DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN DOCTOR WHO NOR AM I TIED TO ANY AFFILIATES. ALL RIGHTS GO TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS AT THE BBC.
Author's Note: I've been away from writing for a long time, and haven't written a fan fiction in years. This is just an idea that I woke up with and has buzzed around in my head begging to be written and shared. I hope my fellow Whovians enjoy this story.
Summary: An alternate universe in which our beloved Doctor has just lost his dearest Rose. However, lost souls are drawn together, and just maybe he'll find the answers, the comfort, and reassurance in another broken soul. Somewhere behind the rain.
Two Minutes
She was gone. Those two minutes he had left to speak to her, to say the words that had built within his hearts for what seemed an eternity, and she was gone. Two minutes. It wasn't enough to say everything he felt. To tell her… He had obliterated a star to supernova just to harness the power to see her one last time. Whispering in her dreams to draw her to the place where he could gaze upon her face for the last time.
He knew she'd come. He waited there on the beach like a phantom glistening in the sunlight. Her golden hair blowing in her face, the tears swimming in her eyes, before she even spoke to him. She was beautiful. She was his. And now…she was lost.
"Rose Tyler"
It was the last words he said to her, even though there was more to say, the connection broke and left the empty promise hanging in the air with nowhere to go save to swallow them back down as her image disappeared. He stood there within the TARDIS, his mind blanked in shock, a tingling in his fingers as they went numb, slowly going up his arms and clenching his hearts in a vice.
Somehow he could still hear her. Was it the TARDIS allowing the whispers of the separate dimension to filter through with the last power from the supernova? However it was, he could hear her. He could hear her screams and cries of anguish and of heartbreak. He stood there, letting the phantom cries fill his mind, cursing the fact that he could do nothing. Nothing…
Was that all he was good for? Doing nothing? Running? Letting others suffer. No. He never meant for any of that. Not for her. Especially not for her.
"How long are you planning on staying with me?" he had asked her.
"Forever" she said in the most matter of fact tone. She gave him that side-ways glance with her tongue between her teeth as she flashed a radiant smile.
He had believed her. Despite every cell in his body screaming at him that this couldn't possibly last, he let himself believe. In that moment of trust and surrender, he felt his hearts soar to incredible heights. Truly…truly she was right. So then how…how is it that he had lost her?
His vision blurred and he panicked, reaching his hand to his face only to find the cause was tears falling from his eyes. When had he started crying? When was the last time he had cried? He couldn't remember.
He stubbornly wiped the tears from his eyes as he busied himself with tinkering and setting new coordinates for the TARDIS to follow. He did them mindlessly, with no realization of where he was going. Not that he cared. All he knew was that wherever he had went, it would be empty. The stars would always seem colder now that there was no one to gaze at them with. No more holding hands and running as the adrenaline rush from near death experiences coursed through them. Smiling and laughing as they collapsed on the TARDIS floor, ready for the next adventure.
The TARDIS was already empty; even the soft chiming hum in his mind seemed hollow. So many memories to take the side of those already gone. Another chapter in a book to join the others on the shelves to gather dust. That collection was getting too large for his taste, but perhaps this was just the way of the last Time Lord. Settling down with a final chapter in his life was too domestic; not the way he pictured himself.
Not even with his Rose, but he knew that were she still here, that wouldn't have mattered. He knew that she would follow him across time and space. She had done too, but now…
His hand clenched on the console of the TARDIS, a soft green light glowing on his face, his dark eyes staring into nothing. He didn't know how much time had passed, it was such an irrelevant thing at the moment, before he realized the TARDIS had stopped. With uninterested eyes he glanced at the monitor to see when and where he'd landed. He allowed a choked laugh as he shook his head and headed towards the door.
"London 2013 eh? Brilliant…"
Did he even put in those coordinates? Was it subconsciously? But why the bloody hell would he bring himself to a place and time where she wasn't here? Maybe it was the TARDIS. It had acted on its own volition a few times prior, or perhaps it was a malfunction. Either way he would check the vitals when he returned.
He had landed near a park. The air chilled and the sky was grey, the promise of rain hanging in the air. It didn't matter. It could have been the most beautiful summer day and he wouldn't have cared. It would be just as bleak. The sound of children playing lay deaf on his ears as nameless faces went past him.
No point in focusing on any of them. They were the same, tiny and naïve. Even if he had that deep seeded fascination in them, at this moment it didn't matter. He almost hated them. As if it were their fault that Rose was gone. Rose was gone and these apes still lived without knowing or caring. They didn't realize the sacrifice she had made to make sure they were all alive. She was just another name listed among the dead and forgotten in vain.
No. She wasn't dead. He hated to think of her as dead. But she wasn't even here. She wasn't there to hold, to laugh with, and run, to…he shook his head. No, she wasn't dead, but she might as well have been. Or was this…was this fate of hers worse than death? No, he couldn't think that way. She was now safe right? She was safe with her family. She didn't have to run for her life anymore. He didn't have to worry for her safety. But, he was selfish. She wasn't here and now and she was living elsewhere without him. This was certainly worse than death.
He hadn't realized he'd been standing at the side of a path that ran through the park, of which joggers past him, skaters skirted between, and the like. He stood, hands in his jacket pockets, looking through the crowds, his eyes not focusing on anything or anyone in particular, until his mind snapped to attention for no apparent reason.
It was just a young woman walking past him, her head bowed and passing by. It shouldn't have even drawn his attention. Of all the things to be aware of, the norm being alien attacks, a young woman walking by wasn't the highest on the alert list. But then, he noticed that it wasn't the first time she had walked past. But again, why the hell would that have mattered? Replaying the images subconsciously in his mind he had counted four times she had passed him, and from opposite directions
A few minutes passed and like clockwork here she was walking the opposite direction from where he'd seen her go last. She was pacing. With dark eyes and a furrowed brow he paid a bit more attention. Her physique was lean, and her long straight raven hair fell down her back, her bangs covering her eyes. She wore black jeans and a black hooded sweater. But, he wasn't interested in that, nor was it the cause of what held his attention. It was her motions. She held the thumbnail of her right hand between her teeth. Her steps were swift yet unsure and unsteady, often bumping into other people. Somehow he could almost feel her thoughts, see them radiate off her in waves. Uncertainty, fear, and an internal struggle of something he could not pinpoint.
Finally she stopped dead in the middle of the path, not seeming to notice or care of the people who bumped into her, or told her firmly to get out of the way. It was as if she couldn't hear any of it, and he could see her back straighten as she reached some unknown conclusion. In that moment she headed off into another direction with a new determination.
He shouldn't have followed her. He had no reason to. She was just another nameless human. Nothing important. Despite this he found his feet following after her. Well, it didn't matter really did it? He had all the time in the Universe and if he felt like following a nameless face on a whim than damn it that was what he was going to do!
He followed the girl to the sidewalks that lined the street, not far from the park. She stood at the curb with a small crowd waiting to cross the street. He followed not too closely, just enough to keep her in his sights. She stood there for a long time, letting the cross walk signal go red and still not crossing. No one seemed to pay any mind, save for the Doctor, who by this time was within ten feet behind her, staring at her as she had stood there staring into space.
And then he heard it. He couldn't tell from where, but a small soft voice echoed in his mind. It had to have been in his mind, no one else seemed to hear it. What was it? Who was it? What did it say? He looked around, his eyes darting around searching for the source, but daring not go far from the girl who was still standing there rigid and frozen.
And then he heard it again. The sound like a soft light penetrating the darkness, through a dense fog, and reaching out to someone; anyone who would hear. No one else appeared to, save for him. He didn't know why, but he felt every part of him react with the soft plea.
"save me.."
Without realizing how he had put one and two together, he closed the gap between himself and the girl in front of him. He reached out, his fingers outstretched, dashing between the small crowd around her who gasped, a woman had also screamed. In a desperate grasp he had grabbed the hood of the back of her sweater and pulled back hard. Her arms flew over her head as she fell back safe off the curb and on the sidewalk as a double-decker bus screeched past, its horn bellowing down the street.
Among the sighs of relief from the onlookers, the Doctor's voice towered over all of them as he leaned over the girl.
"Are you completely mental?!" he shouted at her.
He didn't know why he was so furious with her. Well, he did. Throwing away her life so willy-nilly disgusted him to no end. What was with this girl? Didn't she know how good she had it? Didn't she know what Rose did to save her and the rest of these stupid apes!?
The crowd had backed off, somehow assuming this man knew this girl, and let him berate her. Even as he grabbed her arm, lifting her harshly off the ground and dragging her off to who knows where, they let him, continuing their mundane day-to-day business. For goodness sake these people were gullible and susceptive to anything!
The girl wasn't even putting up a fight, just letting herself be dragged off by this complete stranger. After a ways of walking he stopped, not realizing until doing so that he had stopped in front of the TARDIS.
"Seriously you daft girl! Are you mental?! The hell did you think you were doing?!"
It was then that the young woman lifted her head and the first time he saw her face. What he saw nearly put him to a complete halt. Her skin was smooth and slightly pale, slightly rounded and lovely featured for a human girl. She had bags under her eyes and dark rings, though they were more noticeable by the dark eyeliner, shadow, and mascara she wore. (At this he had inwardly moaned, thinking "Bloody hell not one of these types") But again, it wasn't any of that which drew his attention. It was her eyes, a strange mix of light blue and grey. 'The color of rain' he absently thought, or maybe it was that they were swimming with remnants of tears that gave him the idea.
She stared at him in shock, her eyes meeting his and holding his intense gaze with her own soft scared one. How long had passed since he'd asked her the question? Did she have any intention of answering? His mind raced with so much rage and impatience he had missed when she had spoken.
"What?"
"I said, what are you?"
Any other question he'd be prepared for. Any other question he was prepared for. Questions like: What the hell are you doing? Who do you think you are? Where did you come from? Why did you pull me back? A million other questions that anyone else would have asked and he would have a simple answer too. And yet in less than two minutes of knowing this nameless face, she had asked him the one question that stunned him in silence.