Go Home (3/12)

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Oops- bit late with this one. There’s supposed to be a new chapter every three days. :)

Title: Go Home
Author: sarah531
Rating: PG13
Characters: Mickey, Ten, Rose, Jackie, Adam
Summary: In the year 2006, Mickey Smith asks Rose and the Doctor if he can come with them and they say yes. In the year 2012, Adam Mitchell asks Rose and the Doctor not to leave him on Earth with a metal chip in his head and they say no. In the year 2038, someone steps out of a time machine into the burned wreckage of the Powell Estate…
A/N: If you fancy reading Turn of the Earth, it might give you a bit of background information about a few things that crop up in this. (Trisha, Sam and Shireen, mostly) But it’ll make sense without it, I think. :)

Prologue
chapter one- a long way down the road
chapter two- take me to your war

Go Home
chapter three- so far away from home

“You sure about this?”

The Doctor had his hand on the TARDIS door.

“Yeah,” Mickey said, a little warily. “Let me through.”

Rose had quickly gone off to apply more makeup, change her wardrobe, and all the other stuff she presumably did when they landed somewhere new- so Mickey was on his own.

“Aren’t you coming?” he asked the Doctor.

“No, I’ll wait around for Rose. Off you go, then,” He took his hand slowly off the door. “Go and see the future.”

He walked away then, calling for Rose to hurry up, and Mickey looked up at the door. He decided he couldn’t afford to give this a second thought, and he opened the door.

He walked out into a wasteland.

He didn’t actually notice at first. He thought, okay, the ground feels a bit weird, like I’m walking on rubbish, and that burnt-out building, that never used to be there, what’s it doing here, where’s my flat, where are all the people, why is everything so black and burnt OH MY GOD…

The Powell Estate was no more. Barely any of it was still standing, and what was had been long deserted. He fought back the panic in his mind. He should go back and warn Rose.

He walked slowly back to the TARDIS. It wasn’t actually rubbish he was walking on, it was just…stuff. Bits of wood and nails and brick.

He opened the door.

The Doctor was leaning on the console, doing something with the wires. “That was quick,” he said.

“It’s gone.”

“What?” He dropped the wires; they made a fizzing sound when they hit the surface of the console.

“It’s gone. It’s burnt down. There’s no-one there. Don’t let Rose see.”

“Oh, you won’t be able to stop her,” he said in a half-whisper.

“Yeah, but you will.”

He walked back to the door.

“Where are you going?”

“To…look around. To see how it happened!”

“Wait for Rose.” His voice was urgent.

Mickey had waited for Rose for a very long time already. “No. Just…tell her what I said. I want to know who did this.”

He flung open the door, started walking and kept walking. He headed towards the one building still standing, the one that was blackened and burnt. He expected to hear Rose shouting his name any moment, but he didn’t.

It was freezing cold. He wondered if it would snow.

At the foot of the building there was a tent. It was a makeshift one, cobbled together out of bits of wood and wreckage and what looked like an old sofa. Mickey paused. Was anyone in there?

He took another look around. He had suddenly thought wait what if this happened to the entire world holy shit– but beyond the estate there were buildings still standing. He could even make out people, a long way off. So it was just the estate. But why?

It couldn’t be coincidence. He felt sick.

All of a sudden, someone came out of the tent. It was a man- a man in perhaps his forties, with a beard and dirty clothes. He smelled, and that made Mickey feel worse. He hoped he wasn’t going to throw up.

The man noticed him and appeared a bit surprised.

“Oi. Who’re you? This is my bit.”

“Sorry,” Mickey muttered.

But he didn’t turn to go- and all of a sudden Mickey thought he recognized him. He didn’t know his name, but he knew the face- whoever this bloke was, he used to live on the estate. And that meant maybe this guy knew him too- and he looked like he was considering this right now.

“Don’t I know you?” the man asked.

“Um.”

“You a Smith kid?”

“Um.”

“Oh, right. Lotsa Smith kids. You Mickey Smith’s kid? You look like him.”

Mickey relaxed a little. “Yeah.”

“What’s your name?”

Mickey cursed to himself in his head, loudly and fiercely. “Ur, Ricky. Ricky Smith.”

“How’s your dad?”

This was one of the most freaky things that had ever happened to him, and it was up against some stiff competition.

“He’s dead.” It was the first thing he could think of to say.

“Aww, that’s too bad. I remember him. He dated my sister for a bit.”

Dated his sister? God, so he knew this guy quite well, then? Was it one of Trisha’s brothers? Her younger brother Sam? Or maybe he was someone else’s brother- there had been girls before Rose, hadn’t there? They were just faces now, but- there had been a pretty redhead called Jessie- but she only had sisters, no brothers- and Kaylee, who’d been in Rose’s class- he couldn’t remember anything…

He took the plunge. “Are you Sam Delaney?”

“Yeah,” the bloke said, looking quite surprised. “Blimey. How’d you know?”

“I…um…my dad mentioned you. Well, not you. He mentioned Trisha, and…said she had brothers.”

“Ah, but did he tell you the other thing?”

Mickey’s head was spinning. “What other thing?” Had Trisha died in the fire that’d taken out the estate, then? Had…god, had Jackie? Was he about to be told something he didn’t want to hear? Something that he’d have to tell Rose?

“They blamed me for this,” Sam grunted. “For the whole estate burning up. Questioned me. Said I had a history of arson and vandalism…which I did, but hell. It was arson, but it wasn’t me. They tried everything to get me locked up, but no proof, so I’m just stuck here. Not allowed to live with Trisha, y’see, or Rob or any of my mates.”

Why? Whywhywhywhywhy what the hell is going on?

“So, it wasn’t you who did this?”

“Course not. Don’t read the papers much, do you? They don’t know who really did it, they jut like to say it was me if anyone asks.”

“Bloody hell.”

“You can say that again.”

The wind blew and shifted a Coke can in his direction. Sam gave it a thoughtful kick.

“I hate this bloody country,” he said. “Hate this bloody world.”

“Oh.”

There was silence, apart from things flapping about in the wind.

“So…what did happen?”

“I was dragged out of bed one night and it was all smoky and hot and I got outside and the whole estate was burning down. You could hear screaming.” He shuddered a little.

“Right. Well…thanks.”

Dizzy with shock, he was about to walk away when he thought of something.

“Um, Sam. I…my dad knew this woman called Jackie Tyler.”

“Oh, yeah. Everyone knew Jackie Tyler.”

“Well…he used to talk about her…but he never mentioned if she was still alive or not.”

“Oh. Well, she moved out of the estate before the fire happened. Far as I know she’s still alive.”

Mickey let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “‘Kay. Thanks, Sam.” He considered asking after some others…Shireen, for example…but he didn’t know how suspicious it would look.

Oh, to hell with all that.

“And…sorry for all the questions, but…this girl called Shireen lived on the estate too, is she still alive?”

“Yeah, probably. She moved out before the fire, as well. My sister still knows her.”

“Oh. Brilliant. Thanks, Sam.”

“No problem, Ricky.” But Sam was giving him an odd look, and for a minute Mickey was scared he’d somehow guessed the truth. “You know…” he said thoughtfully. “Did your dad send you here?”

“Yeah. Yeah he did.”

“Cause I never saw Mickey after…you know, after Sycorax Day, and my sister always kept quiet about him.”

Sycorax Day. Good Lord.

“He just…moved on. Scared about aliens, you see.”

“Yeah. You’re looking for answers, aren’t you? There aren’t many. My best friend and his whole family died in that fire.”

Mickey shivered.

Sam dropped his voice. “I’m not sure about telling you this, to be honest- I never got any answers out of him- but I think, Ricky, you ought to go and talk to the Cyberman.”