it's the original."

His fears were more than that, though. Rassilon for him was a reminder of the horrors of the war, of the guilt and fear of using the Moment and finding himself suddenly and painfully alone, the sole survivor of a species he had deliberately destroyed.

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blaidd_drwg_
2011-10-14 07:56 pm UTC (link)

"Yes! Two hearts and being more alien than the rest isn't what makes you the Doctor. It's the way you are. The fact you help people, that you protect and you go out there no matter what. You're the Doctor!"

Rose reached out, cupping his face. She really didn't expect such a deep insecurity in him. The Doctor was always so confident, so ready to accept everything and throw himself in the deep end.

"You have more than the face and the memories. You have the feelings that came from that. A computer or a copy doesn't have that. You're the Doctor completely. You have the emotions that a duplicate wouldn't comprehend. Every single inch of you is the Doctor, the same Doctor I fell in love with, the same Doctor I love now and the same Doctor I will love until the moment I die."

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handysparehand
2011-10-14 08:11 pm UTC (link)

The Doctor had no idea what to say. It wasn't the first time Rose had told him that she loved him, but he had never heard her so passionate, so absolutely convinced that he was the man she loved, that he always would be. What could he say to that? Were there words in any language that could follow?

In lieu of the words he couldn't find, he put his arms around her and pulled her close, embracing her as though he was afraid she'd disappear if he let go. "It isn't just that," he confided in a hoarse whisper after several moments, moments in which, thankfully, Rassilon didn't show his face. "If I am him, then that Time Lord out there is everything that I did wrong. Every mistake I made that got the rest of them killed."

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blaidd_drwg_
2011-10-14 08:39 pm UTC (link)

She held onto him tightly, sensing that was what he really needed at that moment. She would do anything to give him that comfort and she knew that she had that option with the Doctor in her arms. He was the man she knew she had a future with, the man she could potentially marry or have a family with. And she had to help him through this.

“You made no mistake. You done what you could to save the universe. And you won. The Time War is over and you’re far from alone, you have so many of us. And he may represent your race...but it’s a race you ran from. It’s time to stop running and face it.”

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handysparehand
2011-10-14 08:50 pm UTC (link)

"How am I supposed to face that?" he asked of her. "They're gone, and I killed them. They weren't just strangers. They were my teachers and my friends and my family. People I'd known since I was a child. They died because of me."

He'd come close to confessing as much to her in the past. He remembered a tense standoff in an underground facility in Utah, in which Rose asked him to show mercy to a dying Dalek, and he had crumbled and admitted to her that his people's destruction had been his fault. He had never dealt with that truth, not really. He had simply stuffed it down deep inside where he could ignore it and continue his life with a fragile semblance of being okay.

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blaidd_drwg_
2011-10-14 10:24 pm UTC (link)

"It's finished. The Time War, it happened and you were so brave to do that. It takes a lot to keep going after and here you are. You're living your life for them. Would they like you cowering away from one person?" She sighed softly then pulled away to look at him better and after a moment, pressed her lips tightly to his. Once she pulled away, she met his eyes again. "I believe in you."

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handysparehand
2011-10-14 11:25 pm UTC (link)

Would they want him to cower? His family and friends, the people whose lives he couldn't save ... would running do anything to make up for their loss? The answer struck him as Rose did her best to reassure them. No. Of course running wouldn't help. Running wouldn't do a thing to honor their memories. He had a momentary recollection of childhood bullies, now dead and gone with the rest of them, and he suddenly found himself more angry than afraid. What made Rassilon any worse than them? Rose was right. The war was over, and the Doctor had come out of it a survivor. In the grand scheme of life, that was winning--not just the part where he was still alive, but the part where he made something of that life. He lost himself in the kiss, completely forgetting about Rassilon, about his fears, and not noticing when the Time Lord, who had been standing at his back for the last few seconds, faded away.

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blaidd_drwg_
2011-10-15 05:31 am UTC (link)

She continued the kiss when he urged her to, arms tight around him the entire time. A small part of her felt guilty, given the Doctor who left, but he was gone. And the man in her arms was still him. She refused to give up a chance to have a happy life with him just because he only had one heart and, in fact, that only spurred her on. The two hearted Doctor left her with him in her own world, and she would begin that now.

"I'll be with you forever. I made that promise and I intend on sticking to it," she told him when she finally pulled away.

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handysparehand
2011-10-15 03:48 pm UTC (link)

"Better with two," he said, smiling as he echoed her words from a long ago adventure. "Thank you." He leaned in for another kiss, this one quick, lasting only a second or two, then took her hand and eased around the corner of the building behind which they had been sheltering.

"He's gone," he said, after a good long look. "Rassilon. I don't see him anywhere, and I can't feel him anymore either. Up here, I mean," he added, tapping his temple with a forefinger.

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	blaidd_drwg_ 2011-10-15 07:15 pm UTC (link)
	She frowned slightly at that, even though she was incredibly relieved to hear that the threat had gone. Reaching up, she ran her fingers over his temple and through his hair. She knew what that meant, if he couldn't feel anything there. Well, couldn't feel that specific person. "He's really gone." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	handysparehand 2011-10-15 07:25 pm UTC (link)
	"He really is." The Doctor grinned. "He really is!" Laughing, he pulled Rose into another hug, lifting her up off of her feet and spinning around. "Oh, I love you. You know that? I love you, Rose Tyler. Completely hopeless without you." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blaidd_drwg_ 2011-10-15 08:23 pm UTC (link)
	Rose squealed slightly as he picked her up, not expecting it at all. Yes, the Doctor was always rather enthusiastic with his hugs she had just not expected it this time. Clinging onto him, the squeal turned into a laugh. "I love you too." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	handysparehand 2011-10-15 08:25 pm UTC (link)
	"Come on," he said, setting her down and taking her hand. "Let's go celebrate." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blaidd_drwg_ 2011-10-15 09:32 pm UTC (link)
	"How do you suggest we celebrate?" She really wanted to know what he wanted to do, after all it was something more for him than anything else. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	handysparehand 2011-10-15 10:21 pm UTC (link)
	"I have absolutely no idea. We'll have to wing it." He was beaming, almost giddy with relief. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blaidd_drwg_ 2011-10-15 10:30 pm UTC (link)
	"Come on there has to be something you really want to do!" She couldn't help it, she smiled just as brightly as he did. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	handysparehand 2011-10-15 10:43 pm UTC (link)
	"I could stand to kiss you again," he said in reply, feigning innocence. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blaidd_drwg_ 2011-10-15 10:53 pm UTC (link)
	"Is that so?" she asked as she stepped in front of him, walking backwards as she grinned up at him. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	handysparehand 2011-10-15 11:07 pm UTC (link)
	"Could be," he said, following her slowly, playing along. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blaidd_drwg_ 2011-10-15 11:18 pm UTC (link)
	Rose grinned, continuing to walk. "So if you were to kiss me would you prefer that kiss now or will we go back to my place?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	handysparehand 2011-10-15 11:55 pm UTC (link)
	He paused, pretending to think about it. "Does something special happen if I wait until we get back to your place?" (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blaidd_drwg_ 2011-10-16 03:54 am UTC (link)
	"Depends what you're talking about." And yet part of her was screaming yes if what his flirtations may mean was true. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	handysparehand 2011-10-16 04:23 pm UTC (link)
	"Oh, I don't know. I hear there are other things that couples do." He winked at hear, teasingly. Amazing what being part human did to one's inhibitions. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	blaidd_drwg_ 2011-10-16 04:40 pm UTC (link)
	Rose stopped walking, the subject teasing, yes, but also slightly serious. Taking both his hands, she looked up at him. "A couple. And what sort of activity were you thinking?" She wasn't going to make a fool of herself. (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

	handysparehand 2011-10-16 04:46 pm UTC (link)
	Sobering a little, he tangled his fingers with hers and leaned in to rest his forehead against her. Quietly, so just the two of them could hear, he said, "Whatever you want, Rose Tyler. Anything. As much or as little as you're comfortable with." (Reply to this) (Parent) (Thread)

blaidd_drwg_
2011-10-16 04:56 pm UTC (link)

Rose nodded, feeling a tad nervous and it was strange for her to feel that way. Maybe part of her thought that this was moving on a little too close to the other Doctor leaving, but she knew that wasn't anything she should feel. It was not like he had only been gone a day, and he would want her happy. Leaning in, she pressed her lips to his before muttering quietly, "I hope you have the rest of the day free."

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