And after all, after all the travelling, fighting, smiling, running, running again and again, after all the laughs, after all the love, after all they have been through together, hand in hand, all that remained was tears amidst grains of sand.
"How long are you going to stay with me?"
It wasn't fair. It could have lasted years. They could have lived so much more together.
But he was gone. And on this day, she would have given anything for just one more adventure. Stranded on this beach, she was alone, in another world, in an universe that wasn't hers, lost.
Without him, time reverted to what it had always been : small grains of sand slipping through her hands, pursuing the meaningless course of existence.
Or was there a meaning, behind all this ?
What would have been her life, without him, what if they had never met ?
"But what do I do every day, Mum? Get up. Go to work. Catch the bus, eat chips, and go to bed."
Until destiny decided to hurl into her life this strange man who lived in a box. She didn't think about it twice : she took his hand, started to run, and hoped it would never end. Sometimes she felt like she had known him forever, and the next day she would discover a new side of him.
He had so much in him and she saw everything, the eternal quest, the desire for knowing, always searching and trying to understand. The flame that burned for justice and doing what was right. And the darker side of him, the pain and the regrets, the loss and culpability. And because she had so much in her, she started to believe in herself. She started to see all the things that made life worth living. She saw the end of the world and she saw the beauty that follows destruction. She began to see patterns in the yarn of the universe, and the threads that linked people together.
He showed her so much more than she could have ever imagined.
"It was a better life. The Doctor showed me a better way of living your life."
She fought when it was the right thing to do. She never gave up, and nothing could have stopped her.
She wasn't afraid anymore.
She was alive.
She took her destiny between her hands and she created herself, a legendary creature of thoughts and visions, bearing claws to tear the fabric of the universe, armed with love and the light of stars in her eyes.
It wasn't just a better way of living. It became her only way to live.
But she always knew, from the moment she met him, that they weren't meant to stay together forever. Their paths crossed but their days were numbered.
She tried to deny the ineluctability of their separation, and buried the knowledge in a corner of her mind. A dark veil upon her fears she knew she would have to raise one day.
"I'm burning up a sun to say goodbye."
And today was this day.
It was time for the ultimate test.
From now on, she would be in permanent exile.
"Rose Tyler, defender of the Earth."
She wiped her tears, she stood on her feet.
She would miss him, but she would be strong without him. She would never give up the fight.
She would go on her way, alone, eyes on the future. For him. For herself.
"If I believe in one thing... just one thing... I believe in her."