The transport ship crashed into the clock tower. All aboard perished, save the Queen of the Eight-Legs and the King of the Two-Legs, he with whom she jointly ruled the planet Racnoss. The Great One shielded the wounded king with her body. She dripped venom and imperial disdain upon the representatives sent into her presence amid the wreckage:

Hail to the Two-Legs of this benighted rock! We demand blood reparation! We will drink from the dead to honor our dead! We will drink from the living to sustain us and our king! Kneel and pay thy debt!

With those words, the Queen of the Eight-Legs summoned the formidable mind power bestowed upon the spiders by the blue crystals of Racnoss. She mentally forced the alien Two-Leg emissaries to their knees; she mentally forced their life’s blood from within them until they were without. Only one Two-Leg withstood her royal wrath, Dame Rose.

Dame Rose, mindful of the Great One’s station, addressed her:

Hail to the Spider Queen. Your telekinesis won’t work on me. But, I’ll make a bargain with you. In return for your word that no other Two-Legs will be harmed, we of the Torchwood Institute will tend your wounded king and assist in repairs to your ship. Also, I, Rose Tyler, will freely offer you a quantity of my blood, drawn by me, in good faith.

No fool, the Great One knew that these Two-Legs coveted Racnossian technology; giving them access weakened her. Lacking knowledge of Dame Rose’s power to withstand her weakened her more so, however. Further, if she and the king did not return home alive, there would be open war between Eight-Legs and Two-Legs, which their joint rule forestalled. Therefore, she accepted Dame Rose’s terms. In so doing, she could continue to maintain the government. She also could learn what ability Dame Rose employed against her through the memories in her freely offered blood.

The aliens removed her perished retinue from the ship. Leaving the dead Two-Legs to their own kind, the Great One sustained her strength by partaking of the fallen Eight-Legs over the following time. She also partook of Dame Rose’s blood, learning the terrible secret. The blood memories showed that Dame Rose had partaken of the Time Vortex. The raw energy was gone from her, but a song remained. This relentless, throbbing, maddening song, that Dame Rose had heard ever since and would hear evermore, shielded her from all mind power.

As the blood memories faded, the Great One overheard Dame Rose and Harron, King of the Two-Legs, discuss the song and more…

Quoth Dame Rose:

I told the Doctor about the singing in my head, as soon as I came to. But, I didn’t tell him that it kept on. I didn’t want him to worry over it. It’s beautiful, and it makes me feel beautiful. The piano beat, electric guitar, strings, and “Bad Wolf” solo voice are all I could take with me.

Quoth King Harron:

‘Tis wondrous music. I am thankful to be the first Two-Leg in five generations to be granted the mind power bestowed by the blue crystals, so I could hear it in your blood memories. Your transfusion has saved my life and lifted my soul. I love thee and the fate of thee. My name, Harron Sax, means “Bad Wolf.”

After a contemplative silence, quoth Dame Rose:

So, you think that love is the same thing as fate, then? You think that we should get together, because your name is a cosmic Post-It I left myself?

Quoth King Harron, smiling:

Yes, my lady, for you did make that fate and did leave that message with me. You must love me and what I offer you in the future that the Time Vortex allowed you to glimpse; you chose that future, chose a life without the Time Lord, though you do not now recall that choice.

Wiping away tears, knowing the truth, quoth Dame Rose:

So, I go from “Bad Wolf” graffiti on the TARDIS to no TARDIS and “Bad Wolf” graffiti on my future husband, instead. I hurt him. I hurt him so much, promising him I’d stay. Oh, God! I hurt Mickey, too. I don’t want to hurt anyone else.

Quoth King Harron, taking her hand:

Love and pain are signs of living effect, that we are and will be hereafter. That differs Two-Legs from Eight-Legs, for Eight-Legs eat their mates. Biological compulsion, alone, drives them. I will risk the pain with thee to share the love with thee. I have an eternity of love to give, an eternity of love and apple grass.

Quoth Dame Rose:

So, does the Doctor. I only had to stay. I only had to love him back. We were what we needed.

Quoth King Harron, shaking his head:

No, my lady. That is the irony for the Long Lived. Only those who soon die truly have eternity. Those who live forever are left to see the end of apple grass and all else. When the shock of separation fades, the Time Lord will ease the pain in his paradox through contemplation of the love in yours; you will ease the pain in your paradox through contemplation of the love in his.

Over the following time, the Two-Legs of the Torchwood Institute endeavored to repair the transport ship. Despite their increasing knowledge of Racnossian science, however, they could not unwreck the wreckage. King Harron, fully recovered, rebuilt the communication system through his skill. Allaying fears for royal safety, he informed all of Racnoss of the formal understanding reached with Dame Rose. After more following time, the rescue ship arrived.

The newly landed Eight-Legs and Two-Legs sought King Harron and Dame Rose. They were traveling for leisure upon the Earth after taking new names, as was the mating custom among her people. The Great One was sorely displeased with Mr. and Mrs. Harold Saxon for causing further delay in their departure. The Great One, estranged, eased toward them when witnessing the coronation of the Queen of the Two-Legs, for she knew then that all would be as it should for government.

Following time, I, called Charlotte by Dame Rose, became Royal Eight-Leg Archivist. I wrote the above account in honor of the occasion. It is recorded for all who dwell on this world called Racnoss, Blue, Metebelis III, or Planet of the Spiders. Hail to the Great One! Hail to the King and Queen of the Two-Legs!

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