The Fall of Arcadia (Book ONE)

Chapter 18

Alice:

I watched in horror as the Doctor, my Doctor regenerated in front of me. He promised I would never have to watch him go through it again, not after he died saving me and Nyssa from Radiation. "You promised me" I sobbed into Jacks chest.

But then something amazing happened, he forced himself to turn towards the console, putting his hands together and then aiming his regenerative energy at his severed hand. A moment later he pulled away, his cheeky face still the same.

"Now then, where were we?" He bent down and blew the glowing energy away. I carefully crouched, supporting my protruding belly as I did. I touched the glass of the case carefully, but pulled it away as I felt a burning spark.

"Ow."

"Careful, Princess. It could hurt the baby as well as you." He whispered, helping me to my feet.

"Yeah, I know."

He turned to face the others, explaining what I had already worked out. " You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but soon as I was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to. Why would I? Look at me."

"I haven't stopped yet, have I?" I grinned, squeezing his hand tightly.

He grinned back, kissing it before continuing. "So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle, namely my hand. My hand there. My handy spare hand. Remember? Christmas Day, Sycorax. Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand. What do you think?"

Rosie stepped forward hesitantly. "You're still you?"

"He's still him." I agreed, letting them have a moment to hug. Then the power went out and the TARDIS jolted.

"They've got us. Power's gone. Some kind of chronon loop." he said sadly, checking the monitor before standing back next to me.

"Shit. Why can't I ever have nice visions?" I cried, kicking out at the hat rack by the door.

Jack came over to me as the Doctor tried to work some controls, hugging me tight and stroking my hair. "It'll be fine, Sera, everything that happens just happens for a reason, you know that." Then he pulled away and addressed our little group. "There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets. They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination"

"You said these planets were like an engine. But what for?" Donna asked.

The Doctor looked at his previous girlfriend, hoping she may know more. I knew, but as usual, Spoilers. "Rose, you've been in a parallel world. That world's running ahead of this universe. You've seen the future. What was it?"

She lifted her head up and looked scared for the first time since I'd met her. "It's the Darkness."

"The stars were going out." Donna and I said together.

"One by one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dying. Basically, we've been building this, er, this travel machine, this, this er, dimension cannon, so I could. Well, so I could" She trailed off.

"What?"

"So she could come back Theta. Stop being cocky and making her say it. Ah!" I cried, doubling over as pain shot through me.

"Seraphina! Love, what is it, what's happening?!" He asked, rushing to my side, helping Jack to right me on my feet.

"Talk to Rosie, she knows stuff. I'm fine, Jacky's got me." I tried to smile as Jack mock groaned at the name. He bought it, but I knew it was only a matter of time before he realised I was miscarrying.