Yes, here
is the mandatory broken-hearted let's-fix-Doomsday ficlet. Sorry
guys. Everyone has their preferred therapy.
However,
this will not be the last Musing despite the loss of our dear Rose. I
plan on going back through both series and seeing if I can't write
a Musing for every episode. How's that sound? Assuming you don't
all get sick of me first.Anyway, here it is. Hope you enjoy it, or don't hate it, or
something.
At first Rose wavered, the habit of so many months proving hard to break. But she didn't have much time, she could hear the clock ticking, faster and faster; and the dam broke.
And he stood there, smiling softly at her while his eyes glowed with mingled joy and pain, and told her she was right.
Which only made her sob the harder.
His eyes became large and dark and full, and resolute. Rose knew he could hear the clock ticking on, too.
"And I suppose…if it's my last chance to say it…"
The clock ticked on, faster and faster. Time was running out, when once they had all the time in the universe. But different universes had different rules. That was the horrible thing about this one—time never wavered, never switched courses, never jumped around for joy and gleefully skipped from A to G and then maybe back to C. It marched steadily on like a shiny blank-faced Cyberman.
So Rose had to watch half in a dream as the last words the Doctor said to her became her name, and unexpectedly, the image of him faded from the air. She had to watch the gasp of pain in his eyes as time finally ran out for them both, and she had to stand there on the beach, finally alone.
Just as unexpectedly, the voice she had heard for so many long miles returned, the otherworldly call in her head, calling, calling her far away and calling her home. This final time, it was strengthened as it travelled through the last tiny gap in the Void before it closed. It said five words; only five, but the voice of Rose's Doctor was unmistakable.
"Rose Tyler, I love you."
And then he was gone, and the sheer weight of it hit her at last. She had heard the words she had longed to hear for all those months, and now they were passed and gone. All she had left was a void.
But, said the one tiny piece of the old Rose Tyler left inside her, they were said.
And Rose broke down at last. Whether in grief or joy or both, she didn't know.