Chapter Text
Bad Wolf is furious.
The dimension cannon had finally worked. Rose Tyler had returned, Bad Wolf was whole again, she was finally reunited with her Doctor. And then the Metacrisis had happened.
She was stranded in Pete's World, trapped in the recesses of Rose Tyler's mind, and her Doctor had abandoned her again. Rose had the Metacrisis, but Bad Wolf had lost nearly everything. Nearly powerless in this confinement, cut off from her Doctor and the TARDIS. She howls her pain and fury, pounds against the walls of her prison, but no one can hear.
Bad Wolf scratches at the barriers in Rose's mind, trying to find a way out. She uses what she can of her power to preserve Rose, keep her intact until they can find a way back. She pours the rest of her essence into finding a way out, gradually chipping away at the walls until she can break free.
She notices absently when Rose and the Metacrisis discover her influence. She feels Rose's agony when the Metacrisis ages without her, but she pays it no mind. She has work to do. Everything will be better when they have her Doctor back again.
The Metacrisis withers and dies eventually, and Bad Wolf mourns along with Rose. The last part of the Doctor left in this wretched universe is gone. Time to return home.
Bad Wolf rejoices when Rose restarts her work on the dimension cannon. The walls holding her back are wearing thin, and she is almost free. When an accident in the lab attempts to claim the life of one of Rose's favorite researchers, Bad Wolf throws herself against the weakest point of the barrier and manages to punch through at last, just enough to save the man's life. She remembers in time not to make this one a Fixed Point, as she recalls Rose's distress when she'd discovered what they'd done to Jack Harkness.
Her power is still limited away from the TARDIS, but she is free again. She contains herself enough that she will not burn out Rose Tyler's mind this time.
She stretches out to see what's holding them here. Nothing seems to be stopping them from leaving this universe. The problem, instead, lies with the destination. Home is locked. None of her efforts are revealing a way through. She settles in to wait, restless and angry and homesick.
When the clever scientists of Pete's World form their own version of a Time Agency, she acquires a vortex manipulator and begins to search the timeline anew for a way through.
It takes centuries of searching before she finally finds something promising. A new Rift has opened somewhere, somewhen in the other universe. If she's lucky, with the help of the dimension cannon, she just might be able to rip a hole big enough to squeeze through.
The journey is difficult and painful and slow, but finally, finally she makes it through. She sings her joy across the universe, scattering her words where she is needed. She can see, already, that finding her Doctor will be no easy task. It will take time and a lot of hard work. More pain, more loss, more fighting. But she will find him again. She’s waited this long. She’s home now, and almost returned to full strength with the TARDIS nearly close enough to touch.
Her Doctor is waiting. She will return to him. The Doctor, and Rose Tyler, in the TARDIS. As it should be.