AN: *flinches* Sorry, I know I'm bad! I have like three other stories that I should be working on right now, but I couldn't get this out of my head.

Hallelujah- Leonard Cohen

"I've heard there was a sacred chord
That David played
And it pleased the Lord,
But you don't really care for music, do ya?"

Balls were devastatingly dreary to John Smith. There was too much hoity toity politics, too stuffy of clothes, too many people to question his every move. He hated being at them, he hated getting a single invitation in the mail. But, because of his father's status, he had to attend every single one of them. Never mind the fact that he was old enough to have his own children by now, it was still expected of him to do his father's will. He wasn't like his brother.

Know only as "the Master" in public, his younger brother was charismatic and charming to every single person he met. He could have an entire room of strangers eating out of the palm of his hands in seconds. He was so acclaimed, in fact, that it was rumored that when King Tyler stepped down from the throne, his brother would take his place. All he had to do was marry the king's daughter, whatever her name was.

"Excuse me," came a voice from beside John. He turned slowly to see who the disturbance was.

"Yes?" he asked, before the words became lodged in his throat. It was a woman, no more than twenty, golden blonde hair cascading down her shoulders in loose ringlets. She was looking kindly at him.

"Would you like to dance?" she asked him, and for some reason, he couldn't say no. He let himself be pulled onto the floor. He let her put her hand in his, and he put his hand around her waist.

"It goes like this,
The fourth, the fifth,
The minor fall and the major lift,
The baffled king composing Hallelujah."

He could not tell how much time passed when he was staring into her eyes.

"You will find your feet at the end of your legs," the woman teased, tongue sticking out between her teeth. He had never seen anyone do that before in his life, and it instantly made John like her more.

He slowly started leading her around the floor in circles, captivated by her gaze, and wondering why she chose to dance with him.

He saw his brother walking towards them, and with a sense of dread, he thought he knew her name without asking it.

"What's your name?" he asked her, afraid the answer would be what he feared.

"Rose, Rose Tyler." She beamed up at him, and his eyes widened. He couldn't let his brother steal this exquisite woman away from him, he couldn't.

"Right, Rose. Nice to meet you," he said sincerely. He stopped and grabbed hold of her hand. "Now, run for your life!"

They took off running, with Rose giggling in his ear, and he couldn't help sporting the daftest grin.

"Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah."

"Would you mind telling me why we're running?" Rose asked breathlessly, her skirt in her hand.

"Because," John said, "I am saving you from my brother."

"What could be so bad about him?" she asked.

"He's too charming for his own good," he informed her. "People tell him if he marries you, he's guaranteed the crown."

Rose snorted. "Why would I let him do that, when I already like his brother?"

John turned red. "You do?"

"Why else would I ask you to dance with me?" she asked like it was obvious.

"Lack of other partners?" John shrugged.

She laughed at him. "There are plenty of other people, but they are all too stuffy, or they are only after me to get the crown."

"Don't worry," John assured. "I don't even want it."

She smiled. "Well, good, then. I would like to see you again sometime. Other than the exhausting atmosphere of a dance."

"Your faith was strong, but you needed proof.
You saw her bathing on the roof.
Her beauty in the moonlight overthrew you."

John was fairly certain he was falling in love with Rose. Every time he spent time with her, she did something else that made him lose his reasons why they should not be together. He thought she might love him, too, but he needed something as a sign.

So, when she invited him to the palace gardens, he was surprised to see her in a tub. He covered his eyes, as the gentlemanly thing to do. (Lord knows what else he was thinking)

"I'm sorry, Rose," he apologized. "I did not realize you were indecent. Why are you bathing in the gardens anyway?"

"Well," she started, "I am a princess, and that means I can take my baths where I please, which happens to be in the gardens at night. I like to look at the stars," Rose finished wistfully.

"But why did you call me here?" he asked.

"No one disturbs me when I'm bathing," she said, "and I wanted to talk to you about something, uninterrupted."

"What is it?" he gulped.

"Can you uncover your eyes, please?" Rose asked gently. "You can't see anything, promise."

John hesitantly removed his hand to see she was right. What he wasn't expecting was how much more beautiful the moonlight made her. "What was it?" he choked out, caught off-guard by her appearance.

"Your brother charmed his way into my father's mind at the ball," she said. "He's having dinner with us tomorrow night, and I'm scared over what might happen. From how you talk about him, we might be married by tomorrow."

John frowned. "I hope not."

"Tell me how you feel about me right now," she said. "Say it, in case I never get to hear it again."

"You're scaring me," John said, turning away from her.

"I'm just preparing for the worst," Rose said truthfully.

John turned towards her once more. "I love you," he said quietly. He rushed over to her side and took her hands in his. "I will fight for you, if I have to, Rose Tyler."

She leaned in to kiss him lightly. "I love you, too," she affirmed.

"She tied you to her kitchen chair,
She broke your throne,
She cut your hair,
And from your lips she drew the Hallelujah."

The next time John saw her was at a dinner party to celebrate her engagement to his brother. He could not eat a single thing, and when he was questioned by his father for his rudeness, he blamed it on a stomachache. His brother seemed to know. He sent him looks that could only be described as gloating, happy at the fact that he got to tote Rose Tyler around in public.

Every flirting bat of eyelashes, every arm graze, was like a knife in his back. It was like he was tied to his seat and couldn't move. It was like his brother wanted John to admit that he was better for Rose than him.

"My lady," his brother spoke up, and to John's pleasure, she grimaced.

"Yes?" she asked.

"Are you alright? You haven't eaten much tonight." He sent a glare in John's direction.

"I'm fine," she assured, placing a hand quickly over his. "I just feel sick is all. I am going to the restroom."

John counted to sixty before he announced he was going outside for some fresh air.

"Something must be going around," his father assured the table.

He found her slumped over on a balcony railing outside.

"I warned you," he said quietly.

Rose turned to face him and flung her arms around his neck. "John, I don't want to marry him. I don't even love him!"

He stroked her hair comfortingly. "We'll think of something," he assured.

"Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah."

Their meetings grew less and less frequent, and more and more of a secret. The wedding plans were in full swing, and John spent his every waking moment feeling like he was drowning when he wasn't around Rose. He poured over every book he could think of to find a solution.

"Baby, I have been here before.
I've seen this room, and I've walked this floor.
I used to live alone before I knew you."

Rose asked him to meet her in the ballroom where they first met. If anyone asked, he was helping her plan something for his brother for their wedding.

"I have to go through with it," she said to him sadly. "I talked to my father yesterday, and he said your brother was my best option. Besides, who else would I rather marry? He wouldn't even let me discuss you. My mother said you were old enough to be my dad." Rose bit her lip and looked down at the floor. "They're wrong. They do not know about our love."

John walked over to her gently, and lifted her chin until she looked at him. "They are right," he admitted. "Maybe...we shouldn't see each other anymore. It's just getting...hard."

"You can't!" Rose insisted. "I used to feel so alone before we met. I felt like I never belonged here, like I never was meant for anything. But you made me come into my own, you made me better."

John smiled at her. "You did the same for me."

"Dance with me?" she asked.

He shook his head. "I have to go."

"I've seen your flag on the marble arch,
Love is not a victory march.
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah."

John woke up to a thud! against his window. He rubbed his eyes groggily and stood up to see what it was. He opened his window to see a piece of paper attached to his windowsill. He looked down to see Rose running across his lawn, too far for him to call out to her.

He glanced down at the paper to see it was a letter.

John,
I cannot marry your brother. Do not ask me to. You of all people should know I would be miserable for all of my days. So, this is my plan. We will run away together. Please say you will.

I await your response no later than tomorrow night.

Love,
Rose

John crumpled the paper in his fist and screwed his eyes shut tight. Could he do this? Could he condemn Rose to a life of nothing once they ran away together. Romeo and Juliet tried that, and look how well that turned out.

But what, he asked himself, was the alternative? Watch his brother marry Rose? Watch them have children and their own balls? Watch them laugh and dance together for the rest of his days? No, that would not do, no matter what he tried to tell Rose. He was a selfish man, he did not share. Rose was his.

"Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah."

He climbed out of his window, intent on catching up with her and telling her his response right then.

"Rose!" he called into the night as he ran. "Rose Tyler!"

"What are you doing?" asked a cold, familiar voice John knew all too well. It made him stop dead in his tracks.

His brother stepped out of the trees surrounding their house and glared at him. "Why were you running after Rose at 3 in the morning? And why was she here?"

"I don't know," he lied. "I heard a noise outside and I saw her run across the lawn."

"Liar," his brother accused pushing him against a tree trunk.

John audibly swallowed and clenched his fist.

"You think she loves you? You think you're better for her than me?" he asked.

John started to speak, but his brother cut him off.

"She is mine. Besides, we don't want her to be disgraced when everyone calls her your daughter, do we?" he asked, laughing.

John dropped his head. "I wasn't going after because I loved her, I just thought she was here for you."

His brother dropped his hold on John. "Make sure it stays that way," he threatened and stalked off into the house.

"There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below,
But now you never show that to me, do you?"

"John," Rose hissed. "What's wrong with you? You barely look at me, you won't speak to me, and you never replied to my letter."

"I just can't, Rose," John said truthfully. "It's not safe."

"Your brother threatened you, didn't he?" she asked.

He tensed. "No."

She huffed at him. "That is what happened. Why can't you just tell me!"

He walked away from her before she saw him crumple.

"And remember when I moved in you,
The holy dove was moving too?
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah."

Rose took off after him. "John!" she called.

"What?" he hissed. "Go back to your fiancee. He'll wonder where you are."

"To hell with him," she said defiantly. That got no response. "You're telling me you're just giving up? You're going to let me become his? All of me?"

John growled. "I have to, even if I don't want to."

"So, claim me," Rose shrugged.

He shook his head.

"Don't tell me you don't want to. Don't lie to me! I know, because I do, too."

John snapped. He grabbed her by the wrist, eliciting a gasp from her. He led her down the hall until he found a broom closet. Somewhere they wouldn't be disturbed.

"I do," he said simply.

Then they came together, and it was the greatest joy he had ever known.

"Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah."

"We have to figure out a way to get you out of here," John said. "Without my family or yours knowing."

"Before my wedding night," Rose said. "I'm staying in a cottage, by myself, in order to reflect on my new life. Your brother won't be there, and neither will my family."

"Won't you have guards or servants?" John asked.

"They'll have gone to sleep," she said, "and as for the guards, you just come around the back. They're too thick to encompass the perimeter."

"Maybe there's a God above,
But all I've ever learned from love,
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you."

With the plan set in motion, John actually found it quite easy to get into her room at the cottage, even with his suitcase.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"Of course," Rose beamed.

"Where are we going to go?" he asked.

"Anywhere and everywhere," she said.

"Fantastic!" he exclaimed, taking her hand in his. John lifted her out the window, only to hear her cry out.

"Rose!" he shouted. "Are you alright? Did I hurt you?"

"Yes, Rose," a voice came from outside. "Are you hurt?"

John's blood ran cold as he recognized it. He climbed out after her, seeing there was nothing else to do. He definitely couldn't let her get hurt because of him.

"Well, this is odd," his brother said carefully. "I seem to remember an assurance that Rose was mine. So, what's this? Why are you sneaking away together before our wedding night?"

"Because," John breathed. "She's mine. We love each other."

His brother laughed maniacally and cocked a gun at his head. "That's funny, all I ever learned about love was how to shoot someone who beat you."

"No!" Rose protested.

"Or maybe her?" his brother questioned, pulling her in by her neck, and pointing the gun at her.

"Don't!" John protested. "Me instead."

"It's not a cry you hear at night,
It's not somebody who's seen the light.
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah."

"You see what love gets you, John?" his brother asked. "You could have been great if you would have just embraced your other name."

"I don't need an alias to save others lives," John said. "I can just be me."

"Isn't that sweet, Doctor?" his brother asked and then grimaced. "No, I suppose you're right. Doctor doesn't command power, but me on the other hand, I am the Master! Now let's see if you can save the woman you love!" His brother turned the gun at Rose once more and was about to pull the trigger.

John jumped in front of him and wrestled his brother to the ground. "I told you if you were hurting anyone tonight, it would be me," he said coldly.

"Gladly," his brother gritted out, pointing the gun at John. He pulled the trigger, and a rippling pain ripped through his stomach.

He fell back and his brother fled.

"John!" Rose cried out.

"Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah."

"Rose," he smiled stroking her cheek.

"We've got to get you a doctor," she said, standing up quickly and trying to make a run for the guards.

"No." John grabbed her ankle. "There's no time."

"Of course there's time," she said, sitting down next to him. "We have all the time in the world."

"If that's true," John said, "then would you marry me?"

"Sure," Rose said easily. "In Barcelona?"

"No, now," he clarified.

"You're scaring me," she said.

"Just say you will," John whispered.

She nodded, tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You say I took the name in vain,
I don't even know the name.
But if I did, well, really what's it to you?"

"We don't even have to say the vows," Rose assured him. "I do."

"I do as well," he said.

"You may now kiss your bride," she said hoarsely, leaning down to press their lips together.

"There's a blaze of light in every word,
It doesn't matter which you heard
The holy or the broken Hallelujah."

"Before I go," John said when they broke apart.

"Don't say that!" Rose exclaimed.

"Before I go," he started again, "I just wanted to see that you were fantastic, absolutely fantastic. And do you know what?" he asked.

Rose shook her head.

"So was I," he beamed at her, and gasped his final breath, letting the darkness take him over.

"Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah."

Rose broke down into sobs, clutching his body close to hers. She stroked his closely cropped hair in between her fingers, and wished for him to come back.

"Please don't leave me," she pleaded. "I can't love anyone else."

"I did my best, it wasn't much.
I couldn't feel, so I tried to touch.
I've told the truth, I haven't come to fool you."

Rose leaned down to kiss his lips again. He didn't kiss her back. It made her angry and she screamed. "Why? Why? Why?"

Suddenly a gentle hand was on her shoulder. "Are you okay, Rose?"

She turned around to see a member of the guard looking at her, concerned. He was as skinny as a stick with brown sticky uppy helmet hair.

"No," she sniffed.

It was then that the guard saw the body. "What happened to him?" he cried out. "We've got to get a doctor straight away, we-"

Rose cut him off. "There's no need. He's already dead. Shot by his own brother."

The guard patted her shoulder. "I am so sorry, princess."

"And even though it all went wrong,
I'll stand before the Lord of song
With nothing on my tongue but Hallelujah."

"Thank you," she said. "I loved him, I love him, and I will love him."

The guard looked at her strangely. "Are you sure you're okay."

"I'm always okay," she said bitterly. "Now, bring me that raft from the shore, and help me get him on it."

He did as she said, and they lifted John on the raft together. They pushed it to the water's edge.

"Hallelujah, Hallelujah.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah."

Rose kissed his lips for the last time. "I promise I will never forget you," she whispered in his ear. "I love you."

They pushed the raft into the water, and Rose stood there watching it float into the lake. She stood there until morning, long after the raft had disappeared from sight.

AN: Ugh, I'm sorry. I can't seem to write anything but angst D: I promise the next one will be fluffy!