ladyofleithian | Chapter Twelve: Fallen Angels

In which Rose uncovers the Weeping Angel camp.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Author's Notes: I'm going with the idea of Rassilon sort of creating the Weeping Angels, admittedly. I dunno; I just thought it would be a really neat, creepy idea.

Rose had expected the Weeping Angel camp to be bad. After all, considering how ruthless Rassilon could be sometimes, she would have been surprised if it were anything less. And yet nothing had really prepared her for this. Simply looking at the scenes. The people being led to the blocks, like lambs to the slaughter. Something about it reminded Rose of when she and Jo visited Devil’s End to stop the Master -- the sheer structure of the blocks, the architecture, the atmosphere.

It was beautiful. And yet at the same time, it was terrible, far too terrible. Somehow, she couldn’t stand it.

“Professor?” Ace said softly. “Are you all right?”

Rose nodded. Somehow, she was close to tears. She had never expected Gallifrey to end up like this. And yet at the same time, here they were.

“We should get moving, Ace,” she said.

It was a good thing, Rose mused, that she had the psychic paper with her. At the very least, if they were caught, they could at least say, “I’m here to check out the prisoners” or something. Although then again...

Rose rubbed her temples. Perhaps, really, the perception filters would work better.

It was once the perception filters were activated that they were able to at least move closer. And it was then that they saw the results.

A circle of Time Lords and Ladies, dressed in different colors of their houses, with their hands over their eyes. Rose bit her lip. It wasn’t a stretch that the Time Lords did it on purpose. The Weeping Angels couldn’t look at each other or they would turn to stone. The Time Lords most likely wanted them to be frozen for all eternity. They wanted --

She forced herself to take a deep breath. And it was then that two Time Lord guards spoke. “Did you hear something?” one said.

“No,” the other said. “I think you’re no more than hallucinating, Saren. Get back to work.”

“No, I can feel it -- ’'

It was long after they were revealed that Rose drew the psychic paper from her pocket -- it was a back-up plan, at least. “I was given permission by Lord Rassilon to investigate the camp.” It was a stretch, but they would need anything to get them through this.

She supposed she should have known that the Time Lords wouldn’t be necessarily fooled by the psychic paper. Saren tilted his head, almost as if in curiosity, before saying, “General, I truly am sorry about this...”

He took out his sonic screwdriver. Rose drew hers, but before she could act, she heard a sudden buzzing in her ears before she collapsed on the ground. The last thing she saw before fading to black was Ace charging towards the Time Lord guards before falling to the ground herself, affected by the screwdriver’s effects as well.

***

Even as Saren looked over what had happened, he couldn’t help but feel a sting of regret over seeing the General and her companion -- accomplice, rather -- spread prone on the ground. It was regrettable at the very least. It would be far from desirable to have to report her to Rassilon and the High Council, but it would have to be done. After all, Rassilon did not suffer fools gladly.

On the other hand, he would most likely have to spare them both, if only because he would still need them. Unless...

The only thing Saren knew for certain was that he would no doubt have to get a good night’s sleep after all this was all over. After all, any more of this would drive any Time Lord mad.

Or maybe it had already happened and they didn’t know it.

Saren doubted he knew which one was more terrifying. But if nothing else, he thought, he would be relieved, more than relieved, once this nightmare was finally over.