Chapter Sixteen: Burning
Apr. 15th, 2013 04:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ladyofleithianDisclaimer: I own nothing.
Author's Notes: Sorry for the late update and all; Internet was briefly down. Anyway, I hope you like this.
Stepping into the Time Lord Council chambers never felt more terrifying. Even for Rose, stepping inside, it felt like her feet had become stone, as if she had been attacked by a Weeping Angel turning her flesh to marble. Or as if she had stepped in quicksand and was fighting slowly against it. She continued to walk inside the Council chamber, hearing the faint sound of murmurings and mumblings, of Rassilon's voice, commanding and deep, of one Time Lady babbling about "Gallifrey rising" and "Gallifrey falling".
Rose bit her lip. What it that Time Lady was right? What if Gallifrey was, indeed, falling? Even outside the windows, Rose could see smoke rising up into the air from Gallifrey's cities. Her beloved city, where she was born and raised -- not loomed as other Time Lords were. Perhaps she was not purely Time Lord, but she was still a citizen of Gallifrey. She loved her planet, even if it had fallen into decay in recent years. Rose opened the door and walked inside. "You were expecting me, Lord President?"
"Ah, Rose. Just in time." Rassilon turned to look at her, giving her a pleasant smile. "Please, take a seat."
Rose did, next to the crone in the corner. The woman, talking about how Gallifrey was falling. She turned to look towards the crone. "I don't mean to disturb you," she whispered, even as Rassilon continued speaking, "But Gallifrey falling -- what do you mean?"
"Gallifrey will fall," the crone whispered. "The final blow for its most faithful soldier."
"Gallifrey won't fall," Rose said. "I promise. We're going to win the war, no matter what it takes."
The crone laughed softly, sadly. "Oh, child. If only you knew. Rassilon has gone mad."
"He isn't -- " But Rose knew that whatever she was going to say, it was utterly meaningless, even untrue.
"Look around you, child. They are afraid."
Rose did, and she could feel it. Whatever Rassilon was planning would end well for no one.
"...it is times like these," Rassilon said, "That we must consider the only true solution. The Final Sanction."
Even those words were enough to make Rose feel suddenly very ill. "Lord President," she said, "What do you mean?"
"The Time War keeps resurrecting these monsters to fight us," Rassilon said, "So we must do what is necessary. We must annihilate them."
"And what of us?" Even now, Rose had a feeling that she wasn't going to like the answer, but she had to know. She at the very least had to know how badly this was going to end.
And yet even that question was a ridiculous one. Because she knew what was going to happen. Rassilon would ultimately commit genocide. Multiple cases. Oh, Romana, you need to come back. Quickly and soon. Otherwise, we'll all be vulnerable.
"We will be reborn," Rassilon said, "As creatures of pure consciousness. It is an ugly business, Rose," he said, in a tone that reminded Rose, at least for a moment, of the Time Lord she had heard about as a child, the man who despised corruption and ultimately loved his partner in creation, Omega. But only for a moment. "But it must be done."
Rose felt almost as if she had been kicked in the stomach by a Sontaran. She felt almost nauseous, wanting to jab knives in her ears if it meant erasing Rassilon's words from her brain, but even deaf, she knew she would hear those words forever. He's mad. He's completely mad. She had known that full well when she had been possessed by Zagreus, but this...
Oh, Romana, where *are* you?
Still, at the very least, she could try and appeal to any sense of humanity or logic
"But Lord President -- you can't just do that! You'll wipe out countless innocents! You can't just -- "
"Sacrifices must be made in war."
"Not at the expense of innocent people," Rose said. "Even if it's to stop the Daleks. You can't just wipe out millions of species to preserve your own -- "
It was just in time that Rose managed to duck out of the way of Rassilon's glove. But even now, it didn't matter. Because it wasn't aimed at her. It was aimed at someone else. A Time Lord sitting across from her. Even watching as the Time Lord was disintegrated, it was almost as if the world was spinning all around her. Because Rassilon wasn't aiming for her. He was aiming at some random Time Lord, if only to make a point. To exercise his power. To show her what would happen if she dared defy him.
And in a sense, it was already working. Rose bit her lip, quietly cursing herself. Rose, you fool. You should have at least stayed quiet and worked out your plan in your room. She would need to anyway. Because if Rassilon was planning on destroying the universe to save his own, she had to be ready.
"I. Will. Not. Die." Rassilon's voice was deathly low now, perfectly serene. "Millions of years of Time Lord history riding on our backs! Do you have any idea of how serious the situation is?"
"I know, Lord President," Rose said, "But there has to be another way to stop the Daleks. You can't simply commit genocide. There are..." She trailed off, suppressing tears. //Romana...oh, Romana, where are you?// Romana at least would have known what to do. But Romana was elsewhere, no doubt lost in time and space. Who knew what could possibly happen? //And now...//
"There are millions of innocent people out there. Innocent species. You'll end up destroying them as well."
"Sacrifices must be made. And if it destroys the Cybermen and other abominations formed in this war, all the better."
"The Council was all too willing to stand back and watch as the Cybermen killed millions in the past."
"This is not the past, Rose. This is now." Softening his voice if slightly, Rassilon spoke to her in a way that some could misconstrue as paternal. "The Council may have neglected the Cybermen threat in the past. And the matter of other conflicts across the universe. But not me. From this moment on, we shall abandon our non-interference policy, if only for the good of all."
"Lord President," Rose said, barely swallowing tears, "There won't be any people left to save."
"We will create it anew."
Perhaps he would. He had, after all, with Omega, created almost everything about Time Lord society, from the concept of regeneration to do many other things. But Rose doubted any good would come of it.
"Perhaps you will," Rose said. "Perhaps you will." She swallowed, feeling suddenly very dizzy, almost sick. "I need to go."
"Of course," Rassilon said, still in that calm, kind, almost casual tone. "You no doubt need time to come to terms with this. I understand."
At least he was right in that area.
It was back in her room that Rose pulled the door closed, harder than she needed to. It was almost childish, but she couldn't help it. She was tired, so very tired, and frustrated, and angry. She slumped against the door, burying her face in her arms placed over her knees, and wept. Wept for Romana, wept for the universe, wept even for Rassilon, wept for all of them.
It was later, really, once Rose had managed to recover, near-chastising herself in a way for breaking down in such a fashion that she saw Ace standing over her with a look of worry in her eyes. “Professor,” she said, “Are you all right?”
Rose took a deep breath. She didn’t know how to break it to Ace, but she supposed she should at least try. “Ace,” she said, “I have bad news.”
"I kind of guessed," Ace said. "Meeting with the Lord President Nutjob didn't go well?"
Rose couldn't even bring herself to laugh. She sighed. "Ace...I don't know how to tell you this, but..."
"Tell me, Professor."
"Rassilon," Rose said, "Is going to destroy the universe to end the War."
Rose could only watch the expressions coming over Ace’s face. Denial, horror, I-should-have-known-he-was-trouble, before finally, Ace said, "But that's suicide!"
"It's worse than that, Ace," Rose said. "He...he's going to make it so the Time Lords exist as pure consciousness. He's going to kill us all just to save his own skin."
Silence.
Ace looked uncharacteristically solemn. “Then you better do something.”
“I tried reasoning with him, Ace,” Rose said. “It didn’t work.”
“Then I guess you should at least try some aggressive reasoning, Professor.”
Rose had a feeling about what Ace had in mind. She wasn’t sure whether or not she was going to like it.
"Professor," Ace said, "If he's going to end the universe to save his own skin, you have to stop him. Take this."
It was a De-Mat Gun, albeit modified. Rose looked at it now, turned it over in her hands. "Ace -- " She could have laughed in pure despair. How was this going to stand a chance against Rassilon? What was she even going to do with it, use it to blink him out of existence?
"I tinkered a bit with it. I was thinking of using it to get rid of the Daleks," Ace said, "I guess this is going to have to do."
"But Ace -- "
"Professor, if he's going to end the universe, you have to stop him. Take it and save us, save yourself. Because honestly, if he's going to end the universe, I really doubt that he's going to invite any of us along for the ride."
"I know." Rose sighed. "I tried to talk him down. He wouldn't listen to me, Ace. Kept going on about sacrifices having to be made, and so many other things. About remaking the universe in his image. I..." She swallowed. "I think he was trying to persuade me to his side. After the Cybermen and things like that."
"I kind of figured that, Professor. So...escape plan?"
"You're going to need to get off Gallifrey. Even if the De-Mat Gun -- "
"I called it the 'Moment'," Ace said.
"What?"
"I thought it would be appropriate, at any rate." Ace shrugged.
"Yeah. Anyway -- just get your TARDIS and get off the planet. Trust me on this, Ace."
"Always, Professor. And one other thing?"
"Yes?"
"Try not to die."
"I'll try." Saying "I won't die" brought images of Rassilon to mind. Which was the last thing she wanted.
Even giving Ace one last hug and watching her leave, Rose could only watch as she walked away. She took a deep breath, rubbing her temples. At the very least, she had to find a way to eavesdrop on Rassilon and what he was doing. To find out when to use the Moment.
It was the least she could do.
So when Rose received word of the Lord President holding a meeting in the audience chamber to begin his grand plan (the Final Sanction), she went. It was the least she could do.
But Rose knew she had to stay out of sight. To duck behind the pillars of the audience chamber. Even behind the pillars of the audience chamber, she could hear Rassilon's voice, deep and rumbling and almost compelling. Perfect for rallying the troops of Gallifrey.
"Now is the hour," the Lord President said, "When either Gallifrey falls, or Gallifrey rises!"
An echo from the crowd. "Gallifrey rises!"
"Gallifrey," Rassilon said, his voice practically a roar now, "Rises!"
The crowd was practically going berserk now, roaring the phrase "Gallifrey rises!" with such fury that it almost frightened Rose. From behind the pillar, Rose fingered the modified De-Mat Gun in her pocket. She didn't want to do this. She never thought she would have to do this. And yet, if she had no choice...
It was later, in the battle over Gallifrey, as the Daleks continued to attack, that Rose made her choice. Drew the Moment from her pocket, opened the doors to the TARDIS if only to get a better aim, and fired.
The results were almost instantaneous.
The Dalek ships all but burst into flame, engulfed in destruction, and Gallifrey -- even watching from the TARDIS, Rose could only watch as the planet burned. Time Lords and Daleks alike -- they all burned. Not that others would be able to see it -- they were now locked in a perpetual state of battle, time-locked, if only so Rassilon couldn't cause any more destruction. Rose doubted that she'd felt more horrible than in this moment. She had effectively murdered her own race.
The TARDIS gave a sudden shudder, and Rose clutched to one of the pillars of the TARDIS to keep from falling. It was then she realized, even as the alarms started going off, that they were falling. Plummeting, even.
She stumbled towards the TARDIS controls, fumbling with them, fixing them, trying at the very least to stabilize the TARDIS. Not that it would be entirely flawless, of course, but it was better than nothing. Finally, finally, the TARDIS came to a stop.
Rose stumbled towards the doors of the TARDIS, suddenly very tired, and feeling very weak. So very exhausted. She had landed on Earth.
Planet Earth. Even after all this time, the TARDIS took her where she needed to go. But why was she still bruised and sore and...
Burned?
Her arms were burned. No doubt from the TARDIS' exposure to the Moment. But how? The TARDIS' doors were supposed to protect you from the harshness of space. And yet...
Here they were. And she was dying. About to regenerate. But this can't be...it can't --
"I don't want to go." It sounded so feeble now, even after everything that happened, and yet she couldn't help it.
The light overtook her now -- the familiar blinding light. The light that never failed to be so painful -- engulfing her body, forcing it into different shapes and features. She could only hope, even now, that everything would be all right...
And then it was over, and she felt oblivion take her, and she was done.
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Date: 2013-04-25 11:33 pm (UTC)