Chapter Text
She grabbed his hand again, her own warm and slick, and pulled him towards a brick wall. Sounds of the city echoed far off, and a quick look around him told the Doctor that they were far away from the center of Arcadia. He'd never been near this part of town before. There was no electricity, no communication wires, they were clearly in an impoverished area.
He turned his focus back on his rescuer. She was nearly a foot shorter than him, barely coming up to his shoulder. He'd seen pictures of her before, of course. All of Arcadia had. Her wanted holograms would glow at night throughout the city's streets, her face scowling and menacing, a far cry from the smiling, pink and yellow girl standing before him.
“You're Pete Tyler's daughter,” he said, trying to wrap his mind around this whole situation.
She rolled her eyes. “Just Rose'll do, yeah?” She released his hand and pulled out an old scroll from inside her hood, rolling it out before them on the wall.
“But,” he sputtered, still completely bewildered, “you're a criminal!”
“I am, yeah,” she murmured, concentrating on the scroll. The Doctor glanced at it himself and saw that it was completely blank. “At least, according to Rassilon, I am,” she continued, now looking up at him.
“But you've been registered as a criminal for years! Rose Tyler. Blimey,” he said, running his hands through his hair. “I'm standing in an alley with Bad Wolf, that's just,” he stopped, sighing, his arms dropping back down. “I'm afraid I'll have to report you, when we go back.”
“Back?” she asked, raising an eyebrow.
“To the Academy. All Class A criminals must be immediately reported upon entry to Arcadia's Center.”
She laughed, and the sound triggered something inside him that he quickly pushed down. 'She's a criminal,' he reminded himself, tugging on an ear.
“What makes you think we're going back?” she asked, her tone light as she turned back to the scroll.
“Do you- do you really not know who I am?”
That would be a first. After all, his face lit up holograms nearly as often as hers did, but in a much different capacity. He was one of Rassilon's chosen, an honor that all of Gallifrey understood. Well, at least he thought all of Gallifrey understood. Looking at her pinched face, he highly doubted she viewed it as an honor.
“'Course I do,” she said. “You're Theta, tenth in line to the Eye of Harmony,” she winked. “You're my leader.”
Well, at least she knew one of his names. “Doctor, actually.”
“What?”
“Doctor,” he said, looking down, embarrassed, shoving his hands in his pocket. “'It's my name. The one I gave myself.”
“Doctor,” she repeated, drawing out the word. “I like it.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah,” she said, shrugging. “Better than 'The Master'.”
He winced. “Yeah, Koschei's not exactly subtle.”
Snorting, she shook her head. “Not exactly, no. But no, Doctor, you're not going back tonight.”
She tapped on the center of the scroll, and a bright blue light flashed around them before plunging the whole alley back into darkness. Even the moon and stars seemed dimmer, with the only light coming from a soft yellow orb that glowed in the center of Rose's scroll.
She lifted her fingers to the light and began to draw an intricate pattern. Little figures appeared wherever her fingers traced, and a hole began to form in the formerly very solid, very thick wall.
“How did you-” he began to ask, his eyes transfixed as the opening grew wide enough to fit two people.
Rose slowly peeled the scroll off from where it was hanging, then rolled it back up and placed it in her hood. She looked at him, her expression soft and open. “I can show you, if you want?” she asked, offering her hand out to him.
He stared at it, feeling his heart thudding against his chest. This was more than breaking a few rules, this was insane. She was Rose Tyler! Daughter to one of the greatest war criminals who ever lived. He'd already be punished for just speaking with her, much less descending into a dark, unknown passage with her.
But that technology. He'd never seen anything like it before. It was almost like, and he cringed thinking it, but it looked like “Magic,” he whispered, the word escaping before he could stop it.
“Maybe,” she teased, her hand still waiting. “Come with me.”
He watched her, her palm open and welcoming, fingers waving. She had saved his life, bursting into it with smiles and laughter, more then he had seen or heard in years. He so wanted to give in, to say yes.
“But you're a criminal,” he said, still wavering, and he tried not to notice the flash of hurt on her face.
She frowned and dropped her hand. “When was I registered?”
“What?” he asked, surprised by her question. She only tilted her head in response.
“Well,” he said, his hand going up in his hair again, “I suppose it was eleven years, eight months, and 22 days ago.”
She nodded in agreement. “My birthday,” she said, her voice soft. “I'd just turn nine. I was blowin' out the candles when these men crashed in. They grabbed me and my mum, dragged us into jail units.”
“But you escaped,” he said, remembering the story.
“We did, yeah,” she said. “And they've been after us ever since.” She stepped forward, placing a hand on his arm. “Think, Doctor,” she urged, her grip firm but gentle. “What could a nine year old do to be registered as a Class A criminal?”
He wracked his brain trying to remember the specifics of her case. Pete Tyler's case he knew like the back of his hand. Everyone in the Timelord Brotherhood memorized his crimes, and were required to attend his execution. The memory came up unbidden, and he had to look away from Rose as the image of her father's hanging flew across his mind.
“I don't know,” he finally said, unable to think of anything.
“Just come with me, yeah?” she asked again. “I'm not forcing you or anything, but you're special, Doctor.”
He looked up at that. “Special?”
“Yeah,” she grinned. “Different. You're not like the other Timelords, we've all noticed it. It's why I brought you here.”
“We? Who's 'we', then?”
She slid her hand down his arm and grasped his fingers. “Come with me and I'll show you.”
He took a deep breath and felt time slowing down again. It wasn't like before, not a fixed a point. But he could feel the timelines stretching around him, weaving in and out of the choice before him. He focused on her, her eyes bright and cautious, and he felt his answer before he said it.
“Alright.”