Rose curled up on the captain's chair, staring at the grating as she thought about what she had just witnessed. The Apocalypse just stood watching her before she began her usual way around the console, flipping levers and switches. "Maybe a small break from all of the running and the danger and possibilities of getting killed," the Apocalypse told her. "There's some place I want you to see."

"Where?" Rose asked halfheartedly.

The Apocalypse smiled sadly at her. "The first place I went after I lost everything of my own." Rose's head lifted up, and she looked at the woman curiously. The Apocalypse pressed a final button, and the TARDIS settled. She held out a hand. "Come on."

Rose hesitantly took it, and the Apocalypse led her to the doors. Rose opened them, and her eyes widened, and she let out a small gasp at the planet it front of them. "It looks like . . . " she said breathlessly.

"A woman weeping," the Apocalypse finished, nodding. "And that's what the planet is called. This is Woman Wept. It was the first planet I visited after the Time War, after I watched something that ripped my whole life apart. And there are some things I want to tell you when we get down there. I think you'll like it."

"What you have to say, or the planet?" Rose asked.

The Apocalypse shrugged as she headed back for the console. "Probably down there. I don't know how people take what I tell them sometimes."

Rose frowned as she piloted the TARDIS more. She didn't exactly like the sound of that, but she opened the doors when the TARDIS landed again, and her eyes widened even more when she saw what the landscape was like. "Oh," she whispered. "My. God."

"The waves are frozen," the Apocalypse said as she walked over, her sound of her boots on the TARDIS grating a welcome sound. "Something happened to its sun, causing the entire ocean to freeze over."

"They're hundreds of feet high!" Rose said incredulously.

"I know." The Apocalypse smiled. "I think it's beautiful."

"Me, too," Rose agreed in a whisper.

The Apocalypse stood there for a second before she sighed. "I need to explain some things to you," she said, walking down towards the beach.

Rose closed the TARDIS doors behind her and ran after her. "What are they?" she asked.

The Apocalypse found a rock to sit on and sat down on it, legs pulled under her. "You're not the first companion I've had," she began.

Rose sort of figured that, given her being nine hundred years old and all, but still, hearing it was a pang in the heart. "How many?" she asked.

"I've lost count," the Apocalypse admitted, putting her head in her hand. "My granddaughter, Susan, was my first." She smiled. "Then I sort of kidnapped her school teachers. That's how I started traveling with humans. I decided to kidnap her bloody school teachers."

Rose couldn't help but grin. "I bet that settled well with them."

"Yeah," the Apocalypse agreed.

"How did Susan leave?" Rose asked.

"She fell in love with a human," the Apocalypse replied. "I left her there, so she could be happy."

"Is she?"

The Apocalypse ducked her head. "I don't know," she admitted. "I never saw her after then, but all Time Lords were recalled to Gallifrey for the War. She would have been included. I don't think she would have survived the Moment."

Rose swallowed. "What about the others?"

"Well, there were the two I met when I was exiled to Earth," the Apocalypse told her with a smile. "Jo Grant and Sarah Jane Smith. They never really met, of course. They'd heard of each other, but never met. Two different versions of me. I looked . . . well, sort of similar. Then again, that was back near the 70s." She blinked. "Or was it the 80s?"

But one thing of that caught Rose's attention. "Sorry, two different versions of you?"

The Apocalypse sighed. "I'm not human, Rose," she said bluntly. "When I die, my cells rewrite themselves. I become a completely different person, a completely different woman. Jo and Sarah Jane met me in two different regenerations."

Rose stared at her. "You've died?" she whispered.

"Several times," the Apocalypse confirmed, beginning to count off on her fingers. "First one sort of just let herself die. I didn't really look old then. Second was when I was exiled to Earth. Third by radiation. That hurt," she added as an afterthought. "Fourth, I actually fell and died because of it. That was a shame. Fifth, I died of poison when I gave the only antidote to my other companion. Sixth died during a problem with the TARDIS and we were swung around all over the place. I would have been fine in my Seventh, would've healed from the bullet just fine, but some surgeon decided that I needed more help. My second heart stopped, so . . . bam! My Eighth died during the War." She held out her arms. "And out came me."

Rose held a hand over her mouth, blanching each time she mentioned how she died. "This is your Ninth?" she breathed out.

The Apocalypse nodded. "Yeah. First time I've been Israeli, though."

"Oh, my God," Rose whispered.

The Apocalypse's face softened, and she held out an arm. Rose curled up into her, and the Apocalypse let her lean her head on her shoulder. "I'm fine, Rose," the Apocalypse told her. "I'm right here."

"But, still," Rose told her. "It doesn't help that I know you will, and you'll just . . . be entirely different."

"I'll try not to die anytime soon," the Apocalypse promised with a small laugh. "But I can't promise what I'll be like. If it happens while you're with me, just try and accept it, all right?"

"I'll try."

"And that's all I can ask," the Apocalypse told her, rubbing her arm. "You know, I nearly strangled one of my companions after I regenerated."

Rose's head shot up. "What?" she gasped in shock.

The Apocalypse laughed. "Oh, yes!" she exclaimed, and Rose began to grin. "Went from blonde to brunette, and the first thing I assumed was that she was an intruder onboard, and promptly tried to strangle her."

Rose giggled. "And how did that work out?"

"Somehow, Peri had the stomach to stay with me," the Apocalypse replied, rolling her eyes. "But she was startled as well." She smiled at her. "She's your older sister. Ish."

"Really?" Rose asked, her smile fading. "Do you think every companion is your sister?"

"Oh, no," the Apocalypse quickly assured her. "Peri was my sister in my Sixth. Ace was like my student in my Seventh. The only real blood relative I had was Susan. Sarah Jane might've come close, but . . . " She shrugged. "I don't know. But you - " She nudged Rose. "You're helping me get through. I don't know any companion in the past who could have done that."

Rose ducked her had, blushing a little. "Really?"

"Really," the Apocalypse promised, smiling fondly at her. "Chin up, Arkytior."

Rose blinked, looking up at her. "Arkytior?" she asked curiously.

"It means 'Rose' in Gallifreyan," the Apocalypse told her. "Ironically enough, that was Susan's Gallifreyan name as well."

Rose's eyes widened. "Arkytior," she tried out. "What's your name, then?"

The Apocalypse shook her head. "I can't say," she said apologetically. "The only time I can say my name is to any of my family, or if I get married again. I can't throw it out in the open. That's what our titles are for."

"Well, Caly, then," Rose decided. "I'm not saying 'Apocalypse' all the time."

"Fair enough," the Apocalypse said. "You know, that's the first time I've had a nickname."

"Now you've got one," Rose told her before smiling. "Thank you, for telling me all of that."

"I also wanted to explain why I stopped you from trying to save your dad," the Apocalypse added, turning to face her. "Rose, there are points in time where nothing can be changed. If they are, then that forms a paradox. Every small little detail in the future can change. If you had saved your father, a man would have been alive that should have died. And that is not a good thing."

Rose stared at her in surprise. "I didn't know," she managed to say.

"I know," the Apocalypse told her. "But now you do. So don't try and reverse fixed points in time anymore, all right?"

Rose laughed. "All right."

The Apocalypse beamed. "Now, what say we go find some other place to go that's a little more . . . " She looked around, then shrugged. "Not so empty?"

Rose grinned. "Fine by me, sis."

The two of them laughed and headed back to the TARDIS, the Apocalypse chattering a little bit more about each of her companions, but as Rose listened, she could tell that they were just in her past now.

Rose was her present. And hopefully, Rose thought, in her future as well.

***

I thought the theme for "The Impossible Planet" fit well here. :)

So, not only does Rose know about past companions now, but she also knows about regeneration! How's she going to react to that after "The Parting of the Ways?" And in "School Reunion?" I think you'll all be surprised by what I have planned when we meet Sarah Jane again. ;)

But are there any regenerations of the Apocalypse you'd like to know about? Actress wise or looks? I'll answer them if you want!

Next up comes Captain bloody Jack Harkness! :) He's gonna have two sisters on his hands, so we'll see just what he does.