A/N: Continuation of Minds. Previous stories in the series are Weeds, Pains, Hearts and Minds. Must be read!

This is probably the last in this series. I don't know what's going on, I doubt you do, but let's all cross our fingers and hope for a happy ending :o

Part One

The Doctor was so still and silent, Rose observed.

It was a strange sight. She'd never seen him so immobile as this. Even as the bright red blood from the bullet she had fired slowly but surely created a macabre puddle around her best friend, for some reason her brain was assuring her that it was okay.

He was just sleeping.

Wasn't he?

The gun had since vanished from her hand, and now she was stood in the unending blackness just staring at him. His head was turned away from her, having landed awkwardly on his front with his arms pinned beneath him. She wanted to go to him, but utter terror filled her at the thought of it.

But she had to.

She placed one foot in front of the other – the usual walking method – her steps progressively becoming shorter and shorter as she moved nearer and nearer to her best friend. Then she reached him, and she was on her knees beside him. She rolled his body onto his back, keeping her eyes firmly on his face - if she let those eyes anywhere near his wound, she feared she would go mad.

There. He was just sleeping. Lying there in her arms limply with his eyes closed.

Just sleeping.

She wrapped her arms around him, needing to get him closer to her. She held him so his head was over her shoulder, their cheeks pressed together, her fingers dug deeply into his hair. He was still warm, and she was so cold.

He'd said he loved her. Surely even in his addled state that couldn't have been a lie? Could it?

Not that it even mattered now. Whatever love he had for her was lying in her arms, covered in blood, and so very, very dead.

"Af'o fo'liala'ia, fo time'o." the TARDIS began to sing softly, the language beautiful and soft to Rose's ears. "Af'n fo angeli'ia shala ce'helogorei'ia. Aiiw chaiya'nia, ei'looi. Lei'n baine, tera ei'af wiia'ih. Lei'n gan'terna'eon, ei'holah'aiiw... Miho'wiia qe, alok'ia'ei."

Rose didn't speak a word, continuing to hold his broken body to her chest.

"I killed him."

Her own voice was so distant, as though not even a part of her.

"I killed him."

The words made no sense. They were just words combined together in a grammatically pleasing manner. They had no meaning – no real meaning, anyway. Because it wasn't possible. She would never hurt him. Would she?

Suddenly he was gone from her arms, and she was clutching at thin air.

"No," she gasped, her eyes wide and searching, her breath caught in her throat. "No... No... No!"

She looked up, suddenly not even caring whether she was addressing the TARDIS or the Weed. "Give him back, please, please give him back, give him back to me!"

"Rose," the voice of the Doctor suddenly said, and her head right to find his image standing there, radiating with gold. He was somehow even more beautiful than she remembered. So angelic.

Then she stopped being distraught, and was suddenly angry. Burning anger like she'd never experienced before surged inside of her – suddenly her face was on fire, her heart was hammering, and she jumped up and marched straight to him.

"Stop usin' his voice! Stop usin' his image!" she shrieked straight into his face. "It's not fair, it's not fair!"

"Rose," he repeated, just as calmly. "Come with me."

"No!"

"I'm waiting for you."

"What!?"

"A new life," he replied, giving her a tiny, hopeful smile. "With me. Please say yes."

"No!" she yelled again, taking two steps back.

"Life, the way you've always dreamt it. Wouldn't that be nice?" the Doctor's image wondered, keeping his hand held out. "You and me. We'll travel the universe all day, every day. Never wither, never age. We'll be together, you and me, forever."

Rose swallowed, her eyes flickering over him. It would be so easy. So easy to say yes, and just live her new life in peace. Always with him, always with the universe.

Sure, it wouldn't be real, but real was overrated. The Doctor was dead. If she beat the weed and saved the TARDIS, he would still be dead. She'd be back home with her mum – back home to the fish and chips, the minimum wage, the evening television, the day in, day out saga of never-ending rubbish. If she accepted the offer – sure, it wasn't real life, but it would be better than real life.

Maybe she should.

Or maybe...

"No," she suddenly said, and stepped back two more paces. "The Doctor's gone but I'm still his companion. He trusts me. I swore I'd save his ship and that's what I'm gonna do. Whatever it takes!"

The Doctor's face suddenly dropped, his eyes turning black. Then his face began to disfigure right in front of her, his entire body changing and warping until he was standing there covered in weeds – growing all over him like a macabre second skin.

"So be it," the Weed hissed out of his lips, and disappeared.

"TARDIS?" Rose called into the abyss.

"Rose," the TARDIS whispered from nowhere, almost sobbing.

"Take me over, fry my brain, sacrifice me, I don't care. Whatever it takes. Just beat this weed. For the Doctor, okay? It's what he'd want."

"He wouldn't let you die," the TARDIS croaked.

"Well now he's gone and I'm in charge so it's not up to him any more, is it?" Rose shot back coolly.

"I can't do that to you. I can't betray my Time Lord."

"I'm his companion. He picked me for a reason. And I'm tellin' you. Do it."

For a moment there was just silence.

"... I will use you, Bad Wolf. I won't use Rose Tyler."

Rose frowned. "Wha-"

It was too late as suddenly everything turned completely white.

Rose found herself lying on some sort of blanket on some grass the blades flecking up around the edges of the apparent blanket. The ground was warm and the sun was shining, a light perfect breeze periodically washing over her as she laid there, curled up comfortably.

She looked down at what she was lying on – her breath caught in her throat as she realised what it was. It was the Doctor's overcoat, spread out beneath her. She curled even more into it, gathering it in her fists and pressing it to his face. She could smell his scent – a strange honey-like aroma – infused into it.

"Rose!"

She sat up immediately, her eyes wide. That was the Doctor.

"Doctor!" she called back, searching for him desperately, until suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder and she jumped in alarm, spinning around to find him standing there holding a bunch of strange alien flowers. He beamed and thrust them at her, which she quickly took.

"Fascinating!" he cried, his face filled with his familiar goofy smile. "These are actually petunias. Of course, alien petunias. In fact, you have to pick them at a certain time of the day else they bite your fingers off... Still, you could give them to your mum. They release pleasant scents about every four hours – attracting insects, I assume. Particularly attractive to emorphorous insectivorous lifeforms, if I remember right. So tell her to keep her windows closed if she doesn't want giant wasps invading her flat. Oh, and don't put them in water, did I mention that? … Are you okay?"

Rose looked up at him, her eyes shining as she clutched the flowers close to her chest. "Fine," she squeaked out, before the urge became too much and she was laughing giddily. "I missed you." She gestured for him to meet her in a hug. He did so. "You're not real, are you?" she asked, holding him tightly.

"No," he replied seriously. "I'm him according to how you remember him. I react according to how you think I should."

"I wish you were real."

He drew back, and took a seat gave her a gentle smile. "The Tardis has done you a favour. She's taken over your body to fight the weed, which has inhabited mine, and in the meantime she's locked Rose Tyler safely away in there," he said, tapping her head with his finger. "And here," - he gestured to their surroundings - "is there." He pointed to her head again.

"But you're still dead."

"Forget about me."

"How the hell can I forget about you?"

He winced slightly, pulling a face. "You're right, that was a stupid sentence."

The laugh that came from Rose surprised both him and her, but at least it was a indication of happiness.

"You've got your whole life ahead of you," he continued. "Don't waste it on a memory of me."

"It wouldn't be a waste," Rose muttered.

He pulled her into another hug, but didn't say anything.

"So what happens now?" Rose wondered.

"What?" he asked, pulling away.

"If the Tardis wins and I'm still alive, I wake up and I'm okay... What do I do?"

"The Tardis has emergency procedures to take you home," the Doctor replied.

"Back to my boring old life."

"What do you mean?"

She gave a half-hearted laugh. "You know, back to Henrik's. Back to nine to five. Find a guy, settle down, get married, have a kid."

"And what's boring about that?" he enquired, raising an eyebrow.

"It's just meaningless, isn't it?"

"How so?"

"I mean compared to you. How can I just go back to normal after this?" she asked seriously. "After all you've shown me. Human life sucks."

"No, it doesn't."

"Yeah, it does."

"Life isn't some step-by-step guide," he pointed out.

"It is on Earth," she countered. "Wasn't it on Gallifrey, too?"

"I can't answer that."

"Why not?"

"Because you've never asked the real me about Gallifrey, so you don't know, therefore I can't answer it," he told her.

"Oh," she realised. She'd forgotten he wasn't real for a moment. "I've never asked you?" she asked, frowning.

"Nope."

"Why haven't I asked you?"

"Fear."

"Fear of what?"

"Because you think I'd push you away."

"And would you?"

"I can't answer that."

Rose sighed. "I should have asked you so much more. Now I can't." She paused, taking a deep breath. "When I wake up I'm gonna find your mangled body, aren't I?"

"Yes," he replied, before taking her hands and squeezing them. "Can you cremate me on Earth?"

"Of course I will," she said softly, squeezing back. "I'll get you prime position in Saint Mary's, golden plate and everythin'," she said lightly. She almost meant it as a joke, but any humour in it vanished as it reached her ears.

He smiled regardless. "I don't want anything big. Just visit me."

"I will."

"And... every time you do, tell me about your life. What you're doing. What your thinking, feeling, all that stuff. I want to know everything. And make it a better story than the last, every time."

She gazed into his eyes deeply, before suddenly realising... "Wait. How can you tell me this? When did he tell me about it?"

The Doctor's mouth spread into the widest grin. "... He didn't."

It took roughly three seconds for everything to fit neatly into place. As she realised her jaw dropped, her eyes shot open and her hands tightened on his...

"Doctor!"

"Did you miss me?"

"Oh my god!" She engulfed him in a massive hug, throwing her arms around him so tightly she thought she might break a few of his ribs. "I thought you were dead!"

"Err..."

She immediately drew back, shocked. "What?"

"My body's dead," he replied seriously.

"... But you're here?"

"I broke free from the hallucination the weed put me in. My mind's still alive."

"Forever?"

"No. I'm too attached to the weed," he said quietly. "It's taken me over completely. When it dies... I die."

"Then we won't kill it," Rose replied immediately. "We'll just suppress it, confine it..."

"Rose," he interrupted softly.

She knew that tone of voice, and now she was crying. "No. It's not killing you... It's not... It's just not..."

"Rose," he said again, adjusting his position. "You're extraordinary. I mean... Look what you did. You dragged me out of a weed-infested den, you looked after me when my eyes stopped working, you went right up to a flower to get the sac, you treated me in the infirmary, you walked right into the Heart of the Tardis, you tried so hard to get me out of the hallucination... You even shot me to stop me killing the Tardis. Then, when you could have given up, you gave your body and mind so the Tardis could fight. You've saved me and my crazy time-travelling inside-out police box more times in these past few hours than I've picked my nose in the past few months. You're strong. Strong without me. You don't need me. You're brave, Rose Tyler. So brave. And I know I'm hardly in a position to ask because you've done so, so much, but I need you to be brave, one last time. Just do one more thing for me. Just one more thing."

She swallowed, tears rolling down her cheeks. "What?"

"Help me kill the weed, once and for all."

She gazed at him even more deeply than before, her eyes filling up again to such a degree she could barely see his face.

She didn't have a choice.

"... Okay," she whispered.