The Lonely Alien

∂αη¢ιηg вєαяѕ,                      ραιηтє∂ ωιηgѕ                                 тнιηgѕ ι αℓмσѕт яємємвєя,                                                 αη∂ α ѕσηg ѕσмєσηє ѕιηgѕ                                              ση¢є υρση α ∂є¢ємвєя … 

          {~∯~} Watching as the snow fell from the large, roof to floor window, Ashley’s thumbs rubbed over the fitted, white gloves on her hands in thought. The snow, it was so white, so pure and seemed to make her forget about all of her problems while she was stuck in this cage of a mansion. The music sounded in her ears though it was faded and she paid no attention, simply watching the snow fall to the ground delicately and gently. There was a pause out of her thoughts and she looked up, gaze looking around the room and pausing at an older man, dressed in military medals from over time that had passed.

     Her father.

    A man whom was rather cruel and cold behind the closed mansion doors ever since he had married for a third time and had married that woman, Ashley didn’t know where they met, she didn’t much care - the only thing she cared about was if she was nice, and she wasn’t. She had twisted her once kind and warm father into something horrible. Something she was afraid of. Ashley nodded her head once towards the man in confirmation, hands gripped the dress into a tiny curtsy before looking back out the window - Her jaw tightened a little, he was watching her, he wanted her to be social with all these richer people.

     She was assuming that they were here due to their own parents, themselves wanting to get on her father’s good side or maybe her own - though that latter thought made her frown, she was not royalty, only from a simply military background. Nothing special at all. War, the military and fighting—-why was it so highly appraised?

    “Sister, you should dance with someone, it’s not everyday we host a party.” A low voice muttered in her ear, causing her to freeze and glance at her step brother before taking a step forward and away from the man, she forced a smile towards him. “I refuse.” She stated, another step taken back as she looked out the window, if she did want to do something it would be to go out there, be free, away from all this. The stories that her mother told her before her passing rang in her ears and she shook her head, golden locks bouncing as she did such.

    “I think I might just retire,” She uttered, sending him a warning look to not follow her or do anything - she made her way around the room and to the grand staircase that led up to the hall and her room where she could escape. Her heels clicked on the marble and her gaze cast down, dancing…marrying off to someone, the wars and military—- What ever happened to falling in love and just living happily?

"Now what have I told you about landing while I'm trying to find a nice open spot! Look, now we owe them a bed, and I'll have you know its not your sonic screwdriver that prints the money we spend!"

The rattled argument that the owner of the TARDIS was having, was with the ship itself, rather ticked off that it had decided to exit the vortex and simply drop with a thud onto any old surface it wanted. There were landing protocols for a reason, and one of those reasons was to avoid killing people on re-entry, or in this case, ruining a perfectly good bouncy bed to jump on. The police box groaned as a mad looking man within grumbled, slapping down switches and pulling on levers to reverse the damage. Lifting off slightly, it drifted through the air to land at the foot of the destroyed bed, before the bed itself begun to piece itself together once more, the damage it suffered reversing through time.

Tossing a coat around his arms, and straightening his appearance up, the maniac peeked out from his little blue box, scanning the area with his curious old eyes. 

   She tries really hard not to take it personally of course, and simply sighs, with a shake of her head, rustling the plume of feathers there. “Not a harpy! Fairy. I’ll even take Hummingbird—” Though her wings were more dragonfly-like than anything, but all of it was much better than a harpy, who, as far as she’s aware, were not very pleasant at all! But, Tooth is happy, very much so; a ball of energy and sunlight. Maybe that’s why she was so colorful? Her feathers simply soaked up the sun’s rays; that, and of course, being believed in helped a ton, too.

"You're the Tooth Fairy. The Tooth Fairy. Tooth falls out, put it under a pillow and wake up with a quarter in the morning tooth fairy?"

The ninth Doctor may have considered this stupid, a tooth fairy that looked like a cross between a bird and a dragonfly. The tenth, slightly more excited but still level headed about meeting the Tooth Fairy. The eleventh Doctor. Well, a man who eats fish fingers and custard, wears bowties, fezzes and stops entire armies with a wind up toy mouse would take meeting the fantasy character of every childs dreams to be the greatest, most exciting, amazing thing that has happened to him since jammy dodgers.

The sonic screwdriver was torn from his coat within a second, scanning the feathered stranger up and down to be sure. Eyes squinted, examining each feather, each wing beat, every tooth visible when she spoke. And as the sonic was raised too his eyes, and he read across the findings that confirmed this to be the only possible manifestation of a tooth fairy on earth. It was like the timelord, despite being over 1000 years old, was just a very tall child.

"You're the tooth fairy! The collect teeth tooth fairy! The quarter giving, memory holding tooth fairy! This is amazing, incredible, fantastic, brilliant, awe-inspiring, magnificent, perfect, I've never met the tooth fairy before! Or have I....no, definitely not!

            Rose wasn’t quite sure what it was she was expecting to come out from the doors of the clock tower she had been led to in their escape, but it was not a myriad of toys. Toys of all things, two figures of the Queen and Nixon and helicopters though, really, she shouldn’t be so surprised given who it was who called them all out. An army, the Doctor had an army at his beck and call, his disposable battalions…the blonde didn’t know whether to leave them to their assignment or sit down and play with the figurines. Yes, if what she had already witness hadn’t announced how glaringly different this face was to the others she had known, this would do it.

      She couldn’t picture either faces- leather jacket or pinstripes utilizing toys like this. Whether that was a good thing or not, though, the woman had yet to figure out but as she watched the hundreds of toy planes launch themselves at the giant like a scene out of a movie she couldn’t help but be at least semi-entertained. Really though, it was brilliant. The thing would eat the two figures, one human and the other a Time Lord from the planet Gallifrey, and be done with it. If it ate any of the toys, there would be more to take their place.

     But now wasn’t time to be admiring the sights as both Rose and the Doctor were doing and, remembering herself the woman darted forward towards him. Generally when a lot of things attracted a giant in both cinema and real life the giant tended to stomp around, or fall with a crash to the ground and she didn’t want to be open ranged. He may have the ability to regenerate but the former companion did not and she wasn’t so keen on giving up her life right now, thank you very much.

      Hand securing around the Time Lords wrist, Rose towed him behind her as she ran to the still open doors of the clock tower, spinning around to push him from the back so that she could make sure the doors were shut securely behind the pair. The giant was, well giant. A closed door wouldn’t do much against it if the intention was to get in but it would add a little sense of security for the blonde and right now, that was what mattered.

      “Y’know…I’m not even gonna ask why you have so many toys on you.” A simple statement spoken blithely, a hint of a smile that had no right to be there tugging at the corners of her lips before it was tamped down and she spun away from the doors. A move to step forward before she jolted herself to a stop in a motion that reminded her of that day all those years ago. “Hello Mister. MaGoo…” The words are breather out as honey eyes take in all that was around her. Clocks everywhere, ticking in unison yet without a sound, a toy train winding around and- were those planets?

      “Th’Time Lord has a clock…room?” Rose questioned, more to herself than to the Doctor, an incredulous smile on her lips before she shook herself out of it and started moving once more. Yet another thing she didn’t have time for. “In response to your earlier statement; don’t give me grief ‘bout the gun. I know you don’t like them, n’neither do I, y’know.” A brief glance towards the male as she moved about, eyes searching, searching, searching for something, anything that could be used to protect herself and the Time Lord.

      “You know full well they can come in handy- look at the Devil.” Another glance, this one pointed. “After I nearly died for the fifth time during my jumps, it became mandatory for me to have one at all times- which came in handy when I crossed the void’n found you, y’know. Killed a Dalek an’ everything. Didn’t have a problem with it then, did you?” Hands found a stool and she lifted it up, jutting at it like she was fighting a lion. 

      ”Think this’ll work against that thing?” Honey eyes returned to the Doctor for a brief moment before she set it back down. No, no it would probably splinter before it became of any use. “Besides, you’ve used guns yourself. I remember you pointin’ one at me, once upon a time.” Granted the thing that was intended to be in the cross-hairs wasn’t her but the Dalek behind her but still. She had been in the direct line of fire that day in the underground bunker, half sure for the second time during that trip that she was moments away from death.

      Her words hit a break as her eyes landed on a shape that was all together familiar yet foreign in their time apart and Rose wondered how it had not been the first thing she had noticed upon entering the tower.

"Because its cool" 

His latest attitude was as such, and as he fixed his bowtie and pushed another car down a racetrack, the timelord examined said Blue box, a small array of wires and such trailing from the ajar doors, powering the various electronics of his clock fixing store. Flipping open a small laptop on the counter, he hammered away as the blonde continued to remark on his new home. "Well of course I have a clock room, I'm a timelord. This is my fixing clock shop! Well, Clock fixing shop, toy store, playground, hammock emporium, fashion advice building and historical museum, but Time Turner is less of a mouthful, and saves time and words. Until I find a way out of this pandora, I've got to save as much time as I can!"

She lifted a stool and started jabbing it around, leading the timelord to unwisely recall an array of unwanted memories from his previous two generations. She did mean the world to him, Rose Tyler. Not to mention she was the only thing in the universe he had ever believed in. But, burying his guilt in work and childish attitude, the 11th Doctor smiled softly at the sight. "Well, maybe. I wouldn't recommend it though, as long as you're in here you'll smell look and seem like a timelord, so that large angry human eating creature won't even remember you existed! Don't ask, I'm trying to figure it out now"

"Now I'll have you know that I have never pointed a gun at you with this face on, so completely irrelevant event to bring up in defense of you carrying a weapon. Though, I suppose I did blow up an entire legion of cybermen a few months ago.....again, completely verified due to events that were taking pla- Oh don't bring up the devil, blimey, you're just as bad as River"

But they did, it was a fact no one could deny; she’d been nearly eaten herself several times, both in battle and out, and while she’d dedicated a good chunk of her life to researching the titans, any and all hypothesis on why they acted the way they did was just that: a theory, a guess, a random thesis that she had no way of proving. Despite the recent addition of titan shifters to the roster, most titans were still highly unintelligent and incapable of communicating, though often she wondered if they even would were they capable. 

“I've studied them a great deal. Countless hours of research has helped a bit, we have a lot more knowledge about titans now than before, certainly, but we still can't figure out why they work to eradicate humankind. Most titans seem to be completely mindless, though there are several that have shown varying degrees of intelligence. Ah, and there are titan shifters, as well, though they seem just as in the dark as the rest of us. Any step closer we have to solving the mystery of why they do what they do and what makes them tick, something new develops and we're back at square one. It is gruesomely routine, but it's exciting, I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy getting to discover all of these different things.”

"They exist for the sole purpose of ending humanity? Well that changes everything"

And indeed it did. For if they didn't require any sort of sustenance, but could continue to appear and endlessly batter at the lives of humanity. Then even if it wasn't his dimension, the Doctor needed to think of any way to level the playing field. He'd put a lot of work into earth, regardless of what dimension it was in. No giant naked human was going to ruin his hard work.

Though, despite his lack of social graces, the timelord knew that the concept of how much they were losing would be difficult to speak about. So, with a smile, he listened quietly and absorbed more information. She was less a soldier and more a scientist at this rate. Undoubtedly if she could find this exiting then slightly mad, but Einstein wasn't exactly as sane as an Ood. All the best people were mad, in the Doctors eyes.

"Well, learning things is fantastic. If it wasn't I would've stopped wandering a long time ago, and let me tell you its been a long time. Never come across Titans before, it is a new one. Awful one, terrible one, incredibly naked one, but still new. Similar to Sontarans in a way, this little race of short people, look like a baked potato in a blue combat suit. Born only to fight wars, their only weak spot is the base of their neck. Its fabulous really, perfect. They have no choice but to face their enemy, otherwise they die. So they always face forward. 

Really quite brilliant. Despite the whole...constant urge to kill and fight part, of course."

With another smile, the timelord nodded gently. Understandable, emotional trauma came with fighting for ones survival. Regardless, until this Levi cheered up a bit he was going to be on the Doctors short list.

And despite how easily she masked her own distress about their world and the situation it’s in behind the veil of scientific passion, he was right. The titans were winning, the titans had been winning since the very first day of their arrival, since the walls themselves had went up to keep them out, and their victorious streak hadn’t lessened at all. In fact, during the past five years, it had increased drastically. 

But his last words were a dagger that plunged deep despite her attempts to ward it off though her expression only faltered slightly, her smile remaining despite its lessened size. “We’ve certainly lost a lot,’ she mused factually, standing fully herself. "Despite all of our progress, our war with titans is still primarily a losing battle. Even those that stay within the confines of the walls are at risk." Humanity’s safety was very thinly veiled but what he didn’t ask for was a sob story, and luckily, Hanji wasn’t the type to relay such things. 

She’d dedicated her own enthusiasm to studying the creatures that plagued their world in the hopes that she could eventually help alleviate humanity’s curse; perhaps she took her passion too far, perhaps it was terribly strange, but these were lives at stake, and each life was terribly important. It was necessary.

“You are absolutely right, though. The gear was created because, as humans, we couldn’t reach the titan’s nape without putting ourselves in danger in the process, but it can be faulty. In more strenuous or lengthy fights, running out of gas is very common, and if we have no way of refilling the canisters we’re sitting ducks. Not only that, but flat surfaces provide an awful disadvantage. There are also titans that possess the ability to harden their skin… and one wrong move around a simple deviant titan spells disaster as well. Ahh, there are so many different types of titans, as well. Every expedition we go on, it seems there is at least one titan that exhibits stranger behavior than the last. I have so many notes on deviant titans alone." 

"Well thats not really surprising, the only thing they eat is humans, and right down to the instinctive level they will ignore anything that isn't so. Made it remarkably easy for me to scan them when I came across a few earlier. Not important, the point is, you're their food source, as depressing as that is. So naturally they'll evolve to try and overcome the obstacles in the way of their dinner! Nasty way to think about it, but you're the reason there's so many. You all keep giving them reasons to get stronger!"

Scan isn't an accurate description of how the Doctor came to possess the knowledge of Titans. More accurately, he had recently been eaten, and then was stuck in the creatures throat, finally triggering such a violent gag reflex that he was thrown back up on the ground in a goopy pile of Titan puke. But Scan just sounded more professional.

Despite her obvious connections to the military, which in itself was possibly the only annoying thing about this female, the timelord smiled merrily as she explained everything to him. It was a mask, the smile she wore at the start, faltering as he poorly voiced words and made her obviously remember situations that she was attempting to forget. Despite a millennium of knowledge, socializing was something the 11th did not possess upon regeneration. "Well thats humanity for you isn't it. The strongest race in the entire universe, countless events beat you down and you just evolve and fight back. 

Oh you humans and your beautiful ways of survival"

Tapping the licorice against his chin absentmindedly, the timelord took another bite and listened further. Canons lining walls, rapid regeneration from every other wound. There had to be a way to cancel the regeneration, these creatures were getting back up faster then any timelord ever did, even the Master. If it wasn't for their mindless desire to eat all things human, he might have tried to save them. Might.

"Oh, wait, I forgot to say who I was. I've done that a lot, this whole staying in one location for longer then a week thing is still new to me.

"Well, the Titans strengths and weaknesses are undoubtedly the reasoning behind creating the ability to move within a three dimensional system, as it would be the fastest way to reach their weak point without ending up dead yourself, which really would be a bit of a damper on the entire living thing. Though, from what I've gathered from that incredibly grumpy Levi who still never thanked me for healing him, where ever you lot have been taken from the Titans are winning"

Standing back up, the timelord rattled on absentmindedly, saying quite literally everything that was currently entering his mind about the entire Titan situation and how it had affected the timeline of these humans. Well, in comparison to the timeline of his own humans. "And if the Titans are winning that means you needed an instant solution to the problem, thus the primitive power source that remains unreliable during combat, because if you run out of gas there is no way for you to operate the system to even escape, and the only successful way to kill the titans is to approach their weak point. In my entire honest opinion of your current situation"

The Doctor stopped, and thought over everything he just said. Actually, he was incredibly impressed that the humanity of that dimension had even survived. Given the odds, the appearance, the attitude and what he had seen so far in Pandora, the fact that humanity had not gone extinct was either sheer luck or divine intervention. And the Doctor didn't believe in divinities. So it was probably the other.

A thousand years? The Doctor didn’t look that old. Then again, he’d never met anyone a thousand years old before, either. But after only eight years, zombies like him started to rot. Despite having ‘died ten times’, the timelord didn’t look to be decomposing at all. How confusing! "…Old." He didn’t mean it as an insult, just that he was surprised to hear that. 

It was strange to think that this man who seemed so human, who even helped him to believe that he still had some humanity, wasn’t one himself. But he could understand what the Doctor meant. In the memories of others, R had seen some of the best and worst of humanity- and all of it helped him to feel again. The Corpse nodded. “Won’t…tell…" He wouldn’t have to worry about R telling anyone- it was hard enough to talk as it was.

He paused for a long moment, before reaching towards the Doctor and giving him an awkward hug. R wasn’t that familiar with the gesture, but he figured they were good enough friends now that it wouldn’t be unwelcome. At least, he hoped so. Otherwise this would have been even more odd. 

"I am rather old aren't I" he smiled back.

In no way did the Doctor believe himself to be the oldest creature in the universe. Jack Harkness was evidence against that, having lived to the point where he was simply a giant floating head in a jar. Billions of stars littered the sky, and for each one there was an infinite number of possibilities. He had seen so much of it, traveled through worlds and wars and stars and ships. But even the Doctor knew it was just the surface he was scratching.

"Brilliant! Its not that I don't really like people knowing I'm a Timelord, there's just these people in england who never stop going on about how I need to fight with them. Bloody guns." 

Due to R mentioning how old he was, the timelord lost himself in thought for a moment, pondering his millennium of existence before the other begun to try hug him. If he really was a zombie like the stories say, the other would've no doubt heard the two hearts beating in the timelords chest.

But all the Doctor did was smile merrily, leaning back and petting R's hair.

       That’s right. They’re all dead. Killed by that /bitch/.

A slight noticeable relaxation was made as the thought fluttered by him. With his team dead, perhaps it was that was making him more angered and wrathful (besides a broken ribcage didn’t help either). Thoughts were snapped back into place as he, once again, saw the small beam of light flash into his eyes. Face flinched backwards and almost did Levi slap the object away due to his ingrained solider instincts telling him ‘no’. He squinted a little as the light shown into his eyes, a confused look replacing his bitterly cold one (although there was still hint of the cold look in his eyes).

       The Doctor? That’s his name, huh?

He knew there were gonna be people that wish to withhold their names. He knew that through the thug life he lived. It wasn’t best to pry and bite on to just get something decent to call him by. Formalities wasn’t something that Levi was use to (let alone did he ever use it). Therefor he wasn’t gonna stretch his hand out or anything (let alone salute the damn man). He did give a nod of acknowledgment, the least the Corporal could give him. 

"Blimey you really are a bag of sunshine aren't you....bloody soldiers."

The timelords dislike of all things military had been built up over centuries, so even if he had a rather cemented guess that whatever this human had been fighting was definitely trying to kill him, and the divisions he had been involved in were no doubt built up to preserve their lives.

The Doctor still didn't like the idea of a soldier. With their bloody guns.

"Three dimensional maneuverability, brilliant in its own right, rather hard to control no doubt, though the brilliance of the gear is limited to that only" begun the timelord, eyes flicking back to examine the strangers attire more thoroughly this time. "Gas powered, which means whatever you are fighting would gain the advantage the moment you ran out of fuel, leaving the entire system completely worthless after a short while. Not to mention its coupled with swords. Which would mean that whatever you were fighting you needed speed to avoid, a three dimensional ability to avoid any oncoming attacks, and it would only be killed via the blades"

Unable to resist his smug grin that said 'I know infinitely more then you ever could you stupid little human soldier' the timelord then lifted the sonic to show it off, before pocketing it back to his coats inside.

"Well Levi, you're welcome for the pills. Remind me to never tend to your injuries again"

     As to why it was throwing up, Rose wasn’t sure. Had that meant she had actually managed to hit something? Had she potentially managed to save the life of the madman who seemed to have a death wish and yes, right on time, there he was sliding free and oh the smell. Whoever thought vomit from a regular creature smelled foul had obviously not been very well near the splash zone of a creature that was well over a hundred feet tall or at least seemed so from her lower perspective.

     "That’s…disgusting…" The blonde muttered, skirting backwards as a chunk of unidentified…stuff…landed too close for comfort as her attention focused on the bloke covered in more. Needless to say, she did not envy the trip he had just endured. When she was younger she had used to entertain the thought of what it would be like to be eaten, had enjoyed the exhibit at the museum that let you experience it first hand in a larger than life model more times than Jackie would have preferred- however she had never thought about what it would take to escape the body. Now she knew.

     Hand still covering her mouth, her nose, Rose prepared to give a muffled response to words that didn’t make sense coming from a strangers mouth when he spoke once more. There it was again, her name followed by a title few people at home knew about, one that had not passed her lips once since arriving in this strange new world against her will. But…how…?

     Dark brows drew close as honey eyes widened before narrowing and she peered at the male covered in naked humanoid puke, turning on her heel to watch as he darted past her after saying a word that, while it would seem so simple to most everyone else, signaled so much for her. A beat and then— Oh you’ve got to be kidding.

     At once she was off like a shot, surprised induced stupor thawing and her feet working hard to take her away from heaving creature behind her that would probably want to continue on it’s quest to devour morals that would be better as toothpicks seeing the save difference and closer to the running man ahead. Rose hadn’t expected to see the Doctor again. Not again, not ever. Not after their last goodbye. There hadn’t been a need to try and see him again after her second trip to the cold beach in Norway, perhaps a want or two in regent months but not enough to try it all over again. Never enough, not again. But there he was all the same.

     "You know…m’pro’bly never gonna forget this." The woman huffed out once she had caught up. Regular exercise just didn’t match when you were running for your life though all the same Rose loved it though now she was pounding the pavement empty handed in more ways than one. “N’I’m pro’bly gonna make sure you remember this for however long we’re both still here."

     The proper time to be talking? Probably not, but it was better than running in silence with the alien she had once pledged her forever to. They had both changed even further since their last encounter, he more so than her if his new face was any indication. He seemed even younger too, a fact Rose wasn’t quite sure if she appreciated or not, what with her own advancing age. Not quite fair, but perhaps that was the woman within her. “Thought you were mad before…Leather’n Pinstripes had nothing on this you."

     All at once a thought hit her and her attention returned to the gangly Time Lord. “Are we running towards anything in particular or are you just…wingin’ it?" Either way, the woman figured that she would like to be in the know this time. She had been beyond startled when the Doctor dropped himself straight into the humanoid’s gaping mouth- something she definitely would have liked to have a heads up on just for sheer surprise factor- but then again, had he ever been good at divulging his plans ahead of time? No, chances were he never announced them in her memories because he never had plans, just…winged it all the time.

     It really was a miracle he hadn’t run out of regenerations yet, wasn’t it?

"Oh don't you start I just dived down a giant titan throat to make sure you didn't go out like a club biscuit" he remarked back, tweed jacket flailing on his form as the mad man skidded around another corner.

Really there was no other reason he had stepped in other then Rose Tylers imminent demise. Not that he would ever say it, but the Doctor would have never tried to find her again under any other circumstances, in fact she was one more thing the 11th was on the run from. One more string of guilt filled memories that he simply ignored and dashed away from, sprinting across time and space to leave behind.

But the immediate chain of events had forced the alien to reveal himself to the blonde once more, and apparently leave her incredibly surprised at how insane he had become. To be fair, he was always a mad man with a box. Now it was just incredibly more obvious. Listening to her rant on about this and that, part of him loved the moment. Just running from death, keeping one step ahead of sudden violent demise once more. 

“Really though, do you have a plan? ‘Cause I kinda threw my gun at that…thing-"

"Don't think you're getting away with that by the way! Really Rose, a gun?" 

Spinning around another turn, the Timelord spotted his location. The Clock tower he had converted and fixed, and within it the only structure that the giants would leave alone. The entire building was soaked in temporal residual energy from the TARDIS being within it, powering the obscene amount of toys and clocks within the building. Hearing the echoing thuds of the Titans footsteps grow closer and closer, the Doctor pulled another remote from his coat and started fiddling with the buttons, before spinning to face Rose and the Titan that was hot on their trail.

"Come on Nixon, lead the army to battle!"

The next event that took place in a series of impossible events, simply would have left anyone who saw it frozen in confusion. The doors and windows of the Clock tower flung open, and two small toy figures of Richard Nixon and the Queen of England waddled out, before both raising their little wooden arms to point at the giant monster. And immediately after. Hundreds of toy planes flew from the tower, all simultaneously crashing into the Titan relentlessly.

Now, to be fair, they were toy planes. There was no way that they would kill the creature chasing the two, or even knock it down. This being said, five hundred and sixty seven toy planes repeatedly slamming into your face could not be simply ignored by anything. And it wasn't ever intended to kill the large monster, simply buy Rose enough time to get to the safety of the TARDIS within. And it was doing exactly that, the Titan beginning to flail its hands wildly around to try stop the onslaught of tiny fighter pilots dying for the country of the toy Nixon and Queen.

"This is the best plan I've ever had! Oh I always wanted to do that, look at them! Go my little tiny planes, go! Bring that giant down! Fight for Queen and Country, and all of that fancy stuff you toys fight for!"

Unfortunately this plan had a tremendous side effect. The Timelord was now completely distracted, his 11th self having a fascination with toys and the like. So, completely amazed at the sight of over five hundred toy planes he set up battling a giant like the movie king kong, the Doctor was standing half way across the street towards his clock tower, gazing up at the scene in awe.

      And this was how it was going to end for her. Away from home, no blaze of glory. Not even a body to be taken back to Pete, to her mum, Tony. Would she have her name emblazoned on yet another memorial or…no? Would she simply just disappear, her family holding out hope that one day she would return to them, never knowing that she was past the point of appearing on door stoops.

                                                 “—Rose Tyler! What have I told you about guns?”

      “They can come in handy, y’know!” The answer was automatic to the shout she barely noticed at first until the words burrowed themselves into her mind and she realized that the voice was unfamiliar, there was no way a stranger should know her name in this place unless she was more popular than she thought but even then. She had not quite had the chance to discuss weaponry with anyone else within Pandora so whatever this man was talking about…it was escaping the captive woman all together.

      Amber eyes left the mouth she was steadily being lowered towards to glance at the male. No, no familiarity though the accent rang home. Lovely, she had spent how long wandering these cobblestone streets hungering for something that could connect her to her live back in England and here it was, right before she was about to get E A T E N. However, Rose didn’t have long to ponder either because all of a sudden there was a small parrot diving from parts unknown, sticking the creature holding her in it’s grasp right in it’s obscene eye.

      Well, that was…an interesting course of action in the least, one that not only took the woman by surprise, but the creature as well, causing it’s arms to flail in a way that made her very much fear being dropped but alas, the hold did not falter save a small lessening. Whether or not that was the intended aim of the parrot was unknown to the woman, but there was a plan involved—right? At least Rose hoped so as she loosened small hands from the enormous one gripping her, withdrew nails that had dug in instinctively at the abrupt movements of the humanoid. She had arrived from one fall relatively unscathed, lets not take any chances on a second one- at least not just yet for she knew very well that another one was in her immediate future.

                          “—regeneration, I’ll live, definitely, Rose Tyler you are not dying here, now load that gun and brace yourself!”

      Again the man was talking, Rose’s swirling mind only able to catch the end bit. Yes, there had to be a plan involved, but it was not known to her and the woman had never been fond of being out of the loop- especially when her life was on the line. But he seemed so certain in her living through this, something that only raised minor questions, minor confusion. Perhaps it was the adrenaline but maybe she could trust h—

      No. No, she could not trust him! There was no way she could trust a madman who willingly dived into this creature’s mouth! Oh, of course it would be a barmy bloke who came to her aide- story of her life really but within moments it became clear with a lurch that she wasn’t the only one startled by the chain of events, only it was in vastly different ways.  Once again the grasp on her clothing faltered and then she was falling, falling, free falling through the air only instead of landing in the awaiting mouth to join the earlier appetizer, she bounced off the chin.

      The freefall to the ground this time seemed a lot shorter than the previous one, and was much harder a landing, her form crashing to the hard, unforgiving ground with a cry that probably masked the sound of breakage, though not so much the thump of soft flesh on cobblestone. There was no time to assess damage as she rolled to a stop and instead Rose all but hopped up to her feet, rushing past the lumbering creature to the jacket that lay behind it, the mans earlier words echoing in her mind. A move of her hands and the empty cartage was discharged to the ground with a soft clink before they were digging into her pockets to come up with her final one. It was missing a few, Rose automatically knowing exactly where it had come from, heard metal shoved into soft material as she moved to hug her little brother, only to be later forgotten about. A slight of her mind turning into a potential life savor- wasn’t that how it usually worked?

      Quickly it was loaded and she whirled around, leveling the barrel on the humanoid. The tables were turned and now it was her turn to lead the rescue mission. Was it actually alright to attempt to save someone who was obviously either suicidal or just plain mad? But there was no time for questions, only action and with a cry worthy enough for a warrior woman Rose started firing.

      “C’mon, then! Spit him up! You don’t wanna eat that, have you see his clothes? That hair?” Be a good creature and spit up the well meaning man, would you? Chances were he tasted right awful. Perhaps he would actually be good for the creature, weren’t grow things usually in that category anyway?

      Was there even a bloke left for her to save? For all she knew, the stomach of this large, naked human had already broken him down within an instant but Rose wasn’t taking any chances. Of course, once she came to that decision her clip emptied out, leaving her once again out of bullets, this time completely, utterly. But the threat was still there, so what did the blonde do to continue her assault? Slid the cartage out and chucked it, followed by the empty gun at the large figure.

"Definitely had better ideas"

In contrast to what the masses might have thought, the Doctor had not gone all the way to the stomach. He couldn't. Whether it was his plan or not, the Titan could not successfully consume a Timelord, he just wasn't human and the anatomy, upon realizing this, immediately had begun to reject him. So, as he had a mildly slippery grip on the interior of the throat, the timelord begun to pray that Rose Tyler would do what all humans did best and shoot the threat to her life.

And sure enough, a shot flicked past his head and embedded itself in the wall of the Titans esophagus. "Oh Rose Tyler I could kiss you!" he said, before reaching around to tug at the bullet.

His plan, though slightly changed by the fact that he couldn't go all the way to the stomach, was to jump in, bank on the theory that the giant creatures anatomy would reject non human DNA and immediately throw up the Doctor, releasing Rose Tyler in the process. Back up plan 2 was to take the bullet, load the slingshot with it, and successfully fire it from within the large monster to trigger its gag reflex and exit abruptly through the way he came in. So, sure enough, the Doctor begun to carry out plan two, aiming carefully, while attempting to remain wedged in the throat.

"Wait, do these things even have a gag reflex?" asked the mad man to no one in particular as he fired, the bullet bouncing around the roof of the titans mouth before successfully findings it mark. The question was answered immediately, as the Doctor found himself thrown forward by bodily fluids. Retching and gagging sounded far louder when you were inside, so it seemed.

He had no idea what it must have looked like from the outside, a giant naked human suddenly overcome with the violent urge to throw up whatever it has swallowed, but his plan came to an astounding success as he soon found himself face first on the ruined cobblestone of the town.

"Out of all the places I thought you'd appear, I can be entirely honest in saying I never once thought I would be diving down a giant naked humans throat to save your life.

....Scratch that, that was possibility 2567."

Hearing the retching Titan behind them, the Doctor turned, gazed up at the creature, then back at Rose. Whether he was human or not was irrelevant. That rather large monster would definitely try to eat Rose. But if the Doctor could be ignored, maybe it would ignore the TARDIS. 

Leaping to his feet, the mad man flicked his hair from his face, shook his body violently to try free some of the more chunky parts of Titan vomit and took a moment to examine Rose properly.

"Rose Tyler...defender of earth...I never thought I would have to say this to you ever again.....

Run."

                                        M'sorry.

                               So sorry,but...

                                            --You're gonna { D I E }

    Her bullets weren’t working. Either her bullets weren’t working or they were all together missing the large, hulking body ambling towards her with a speed she hadn’t expected. The woman hoped they were hitting, small and slowly working to bring the humanoid down because she hadn’t arrived armed to the teeth and soon she would be out of ammo, out of weapons, any way to defend herself outside of throwing her empty, Torchwood issued handgun and praying it was a kill shot.

      Rose wasn’t fond of killing. Hadn’t when she was a teenager thrust into a world of stars and saving planets and facing danger the likes she never would have experienced should she had simply stayed back on Earth to live her less than happy Londonite lifestyle and now, at twenty-seven, she still felt the same. She had been forced to take lives before, in her line of work life or death situations came up after all and things needed to be done to keep the population safe, but knowing you had blood on your hands was never easy.

      But now fell into that particular category. Life or death, if not for her than for any others around this giant, malformed creature. The blonde had always been the type to go into action without thinking, dangers be damned and this was no exception.

      It wanted to eat her, of all things. Rose had come to see several mad, utterly insane things in her lifetime but never once had she been meant to become a meal as evidenced by a big, meaty hand grasping onto the back of her leather windcheater and bringing her form up, up, up to dangle above a large, gaping mouth. She had managed to avoid being ingested like a blonde haired appetizer by slipping out of the jacket that now lay harmless on the dark, cobblestone streets a ways back, very well near breaking her ankle in the process and she was not keen on trying her luck a second time.

      But still, there was only a certain amount of time you could stay before a creature hungry for human with a slowly depleting stock of ammunition before you were in it’s grasp once more. Perhaps she should have taken Pete up on her continued use of the large canon like gun she had once toted around years back rather than a hand gun and a couple extra magazines stored within her pockets should she ever run into trouble like she was oh-so prone to doing on her travels. Yes, that large canon would have been much more use against something that was monstrous in size.

      Again though, Rose found herself in it’s grasp, being lifted up higher and higher until again she was dangling. One last shot in her gun, perhaps one more magazine left but they were stashed in the larger-on-the-inside pockets of her windcheater,  left utterly useless to the woman. Once more her weapon was lifted as she attempted to calm the trembling in her hands.

                                                            "—Go to hell."

There were several interesting things that the Doctor had come to realize about the creatures. For starters, everyone who tried to fight, could take an arm or a chunk of flesh off. Easily, considering the size of the beasts. But then a strange mist would evaporate off the wound, before the entire injury was healed within moments. Not even a timelord had that much regeneration capability.  Then there was the fact that these creatures were nothing but basic instinct. They roared at each other for communication, stumbled through buildings and trees. Not to mention their inability to communicate with the Doctor, despite how many times he had tried.

And then there was that. These creatures ate humans. But /only/ humans. And they had the ability to decide what was human and what wasn't. Every alien, creature, beast that wasn't a human was completely ignored. Even himself, despite how much he resembled a London man from telesales with a eccentric taste in fashion, was completely ignored. There was an instinctive nature within the Titans that allowed them to decide what was human, and what wasn't. And then only eat humans.

"—Go to hell"

".....Rose Tyler....."

He would know that voice anywhere. The voice that haunted his dreams, echoed through the empty halls of the TARDIS, reminded him each and every day of just another failure. She was here, in this box. And as his eyes traced through the rampage of Titans to the source, and he watched her gripped by a giant. Not Rose. Not again. This timelord was not ready to watch Rose Tyler go down like a Jammy Dodger.

Dashing across the rooftop he stood upon, the timelord dug through his coats and cursed to himself as he went. Nothing that could stop the creatu- Rose had a gun! She always had a gun, stupid human that she was. For once the timelord could've kissed the wars on earth if they had a form to kiss. Finally an appropriate reason to hold a firearm!

His mind formed the idea at a rapid pace, and almost instantly he discovered the easiest way to save Rose Tyler. Though, she would not appreciate his plan.

"Rose Tyler! What have I told you about guns!" he shouted as he leaped from the rooftop, landing with an ungraceful 'ompf' on the wrist of the creature. Tugging a remote control from his coat, the maniac with a bowtie started manipulating switches and dials, before a small parrot dove through the air towards the titan and poked it in the eye.

"No time to explain, I'll tell you when we land, well I might tell you, I might not live, no, wait, one more regeneration, I'll live, definitely, Rose Tyler you are not dying here, now load that gun and brace yourself!"

The Titan roared in anger, before mist rose from the wounded eye and it raised the two before its empty mouth.

"I've had better ideas....Geronimo!"