Émouvoir
The Doctor was traveling alone. He had no one to talk to. The clockwork of the universe was left unexplained. It was just him, empty time and the TARDIS.
He let the TARDIS drift in and out of different dimensions, wandering through the void and never stopping. When the TARDIS tried to pull him out of his misery and into some great adventure, the Doctor pulled back. He didn't want adventure. Not without his companion. He never slept. Because sleep brought the dreams. Dark dreams and darker places. The anger, pain. He felt them rise in him and disappear. And sometimes he would wake up knowing he had been crying while he slept.
One night, or was it night? the TARDIS jerked. He realized that he had been in a dreamless sleep and the TARDIS had taken control. She froze, letting him know that she wasn't going anywhere until he took a look outside.
"Where am I?" he asked the empty air. He kicked a loose bracket and smacked the viewscreen. It was a planet he had never been to before. The planet name flashed across the screen. Émouvoir. A planet that even the Doctor had never seen. They did, of course, exist, but there weren't many of them. He looked up. Lost in thought he took a few steps to the door. Sadness passed through him. Then anger. His emotions were pulling him towards the door and the lonely planet outside.
He touched the door and for a moment he thought of pulling back. Sending the TARDIS away might be an excellent idea at this point, maybe even the best he'd ever had. Who could tell what was on the other side of that door? Maybe he could find a small rock to sit on, a place where he could just be alone. A beach of starsand and a million lonely planets to keep him occupied. Or maybe the darkness of a Sontaran war. A dead planet lost to time and Time Lords.
He heard singing. Someone was singing in a high soprano. A sad voice, sadder than anything he had ever heard before, and it was coming from outside the TARDIS. He wanted to know that voice, know what could make such a sad sound. So he stepped outside.
And as soon as he did, small particles of multi-colored light, thousands of them, were pulled quickly from his body. They transformed into firework trails and raced into the night sky. He thought he could hear laughter and the sound of someone crying. And then they were gone.
All at once the Doctor slumped over as though something had pulled him forward. His eyes felt heavy and he closed them. Then he tumbled softly to his knees and felt soft sand. The lights in the TARDIS went out. Something was wrong, but he didn't care. There was nothing to care about. No emotion. Just thought. And time. Endless time.
Something brushed against him. "Hello there," he said and looked down at his knee. A small spark of pink light was hovering there.
"Hello," the light said. It's voice was small, soft like bells ringing. It was a child's voice.
"What are you?" The Doctor got close and cocked his head to one side, looking at the strange being in front of him. The light sparkled and reflected back in his glasses.
"I'm an Elysian. What are you?"
He spoke slowly, and it was hard to even muster the energy to talk. "I'm the Doctor. I'm a Time Lord." But he was curious. A living emotion. How had he never heard of such a beautiful thing?
"I'm a Sadness." The Doctor seemed confused. "Give me your hand. I can show you." The Doctor put out his hand. He wasn't sure how exactly to give his hand to this Sadness, so he held it out and ran it through the wavering light.
The purest wave of emotion passed through him. It was physical sensation, deep, constricting his chest, and he closed his eyes tightly and tried to fight it. He felt the sadness, the weight, of a thousand dying stars. Children alone, crying in the night. Deep loss. The loss of a great friend. The tears came. He couldn't stop them.
The pink light pulled away quickly. "I'm sorry," it said.
The Doctor sat there for a moment. He was still, oh so quiet and still. And then he asked, "What did you just do? What was that?"
"That's what I am. I'm a Sadness. I had so awfully hoped to be a Happiness, or at least Confusion or a Terror. But here I am. Sadness."
"So you're a living emotion? You're some kind of living sadness?"
"Yes." The light was dancing, zig-zagging this way, that way. It cast small shadows on the ground.
"Do you have a name?" He was still staring.
"I...I don't, I don't, we aren't supposed to have names."
"I think you should have one," he said tenderly. "You're pink so why don't we call you Rose?" The Doctor watched as the pink light seemed to get even pinker. Maybe that was a Sadness' way of blushing.
"I like that. I like that name a lot. Thank you Doctor."
"That's good. I think it suits you." He lay back against the TARDIS and closed his eyes. All he wanted to do was drift off. The pink light coiled down beside him and waited until he was awake again. Soon the doctor was asleep and dreaming.
Under a brilliant blue heaven, he swirls her around in circles watching the curl of her hair as it whispers through the air.
A thousand time-lapse flowers cascade into being and then wither. A thousand time-lapse clouds race across the sky.
A graveyard stretches across a planet, miles of silent stones that mark the passage of time. Worn by ages, some can not be read.
People move across city streets, some quickly and some slowly. An old man lumbers across the street. A little girl runs with her mother. Time speeds up and is reversed. The girl returns to the corner. The man is pulled backwards. Only to repeat the journey.
Stars are born and galaxies are ripped apart. The trees mark their time in wooden circles. The sun circles through the sky giving the gift of time to humankind. Again and again.
And the time lord is still.
She is always with him as he swings her through the dance. This is Eden. Laughing and smiling under the shade of ageless trees.
And time stops.
And the time lord
awakens to the sound of falling screaming stars.