George James (British, active from 1755 - died 1795)
A Whole Length of a Lady of Petrella, in the Kingdom of Naples, Detail, 1762
Yale Center for British Art
Written for @doctorroseprompts and Eight x Rose August. Prompt: Dimension hopping!Rose meets Eight / What if Rose was with Eight or met Eight during the Time War?
The Doctor paced back and forth in his brother’s suite of rooms within the Citadel.
“I’d like to study how she regenerates and heals.”
The Doctor stopped in his tracks. “Absolutely not.”
Braxiatel leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “Don’t you trust me, brother?”
“Not with this.” He shook his head. “Not with her.”
“I should be offended by that.”
The Doctor snorted and resumed his pacing across the shiny floor. “But you’re not.”
“No. I’m not. I understand her importance to both you and the future of Gallifrey.”
The Doctor stopped suddenly. “Do you really believe Gallifrey has a future? Some days, it’s so hard to...” He sighed.
“I have to believe we do, or I’m afraid I’d become like the rest of them...stopping at nothing to survive. But she’s from your future, so at least I can cling to that little thread of hope.”
“Well, you’re one of the only ones that feel that way. After that ridiculous prophecy was found and all eyes turned to her, I don’t trust anyone to be able to keep her secrets. There are too many eyes watching. And too many who would see her downfall.”
“You must admit, as far as prophecies go...I can see why they think it’s about her.”
The Doctor looked at his brother in shock. “You can’t tell me you believe that twaddle.”
Brax grinned. “‘A Valiant Child will die in battle, and the blood spilled will herald the era of the wolf.’ Very poetic.”
“Oh, please. She’s hardly a child-”
“If she were a Time Lord, she’d be but a babe.”
“She’s not though, and that’s my wife you talking about. Also, in case you haven’t noticed, she didn’t die in battle. She is very much alive.” The Doctor scoffed. “And the era of the wolf? Ridiculous. It doesn’t mean anything.”
“The Visionary seems to think otherwise. There are no wolves on Gallifrey. Why choose that word? Hmm? Think about it. The words ‘Bad Wolf’ follow your Rose everywhere. ”
The Doctor paled. “Bad Wolf? How do you...?”
Braxiatel smirked. “I am a man of many talents, Doctor, and one of them is collecting information. You’d do well to remember that.” The Doctor narrowed his eyes at his brother. “Now, now, don’t give me that look. I’m not your enemy. Never your enemy. And that extends to your enigmatic wife. But, dear brother, whether the Visionary chose wolf specifically to draw attention to Rose or because it truly references her, that’s beside the point. There are apparently a trio of prophecies regarding the Time War. That was only the first. When the other two are found, you’d better hope they don’t point to your bondmate or it could mean even more trouble with Rassilon and the Council.”
The Doctor pulled on his hair. “Speaking of Rassilon, I’ve a feeling he was behind the ambush at Skull Moon.”
Brax sat forward in his seat, as serious as the Doctor had ever seen him. “Be careful who you go telling that to, Thete. I know it’s been a while since you’ve spent any significant amount of time here, but the walls within the Capital have straining ears and loose lips.”
“Should I do nothing then? Is that your advice?”
“Of course not. I’ll look into it and see what my contacts have to say. Just don’t go off half cocked as you tend to.”
“Why I’ll have you know-”
“There are fractions within the Senate who regret resurrecting Rassilon and we can perhaps find allies there, but with each victory he brings in against the Daleks, the popular tide turns in his direction, so we must use caution. I know you lean more toward action and hate waiting, but politics is-”
The door to Brax’s room swished open and Romana and Rose entered.
“Darling, I’ve missed you.” The Doctor took Rose’s hands in his and kissed her knuckles.
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t stop a smile from spreading across her face. “You nutter, I haven’t even been gone 20 minutes.”
“Seventeen minutes and 32 seconds, and I missed you every moment.”
The Doctor leaned in to kiss his wife when Romana cleared her throat.
“Doctor, you’ve been given another assignment.”
He pressed a kiss to the tip of Rose’s nose and grinned. “Ah, and where does the Council want to send us this time?”
Romana took a breath. “I’m afraid this time it is just you, Doctor. Rose is to stay here and be questioned regarding the prophecy.”
“Absolutely not!”
“Prophecy?” Rose asked in confusion.
“Rassilon ordered it himself. She cannot turn down a direct request from the Lord President if she wishes-”
“What prophecy?”
“It’s nothing, Rose. I’ll tell you about it later.”
Romana sputtered. “Noth- It’s...it’s not nothing!”
Hurt flashed across Rose’s features. “You knew about it and didn’t tell me?”
“It’s a ridiculous piece of fiction. Nothing but superstitious nonsense.”
“So what does it have to do with me?”
The Doctor flushed. “Some people might believe that the prophecy is about you.”
“Then you should have told me about it!” Rose turned away from the Doctor mumbling, “If ever I doubted you were the same man...”
Romana interrupted what could only be the beginning of an ill timed argument, “Life here could get very difficult for you if you dare to push back against the President too much.”
“This is completely unacceptable. She shouldn’t be questioned without me present.”
“Doctor, I urge you to consider this from all angles.”
“No, you don’t understand. I don’t trust Rassilon to not try something while Rose is alone with him.”
“She won’t be alone, the Council-”
“He’s behind the ambush at Skull Moon.”
Romana gasped. “You’ve proof of that?”
The Doctor grimaced. “No, right now I have only my suspicions, but-”
“Who else have you told this to?”
“Just Brax.”
“I told him I was going to look into it for them.”
“Tread lightly, Doctor. It’s a very serious charge.”
“You think I don’t know that?”
Rose took the Doctor’s hand and laced their fingers together. “You see why we don’t want to be split up? This would be the perfect time to go after one or the other of us. ‘Cos we’re stronger together.”
“If you don’t appear before the Council for questioning, Rose, you’ll be creating more issues for you both. I think it best if you each go along with the plan to separate you and knowing that something might be afoot you can prepare yourselves. Plus, we drop hints about the first ambush around those already suspect of Rassilon and if something is tried, it will be easier for us to sway them further.”
Rose bit her lip. “I don’t know.”
Romana turned to her former mentor. “And you?”
“Where do they want me sent this time?”
“Voltrix has been given information on the Supreme Dalek’s location. She’s ordered a fleet of Battle TARDISes to attack. You’ve been selected to lead the offensive.”
“Lead? Me?”
Romana smirked. “Oh, did I forget to mention? You’ve been promoted to Colonel, Doctor.”
“What?!”
There was a soft knock on Brax’s door, before a Time Lady, dressed in the uniform of Gallifrey’s army, entered.
Romana held out her hands in welcome to the newcomer. “Petrella. So good of you to come right away.”
Petrella nodded and nervously spun her helmet in her hands. “Yes, well, I was told it was urgent.”
“This is the Doctor. You will be serving under his command.”
Petrella’s mouth fell open. “The...the Lord Doctor?”
Rose muttered, “God help me if there are more of him runnin’ around right now.”
The Doctor laughed and winked as his wife. “With me you never know.” He extended his hand to the soldier. “A pleasure.”
The Doctor turned back to Rose and ran his hands up and down her upper arms. “I should go, love.”
“I don’t like this. Not even a little.”
“I’ll be fine, Rose. See what you can dig up during your interview with the High Council. And be careful.”
“I can handle myself. It’s you I worry about.”
“My Lady...” Rose glanced inquiringly at Petrella. “I’ll keep an eye on him for you.”
Rose smiled. “He’s very jeopardy friendly. You’ll have your work cut out for you.”
“You wound me, wife!” The Doctor playfully covered his left heart and staggered.
“Thank you, Petrella, I do appreciate it, but-”
“Darling, I swear to you that this will be the only time they split us up.” He sighed. “But Romana’s right, we need to appear to work with them or they’ll become more secretive and dangerous.”
Rose nodded. The Doctor swept her into his arms and snogged the breath out of her. When they pulled back, Brax was smirking, Romana rolled her eyes, and Petrella looked properly scandalized.
The Doctor clapped his hands together. “The sooner we leave, the sooner I can get back to my lovely wife. Ready, Petrella?”
She was still in a daze as she followed the Doctor out of the room.
--
The Doctor stood at the controls of his TARDIS and materialized into a formation of Battle TARDISes.
He and Petrella studied the monitors. “Look, Doctor, they’re exactly where we were told they’d be. The intel was good.”
The Doctor gripped the controls and studied they information that scrolled across the TARDIS screen. “Fifty Dalek ships. Two-thousand Dalek’s on board each ship. 100,000 Daleks.”
“Well, what are we waiting for? Let’s get them!”
“Something doesn’t feel right.”
As soon as the words were out of his mouth, temporal mines flickered from another dimension into the path of the Time Lords. The weapons began shooting lasers at the TARDISes. The Doctor flicked a switch and the rotor began to groan. “Petrella, hold on!”
The Doctor’s TARDIS began flying through space and a shot meant for it struck a Dalek saucer instead. Petrella held tight to the rail that ran around the console and tried to keep a read on what was going on outside. “They’ve decimated a quarter of the Time Lord fleet!” Her eyebrows flew up. “Now half!”
The TARDIS shook with the effort of avoiding the Dalek weapons. “It’s no good. We’ve got to run.”
Petrella’s voice wobbled. “Three quarters. They’ve destroyed three quarters of the Battle TARDISes.”
“All those lives, it’s just collateral damage to the Daleks.”
“How did they know we’d be there?”
“It was a trap. They were waiting for something...for me. They must have fed us that intel. ”
“But-”
“Well, no more. Set the course for Gallifrey. It’s time I had a word with Rassilon.”
--
The President was seated across from Rose, at the head of the table lined with the members of his Inner Council. He leaned forward. “Ms. Tyler, what is your take on the prophecy that so many believe is about you?”
Rose gritted her teeth. “I told you, I don’t even know what the prophecy says.”
He smirked. “But you have a copy of it, right there in front of you.”
Rose looked down in the hopes that the circles and lines would reform themselves into words should read, and sighed. “I can’t read Circular Gallifreyan.”
Rassilon scoffed. “The Doctor’s bondmate can’t read?”
“I can read, just not Circular Gallifreyan. The TARDIS never translates it.”
“Of course not, they’re prohibited from doing so. TARDISes are meant to be flown by Time Lords only. They can’t be giving lesser species a guide to the Time Vortex. Can you imagine the damage that could be done?”
Rose looked away. At least he doesn’t know about that.
“The Visionary will read the prophecy to Rose Tyler.”
An old woman with straggly, gray hair looked at Rose. Her gaze seemingly penetrated straight to Rose’s soul causing her to shudder. “A Valiant Child will die in battle, and the blood spilled will herald the era of the wolf.”
Rose’s face lost its color as the words of the Beast, spoken so long ago, came back to haunt her. Her heart sped up and she didn’t know how she was going to convince them that she had nothing to do with the prophecy now that she was convinced of the very opposite.
“What a very interesting reaction, Ms. Tyler. Mydriasis, an increase in heart rate, and human hormones just flooding through your system. I wonder why? Tell me, what does the prophecy mean?”
“I...I don’t know.”
“Don’t lie to me! Bad Wolf is another phrase that follows you around the universe and up and down your timeline. It is no coincidence a wolf is mentioned in the prophecy. Tell me what you know!”
“I...There was a werewolf...well, a Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform at any rate. The Doctor an’ I met one of ‘em once. Could that be it?”
“Don’t play the fool with me, Ms. Tyler. Are you working with the Daleks?”
Rose gasped. “What?!”
“The Daleks. Are you a traitor? Is the Doctor a traitor?”
Rose stood up shaking and placed her palms on the table as she leaned forward. “Say what you will about me, but don’t...don’t ever say that the Doctor...that he would even think of siding with the Daleks. His whole life they have done nothing but try to ruin it. And he gives up everything to prevent them from destroying the universe!”
Rassilon sat back in his seat with a smile. The sight of it, so wrong on his face, stopped her short. She panted feeling regretful and weary from her outburst.
“He gives up everything does he? What do you mean by-”
A door to the Council Chambers flew open and the Doctor stormed in.
The relief Rose felt had her collapsing into her chair.
The Doctor glanced to his side and his expression softened for a moment when he saw Rose was okay.
His mask was back in place by the time he addressed the rest of the Time Lords. “90% of the battle TARDISes were destroyed.”
Rose gasped, but the Doctor didn’t dare look at her.
“How is that possible, Doctor?” An older member of the Doctor’s own house asked.
The Doctor turned to his cousin. “They knew we were coming and were waiting for us.”
A murmur of surprise made its way around the table. “An ambush?”
The Doctor nodded. “A trap. The Daleks had temporal mines waiting in another dimension and when enough TARDISes arrived, they called them forth. They decimated the Time Lord fleet and it was over for us before we even realized what was happening.”
Rassilon leaned forward in his seat. “That is a disappointing show for your first assignment as Colonel.”
“Disappointing? We were sent to slaughter. Where did that information come from?”
“What are you suggesting Doctor.”
“Where did Councillor Voltrix get her information?”
Rassilon scoffed. “Are you saying you believe Voltrix to be in league with the Daleks? She’s been-”
“I’m not accusing her of anything. I just think it strange that both places I’ve been sent, the Dalek’s attacked within moments of my arrival there. There might be a traitor in our midst.”
All ambient chatter ceased, as all eyes turned to Rassilon. He sat back with a smug grin. “A traitor you say? I was just questioning your bondmate on the topic before you barged in.”
“Rose?”
“Voltrix has been a key to our victories thus far, but wouldn’t you say it strange that these traps as you say started happening at the same time that Miss Tyler arrived?”
“You can’t seriously be accusing my wife of conspiring against me, against us! She’s my bondmate...I would know.” The Doctor tapped his temple.
The Time Lords seated around the table nervously glanced at each other.
“Are you involved in treason against the Time Lords as well, Doctor?”
“This is ridiculous. Rose didn’t choose to send us to Skull Moon or me to sector 6-Apple-Sigma-Delta-4. Ultimately it was you.”
The room went deadly quiet, the only sound being the scrape of Rassilon’s chair as he stood. “Are you accusing me of plotting against Gallifrey?”
The Doctor stared him down. “Makes more sense then my wife.” A collective gasp went up. “Check all communications to and from the Capitol after we were given our assignments. You’ll find nothing from me or my wife warning anyone of anything. We couldn’t possibly be involved. But you’d best find out who is. Because when I find the traitor, I’ll deal with them my way.” The Doctor grabbed Rose’s hand and pulled her to his side. “Let’s go, Rose.”
As the Doctor led Rose from the room, Rassilon slammed his fists on the table. “Damn him!” Rassilon sank into his chair and called for the General.
The man slipped from the shadows in the corner of the room and bowed his head. “Sir.”
“Send men to see if they can salvage any of the temporal mines from the Doctor’s last battle. Our engineers may be able to repurpose them to attack the Daleks.”
“Yes, sir.”
“And find out if Rose Tyler or the Doctor sent any communications either off world or within the Capitol immediately following notification of their assignments.”
The General’s brows rose, but remained silent. He nodded and left the room.
--
As soon as the door to their suite closed behind them, Rose turned to face the Doctor. “Was that smart to-”
The Doctor pulled her into his arms and kissed her as if they had been parted for months rather than hours. Rose pulled back and slowly opened her eyes. “Doctor?”
“As soon as I realized it was a trap, I was so afraid that Rassilon would try to harm you as well while I was gone.”
Rose cupped his jaw and gave him a half smile. “Made of tough stuff, me.”
“Rose...I know you’ve...cheated death before and I hope that you continue to do so, but Rassilon is...well he is the closest thing to a god that the Time Lords have. A mad, power-hungry god, with access to an arsenal of the universe’s most dangerous weapons. I’m not confident that even you’d be safe from them.”
“But-”
“No. We don’t know if you’re truly immortal or if there’s something out there than can kill you. And I don’t particularly want to test it to find out. I need you, Rose.”
She flung her arms around his neck and buried her head in his shoulder. “Need you too. My Doctor.”
They stood there holding each other for several moments, just breathing in the scent of the other. Rose finally pulled back enough to look him in the eye. “D’you think it was a good idea to provoke Rassilon the way you did?”
“Brax might regenerate me for it, but Rassilon needed to see that I’m not going to be so easy to get rid of and that I’m not going to take his scheming lying down.”
“Wouldn’t be you if you did.” Rose chewed at her bottom lip. “Why you though? What threat are you to him or Gallifrey that he’s workin’ so hard to get rid of you?”
“We have a bit of a history, and it hasn’t always been a pretty one. He is brilliant and has accomplished so much for the Time Lords, but a few times I got in his way and was able to circumvent his plans for me. He doesn’t like not getting his way and might see me as a threat. Especially if he intends to do something horrendous for the sake of winning the war. Cass was right, you know, it’s getting harder and harder to tell the difference between the Time Lords and the Daleks.” The Doctor hugged her close once again. “I’m so sorry you’ve been dragged into it with this whole prophecy thing.”
“Erm, about the prophecy…”
The Doctor tilted his head and waited. Rose backed up and sank onto their lounger.
“...I think it’s about me.”
“What?”
“I’m actually certain of it.”
“How?”
“Er, so the first part of it was told to me once before.”
“But-”
“Nearly word for word, Doctor. It was a prophecy told to me about my death.”
“By whom?”
Rose looked worriedly at the Doctor and took a deep breath. “The Devil.”
The Doctor laughed, but at Rose’s hurt expression he sat down beside her. “I’m sorry, darling, but the Devil? Which one. There’s more religions than there are planets in the sky. Archiphets, Orkology, Chris-”
Rose put her hands on his arms. “Look, you didn’t believe it then, I don’t expect you to believe it now. But he said he was the Beast. Had us on a planet orbitin’ a black hole without gettin’ pulled it.”
“But that’s impossible!”
“Was an impossible planet, with an impossible evil, and he called me ‘the valiant child.’ Said I would die in battle soon.”
The Doctor shook his head. “No. No, no, no.”
“You told me he was lying. An’ then after we were separated, I just assumed…” She shrugged. “What’s it mean?”
“It’s not gonna happen, Rose.”
“But the same prophecy from two different sources?” Rose hugged herself.
The Doctor pulled her into his embrace and rested his lips on her temple. “You’re not going to die, I'm not going to let you.”
“A few minutes ago you were afraid Rassilon was gonna kill me, now that you know my death’s been foretold by a Gallifreyan prophecy and the Devil himself all of a sudden you've taken the opposite stance?”
“That's me...you’ve married a man who’s quite contrary.”
“Don’t I know it.” Rose teased, but then her grin fell and she caught her lip between her teeth.
“What is it?”
“The second half of the prophecy…”
“The bit about the wolf?”
Rose nodded. “Future you and I once came across a werewolf-”
“Werewolf? There’s no such-”
Rose huffed and crossed her arms. “A Lupine Wavelength Haemovariform.”
“Right, yes. Sorry. Carry on.”
“An’ just before he turned from his human form into his werewolf form he said that I had something of the wolf about me. And he knew that I burned like the sun instead of needing the moon like him.”
“Burn like the sun? Like on Karn?”
Rose nodded.
“Bad Wolf?”
She nodded again and looked at the floor.
“But what is it? I know you’ve said it’s you, but how?”
“I...I don’t fully understand it myself. I can’t remember everything that happened an’ future you explained it a little, but I’m not sure he even knows the full extent.”
“Tell me? Please.”
“I...I’m not sure if I should. What if I screw up the timelines?”
The Doctor sighed. “I’m going to have to forget, Rose. It’ll be okay. I’ll make certain of it.”
Rose leaned her head on the Doctor’s shoulder. “I absorbed the Time Vortex an-”
The Doctor stiffened beneath Rose. “You did what?”
She glared at him. “You gonna let me tell it or not?”
“Sorry, but...how are you even alive at all? No one is meant to do that? I can’t even-”
“Doctor.”
“Right. Sorry.”
“I don’t remember doing it, just know that the TARDIS is involved somehow.” She glanced at him and he looked like he wanted to say something, but was keeping quiet. Her lips twitched. “Right, so anyway, I somehow absorbed all of time and sort of became a goddess or something. Did it to save you, an’ I did. But I killed you also.” At his questioning look, she told him, “You regenerated trying to remove the vortex from me.”
“You didn’t kill me.”
“You said it felt like dyin’ and I did that to you.”
“If it came to you dying for good or me regenerating, I would choose to regenerate every single time. No question.”
“But-”
“Every. Single. Time. I don’t like it that you throw yourself in danger for me, but I can appreciate the sentiment behind it. If I could save you I would, because I love you and I can’t bare the thought of a universe without you. I’m guessing you feel the same?”
“Fishing for compliments?” He tried to give her a stern look, but couldn’t maintain it with her fluttering eyelashes. “Oh come ’ere you. Course I love you the same.”
“So, I’ll try to not get too twitchy when you throw yourself into danger for me, if you try not to blame yourself for my regeneration.”
“‘S not gonna be easy-”
“You think it’ll be easy for me?”
“No, don’t suppose it will. Alright, deal.”
Rose stuck her hand out for the Doctor to shake. He glanced at it in amusement, before grabbing it and pulling her up.
He growled before kissing her. “Now that that’s settled, let me show you how much I love you, my bad, bad Wolf.” Still holding her hand he dragged her to their bedroom and proceeded to show her all night long.
Neue #Gratis-Aktion: #Petrella: Vier Wochen Bild am Sonntag geschenkt - #Hamsterrausch
Petrella ist Frischkäse mit frischen Kräutern – und passt perfekt aufs Sonntagsbrötchen. Die passende Lektüre kommt aktuell kostenlos an den Frühstückstisch. Petralla hat eine gemeinsame Aktion mit Bild am Sonntag, bei der vier Ausgaben gratis frei Haus geliefert werden.
Was bekomme ich geschenkt?4 Ausgabe von Bild am Sonntag (BamS). Aufgepasst: Das Abo verlängert sich, sofern es nicht gekündigt…
Ieri, all’apertura della terza edizione del Mediterraneo Reading Festival, ho avuto l’occasione di fare una piacevole chiacchierata con Angelo Petrella sul suo settimo romanzo, “Fragile è la notte”, un “noir” niro niro comm’a che ambientato tra Posillipo, Pozzuoli e Giugliano.(1)
Abbiamo parlato dei forti legami della sua scrittura con la musica e con il cinema.(2)
Abbiamo chiacchierato di Napoli, delle sue contraddizioni; di come questa sia la città perfetta… per i bastardi; della contiguità spaziale ed esistenziale tra la Napoli alta e la Napoli bassa; del degrado della sua periferia, della desolazione di Lago Patria e degli squarci postmoderni di locali di lusso immersi in zone sospese tra il nulla e la disperazione.
Abbiamo discettato di whiskey, sigarette e autodistruzione.(3)
Abbiamo riflettuto sulla pervasività della nostalgia nelle nostre vite, delle occasioni perdute, dei fiori non colti…
Abbiamo parlato del Napoli e delle sue campagne acquisti.
Di come un romanzo possa nascere di getto, in un’estate torrida con uno scrittore allettato e abbattuto dagli eventi.
Di scritture contundenti come un pacchero che ti solleva dalla sedia.
Di come un investigatore, al pari di uno scrittore, cerchi un filo per dipanare, la matassa, il garbuglio, lo gliommero per cercare la luce nel buio e l’ordine nel caos.
Abbiamo riflettuto sull’epigrafe del romanzo. Una citazione di un brano di Hemingway che dice che “Il mondo è un bel posto e vale la pena lottare per esso”.
E io me ne sono andato con l’idea che Napoli è un posto bellissimo per cui vale assolutamente la pena lottare. Soprattutto in un periodo niro niro comm’a chisto.
