The Stuff Of Legend
"Rose."
She shifted, eyes clenched shut as she got lost within her memories.
"I just wanna tell you, you were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic.
"Rose."
"And do you know what?"
"Rose."
"So was I."
"Rose."
She shot up, eyes open and blinking in confusion. She was no longer in the TARDIS, toes curling on the metal grille of the floor as she smiled at her beautiful blue-eyed Doctor.
"Rose."
It was him.
She trembled. She hadn't heard that voice ourside her dreams for so long.
"Rose."
His voice swept through her, calling her. He was calling for the Bad Wolf. What else could she do but answer?
And so they travelled - all of them. Over seas. Over mountains. Over valleys. Through grassy fields. And all the while, his voice called out to her. Urging her; guiding her to him.
And finally, they arrived.
She's here. And this is how she died.
Don't you think she looks tired?
She walks away from her family - her Mother; her Father; and Mickey. She needs to be alone for this.
She stands by herself and waits. This is the right place, she knows. And she'll wait for her Doctor to come.
It doesn't take long, and, out of the corner of her eye, something flickers. She turns to face him full-on, her hear leaping at the sight of him - brown pinstripes, ruffled hair, and beige Converse - he's come to take her home! But then she realises, as her heart plummets painfully, he's not really here. An image. A mere shell of the real him. There's so many questions she needs to ask.
"Where are you?" It's the simplest one - and she can't deal with anything more complicated than that at the moment.
"Inside the TARDIS." And she almost gasps at how real his voice sounds - her dreams could never fake something like this.
"There's one tiny gap left in the universe - just about to close." She can see the anguish in his eyes. "And it's taking a lot of energy to send this projection - I'm in orbit around a supernova. I'm burning up a sun just to say goodbye." His voice wavers, and she remembers when she once burned like the sun. So long ago now it seems. She remembers him sending her back; giving her a projection of himself for her to cherish forever. It's the same thing all over again, she realises - except this time, she really can't go back.
"You look like a ghost." More ghosts. She doesn't think she can handle more.
"Hold on," neither can he - and a moment later, his image becomes solid.
Her breath hitches in her throat and she walks forwards. He's right there in front of her - right there. She stretches out an arm to brush her fingers against his jacket. It's been so long since she's touched him. So long since she's been wrapped in his warm embrace.
"I'm still just an image - no touch." A footprint doesn't look like a boot. He looks just as regretful as she feels.
"Can't you come through properly?" She's spent so long in the TARDIS; spent so long believing that she can simply leave one place and end up anywhere else. She really can't begin to understand why he can't just come and get her.
"The whole thing would fracture." Yea - she figured it was something like that. "Two universes would collapse." He sounds worn out - as though his mind's already gone over countless ways of snatching Rose and taking her back. But this time, he can't achieve the impossible.
"So?" It's so simple and she's not sure if she's joking or not. And their hearts ache.
He smiles - his old Rose.
"Where are we? Where did the gap come out?" Stalling for time - anything to distract the pair from what's going on. Just keep talking.
Rose plays along. "We're in Norway."
"Norway, right." He sounds suprised, but before he can continue, she goes on.
"Yea - 'bout fifty miles out of Bergen. A place called Dårlig Ulv Stranden."
"Dalek?" He doesn't even know what to think.
"Dårlig. S'Norwegian for 'bad.'" She corrects. "This translates as 'Bad Wolf Bay'." She can't help but laugh. It was all so long ago, yet still the Bad Wolf followed her. She pauses, not wanting the answer to her next question - but she has to know. "How long have you got?" She holds her breath.
"About two minutes." And he holds back his bitterness at the irony - a Timelord at the mercy of time. And she remembers how she promised him forever - when they stood together on a different beach.
"I can't think of what to say." Because really - there's too much to say.
"So I still see you've got Mr Mickey then?" And she has to wonder if there's a hint of jealousy in his eyes - that, in the end, the Doctor lost and Mickey won.
"There's five of us now. Mum, Dad, Mickey... and the baby."
"You're not." She always thought she could tell what he was thinking - they'd been together for so long. But now she has no idea what's behind his gaze. Suprise? Sadness? Shock? Envy? Maybe all of them. In another world - another universe - she would've teased him and joked around, telling him that 'yes - I am pregnant with Mickey's child.'
But not now.
Not with less than two minutes.
"No. Mum's. 'Bout three months gone - more Tylers on the way." And yet... TheDoctor can't help but wonder if any other Tyler could measure up to Rose.
"And what about you, are you?" So many ways to finish that question. 'Alright?'; 'Seeing anyone?'; 'Settling down?'; 'With Mickey?'
"I'm back at the shop."
That's not what he meant, but the shock of this revelation makes him forget that. She was working in a shop before he met her. He'd taught her so much since then. Taught her how to be brave; to be better than she thought she could be. He'd taught her how to fly.
"Oh, good for you." What else can he say?
"Shutup." Had he really believed that? He'd done more than just teach her - he'd shown her how to live. She tells him that there's another Torchwood - a parallel Torchwood. "I think I know a thing or two about aliens."
And his face cracks into a huge grin - the one he'd always saved for her. "Rose Tyler." he beams proudly. "Defender Of The Earth."
But, she thinks to herself. Hadn't she been so much more? They'd been Defenders Of The Universe hadn't they?
He continues; he has to tell her, even if he doesn't want to. "You're dead. Officially, back home. So many people died that day and you've gone missing - you're on the list of the dead. Yet here you are." She begins to cry - she wishes she wasn't here at all; wishes she was dead. "Living a life, day after day. The one adventure I can never have." Why can't he see that she can't have that adventure either? He'd shown her so much - how could he expect her to be able to live a normal life again?
"Am I ever going to see you again?"
"You can't." His face is a mask; covering the anguish he feels, while hers crumples in despair.
"What are you gonna do?"
"Oh I've got a TARDIS. Same old life - last of the Timelords." He was the last - but he wasn't alone. Not with her around. But now she's gone...
"On your own?" She's beyond caring about her own life anymore - just worry for him now.
He nods, and her tears fall thick and fast and all for him. So. It all comes down to this in the end.
"I lo:-" she takes a breath and tries to calm herself. She's known for so long, and never told him. "I love you."
And now that's out, she lets herself go. It doesn't matter what he says now - so long as he know. He doesn't need to answer - she doesn't need to hear the words.
"Quite right too." And that's so very, very him. "And I suppose, if it's my last chance to say it."
She chokes - she already knows. He doesn't have to tell her.
"Rose Tyler." And then he's gone. And she realises that she did need to hear the words.
Rose Tyler stood alone on a cold, windswept beack. In those two minutes alone, she'd aged decades. She felt a part of herself die as he vanished, and she wept and wept for everything they'd lost.
Time goes on. People age. People move on. But not Rose Tyler. Not the Doctor. They remembered a time when all they ever needed was each other. When a simple look or touch brought a mile. When anguish and sadness and bitterness and anger were all forgotten in a magical blue box which jumped across the universe and danced in-step with time itself.
Time moved on, and they got old.
Rose Tyler's hair turned grey, and she lived through the deaths of her Mother and Father. Of Mickey, and even her brother. Everyone who'd ever understood.
Lying in her hospital bed, under harsh lights and weak from medicine, she contemplated. She never did have that fantastic life after that day on the beach - she realised that it was the Doctor who had made it fantastic. It was ironic, wasn't it? She'd swept through space and ran alongside Danger. And she was dying of something as petty as cancer.
And when her head tipped forwards and the heart monitor stopped, a single tear ran down her wrinkled face.
She wished she could've seen him. One last time.
The Doctor, too, had lived on. He'd had more travellers on board - but none of them got anywhere near to his hearts. He'd had adventures - but not the one he'd wanted with Rose. He'd regenerated. Twice in fact - he didn't hold much value on any of his lives anymore. And lying on the cold floor, feeling his life-blood trickle away, he knew there'd be no more.
And so the Doctor. Last of the Timelords. The Oncoming Storm. A Defender Of The Universe. Died with her name on his lips; gasping it out with that special smile of his.
And years later, the children play games on the beach. There's always a strange atmosphere at that beach. And as they sit in the sand and dance and sing and play and talk. They wonder why it was called Dårlig Ulf Stranden - Bad Wolf Bay. So many myths grew out of it. So many stories of a girl who shone like the sun, and a man as old as time. And they swear on their lives that if you go down to the beach - to that bay - and it's quiet, and there's noone else there. Sometimes you can hear a howl. A breathtaking howl that echoes across the waves as they break upon the sand. The Bad Wolf.
Even in death, they're still the stuff of legend.