Haven't written anything for Doctor Who in a while... so I thought I'd post! This is kind of a sequel to my other story 'Dream A Little Dream'. You can read this without potentially getting super confused though! Enjoy :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who!
SUMMARY: In which the Doctor brings Rose to a place she never thought she'd see again. 'Sequel' to Dream A Little Dream. One-Shot.
Déjà vu
"Close your eyes."
Rose Tyler bit her lip, doing as she was bid while she suppressed a smile. Nervously, the Doctor placed his hands on her waist, body nearly flush against her back as he leaned towards her ear. The blonde's right fingers went to entangle with his. "Where're we going?" she asked.
She didn't see him quirk a brow. "If I wanted you to know, I wouldn't have asked you not to look." He squeezed her fingers. "Trust me."
Opening the door to the TARDIS, the Time Lord lead his companion into the unknown.
Two months after their encounter with the Qa, Empyreanan was little more than a distant memory. That being said, the closeness that had developed between the human and her companion remained. It was odd at first, waking up in the same bed, kissing each other good morning and good night and for no good reason… But it was a pleasant sort of odd. It was a feeling he never thought he'd experience again.
Stepping out into the soft evening light, the Doctor looked around in absolute wonderment. He had wanted to do something nice for Rose; it seemed that their lives had lately consisted of saving the world and promptly tumbling into bed, adrenaline running high and touches desperate and reassuring of the other party's survival. And this was when they weren't too exhausted. Many times, Rose had simply tugged her alien to her room, cuddling against him as she fell asleep.
The Doctor wanted to do something different. Something beautiful. They had been seeing so much death and destruction that he felt they both deserved an evening of awe-inspiring splendor.
Upon stepping out of the TARDIS, Rose was immediately accosted by the tranquility of the place. She could feel blades of grass tickle at her sandal-encased toes, and the air smelled of spices and earth and something gorgeously floral. It was warm, too… Though 'warm' wasn't exactly the proper word for it. It felt a glow, maybe. Like instead of a sun, there was a golden, glowing orb in the sky, kissing her skin.
That was when she heard it. Originally being struck by the quiet, the young woman could now pick out the rustling of grass and leaves in the wind, the faint songs of birds, and myriad of other soft noises. More incredibly, however, was the fact that, as she continued to listen, completely focused, the sounds became a song. It was so quiet she almost had to strain to hear it, but it was there: a soft melody with a thousand different parts, ebbing and flowing in a way that tugged on something raw deep inside her and made tears spring to the young woman's eyes. It was laughter and joy, destruction and horror, all-encompassing elation and Earth-shattering pain comprised in a tune that seemed to complex she did not know which movement differed from the next.
"What is that?" the blonde asked.
But as soon as she spoke, the song was gone. Rose felt an overwhelming sense of loss, and a solitary tear trickled past her closed eyes and onto her cheek. The Doctor saw, but made no move to wipe the water away.
"The song of the Universe," he replied quietly. "This planet is the only place you can hear it."
"The Song of the Universe?"
"Yes. The Song of Time. Of Life. It's beautiful and heartbreaking and always in constant flux, just as life is ever-changing… It's a flawlessly cohesive meld of what makes life, well… life," he finished lamely. "You can open your eyes now."
She did, turning to the Doctor before looking at anything else. He wiped the tear away. "I didn't mean to make you cry."
"No, it's… good," she assured him, pressing a small kiss to his mouth. "Thank you."
"You haven't even seen the best part." Gently, the Time Lord turned her around, dropping his lips to her shoulder as Rose had a sharp intake of breath.
He had given her Paradise.
The sky was a cross between mauve and periwinkle, and Rose could see tiny, snow-capped mountains in the distance. They had landed on top of a large hill, and in the small valley below and to her left, flowers of every known colour swayed in the breeze. She was standing in tall, turquoise grass that tickled her shins, and to her right, the young woman could clearly see the beginnings of an endless, dense forest. She gasped when a brightly coloured animal shot out from one of the trees and up into the sky, feathered wings extending as it dove, heading straight for the pair before rearing up again, whistling. The blonde was amazed to find that the animal looked just like a stingray, but with wings.
Suddenly, a furry, purple entity bounded from the grass, landing right beside Rose's feet. She jumped slightly before leaning down, looking at the furry, delightful creature with a smile. "Hello," she grinned. "Aren't you adorable?"
It looked up at her with big, turquoise eyes, rubbing its small body against her outstretched hand. Sniffing her palm, the little being crawled over her fingers with a little grunt before looking up at her. It seemed to be smiling back.
Rose Tyler stopped dead.
"Doctor, is that…?"
He nodded, hands in his pockets as he squatted down and looked at her, nervous. "I… wanted to show you what Empyreanan was like before it was discovered," the Time Lord explained, frowning slightly. "I know, travelling with me, it can get hard- But not everything is ugly. There is so much beauty in the Universe, Rose. I wanted to show you that. To give you that. Because this place, it started as something so… incredible."
The blonde sat down on the grass, stroking the Qa in her hand as it nuzzled against her skin lovingly, comfortingly. It was so warm, and so good, and so pure. The Doctor was right; this entire world was incredible… and it would be destroyed. All this beauty would be tarnished by the madness of one human. Marun Yuld would play God, and he would create devastation.
The thought almost killed Rose.
Her heart began to constrict in her chest, and the Qa in the human's hand immediately looked up, eyes big and wide. It scurried up her arm to her shoulder, rubbing itself on her neck and purring lowly, as if it was in mourning. Rose's vision blurred. "How long until Marun comes?"
"Another thousand and sixty-three years," the Doctor replied quietly, reaching for her waist. He pulled her close. "I'm sorry, Rose. I didn't mean to make you cry."
"It's just not fair, is all," she replied. "But I am thankful that you brought me here; that I got to see it. It's so… pure."
"Raw," the Doctor agreed. "Every species in the Universe can come here and feel the exact same sensation of belonging and wonder and pain. Nobody ever knew why." He sighed, smiling softly. "When I was just a boy, I remember my people doing research on it. Trying to crack the Mystery of the Song. They ever found an answer."
"And the Song died when Marun killed everything."
"It disappeared, yes." The Doctor looked at his companion, smiling at the Qa on her shoulder as he reached out to touch it, tickling the purple ball of fur. "I suppose that's one mystery we will never have an answer to."
"No, but I think that's good," Rose replied. "I think that some things are just meant to be listened to and wondered at."
The Time Lord quirked a smile, moving to steal a kiss from her lips as he moved them around, placing his companion between his legs as he wrapped his arms around her waist. The Qa purred loudly. Rose blushed crimson; "Telling little buggers, aren't they?"
"That would be an apt description," he responded mirthfully.
The young woman turned serious suddenly, rotating to look her alien in the eye. "Thank you for bringing me here," she repeated.
"Rose, it was my absolute pleasure."
They watched a purple sunset, the skies turning pink and mauve before dissolving into blues and blacks. A huge, glowing cerulean orb hung in the sky as darkness fell, and Rose Tyler cuddled into her Time Lord, breathless and awed by the beauty of it all.
It pained her to think that such majesty would eventually come to an end.
But it cheered her to know that such splendor existed in the first place.