#thymelord

“What?” she said, voice muffled by her mouthful of fruit. “What?” Apple dropping to the floor and rolling under a table, where it would no doubt lay forgotten for weeks until it had turned rancid and rotten, the Doctor hurtled towards the console room and grabbed the screen, turning it towards her. The TARDIS was plotting its own coordinates, which wasn’t the first time it had done so, but this –

“What are you doing that for?” the Doctor demanded, slapping the side of the screen. “That’s impossible!”

But clearly it wasn’t, and the Doctor did not like it when things she thought were impossible turned out to be possible after all. The TARDIS landed. The Doctor half expected it to go dead, but it still seemed as healthy as ever. She squinted at the coordinates, thinking she must be misreading something somewhere. Because there was a fifth coordinate – and that signified a parallel world.

And the rest of them were achingly familiar. But where had she seen them before?

She tentatively stepped towards the door, opening it soundlessly, and stepping out.»

OH MY G O D

“To be honest,” said Rose, barely moving her mouth, “if there was a wasp on my face, I absolutely would swat it.”

“Well, you can’t swat these, so don’t even try.” He slowly lifted the laser gun, one head facing Rose’s second shadow and the other’s eyes fixated firmly on the gun. “Where should I aim, Doctor, Minnie?”

“Straight at the floor, at the shadow,” replied the Doctor, and gave a tiny sigh. “I hate guns.”

“You’ve said,” said Minnie wryly. “But you can’t use brains against the Vashta Nerada. Well, you can. You can use brains to build weapons.”

“We’re dismantling the gun as soon as we’re off this ship,” said the Doctor. “A laser made with white-point stars could do untold damage. I only agreed to help make it in the first place because no better idea has presented itself, and for every minute that we dawdle, another Ood dies.”

Zaphod fired at the false shadow, causing Rose to let out an involuntary yelp as the laser beam passed just inches from her skin. Minnie watched in fascination as the shadow dissolved into wisps, and seemed to disappear. The Doctor pulled out her sonic screwdriver, sending some pulses through the air. “Not dead,” she murmured. “The white-point stars haven’t killed them, but inhibited their ability to swarm together. No idea how long that lasts for, so we’d better get a shift on.”

“I’m really glad you said that,” said Zaphod, “because I was actually just going to have a little bit of a nap.”»

- You Are Still not Alone, by @thymelord (Chap.7)

“Whichever regeneration wore that stupid leek on his jacket,” said Zaphod, the eyebrows on both of his heads rising in synchronisation.

“Fifth, then,” said the Doctor. “And it wasn’t a leek, it was a celery.”

“You wore a celery on your jacket?” laughed Rose. “Why?”

“Emergencies.”

“Who the f[...]k needs emergency celery?”

“Can we talk about celery some other time?” said Zaphod. “I’m rather distracted by the fact that you’re a woman. And a rather beautiful one, if I do say so myself.”

“And who are you?” Rose said, more snappishly than she’d intended.

“Zaphod Beeblebrox,” he said, holding out his third arm that protruded from the left side of his chest. Rose shook it reluctantly. “President of the Imperial Galaxy.”

“What?” chortled the Doctor. “Who the hell would vote for you?”

“The majority, apparently,” said Zaphod cheerfully. “It must be my charm, or possibly my dashing good looks.”

“Well, it certainly couldn’t be anything else,” said the Doctor under her breath. “And this is your ship, is it?” she said, louder.

Zaphod flashed a smile. “Now it is.”

The Doctor peered at the controls, and looked at Zaphod with unbridled astonishment. “Zaphod Leelo Beeblebrox, did you just steal the universe’s first Improbability Drive ship?”

“Yeah.” Zaphod spread his arms out. “Welcome to the Heart of Gold.”»

- You Are Still not Alone, by @thymelord (Chap.2)

“Is it?” said Rose coyly, and pulled on the door. It didn’t budge. Rose paused, then said, “I wonder…” She hooked a finger under a chain that had been hiding beneath her blouse, and tugged it over her head. On the end dangled a single, silver key that looked almost exactly like any key to a Yale lock, except that it shone ever so slightly with golden artron energy. She tried it, and the door clicked open.

“The Doctor must have trusted you very much if she gave you a key after only knowing you for a couple of hours,” said Arthur faintly.

“She didn’t,” said Rose, hopping into the TARDIS. “It was around my neck when I woke up, on the beach. I don’t think she knows I have it. I mean, she must have given me it… ages ago. When I last met her. But she told me that she’d only known me for a day… she must have been lying. Why was she lying?”

“She trusted you,” said Arthur gently, “so you need to return the favour. Perhaps she didn’t want you to feel obligated to be her friend. Perhaps she wanted you to choose her of your own accord… again.”

“Yes,” said Rose slowly. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”»

- You Are Still not Alone, by @thymelord (Chap.3)

“I’ve turned into a Time Lord,” said Rose. “It’s the only possible explanation, but the Doctor would say it was impossible, and she bends over backwards to find an explanation that makes sense to her, even if it’s obviously wrong. She thinks she knows everything, and hates it when she’s proved wrong.”

Arthur gave her a searching look, and Rose sighed. “I know. I know what you’re going to say, and I know things – remember things – when I’m not paying attention properly. It’s like when you see something out of the corner of your eye, but when you look at it directly, it disappears. Things only float to the surface when I’m not concentrating.”

“But you know what that means, don’t you?” said Arthur excitedly. “It means all your memories are still in there, waiting to be unlocked!”

“Yeah,” said Rose, as the kettle clicked off. She poured it into the teapot. “And I’m bloody terrified.”

“Why?”

“Because there’s something – something dark there. The thing that made me lose my memory in the first place. Something so painful I blocked it out, and in doing so, blocked absolutely everything else out as well.”

“You can’t be certain that’s what happened…”

“No. But I have a feeling.”

“Is it – is it about the Doctor?”

“I don’t know. I really don’t know.” They sat in silence until the egg timer pinged, signifying their tea had finished brewing.»

- You Are Still not Alone, by @thymelord (Chap.4)