Thanks to The Eye of the Oncoming Storm for beta-ing this for me!
Rose scratched her head and looked down the halls to her left and right. Next time I want to explore the TARDIS, she vowed, I'm bringing a ball of string. Rolling her eyes in exasperation, she turned right and kept walking. Quite suddenly, there were several doors lining the hallway. There hadn't been in any doors of the previous hallways. Curiosity aroused, Rose walked over to one and pushed it open.
It was an extremely large, round room with all different kinds of furniture, mostly chairs, that sat haphazardly making their own maze, as though they had wandered in there. And covering the abundant white walls-unusual, since the TARDIS walls were usually gold-were pictures and artifacts that Rose had never seen before. There was a diagram of a Cyberman. And there, a Dalek eyestalk in a glass case. Rose stepped into the room, maneuvering herself around the chairs as she tried to figure out where to start looking. Some of the objects were actually outfits—a few suits in clear glass boxes set neatly against the wall, a multicolored scarf, a cricket outfit, a garish-looking patchwork coat.
Rose walked across the room to examine the cricket outfit, which stood in a shadow box with a slightly withered piece of celery stuck to its lapel. To the right of it was a collage of pictures of a young, blonde man dressed in the cricket outfit doing several things with different people. Rose reached out and touched one of them, and an the exasperated voice of a British man echoed through the room.
"Just once I would like to find someone who listens when I tell them to stay put!"
Rose jumped back and looked wildly around the room for the source of the voice. But all was now again silent, except for the constant hum of the TARDIS engines underfoot. She looked back at the pictures and cautiously touched another one.
"Are you all right, Doctor?"
"I need you to take me to the Zero Room, Tegan. It will help with the regeneration process.
"But what does the Zero Room look like?"
"It's… grey. Pinkish-grey."
"Regeneration process?" Rose whispered. "But that must mean…" She steeped back and looked up at the words she hadn't seen before. Above the pictures next to the cricket outfit read 'FIFTH REGENERATION'. Rose turned in a circle, squinting to look up at all the other words. SIXTH REGENERATION, SEVENTH, EIGHTH, NINTH, TENTH; and no more. Rose swallowed and ran over to the familiar pinstriped suit and coat that stood under the words TENTH REGENERATION. To the left of the suit were several pictures of the Doctor's previous regeneration, the Doctor that Rose had met.
Cause of death: swallowed Time Vortex.
Rose swallowed and looked to the picture next to it. It showed her and the Doctor-her original doctor- kissing. A beam of light connected their open eyes, flowing from Rose into the Doctor. Rose reached forward and tentatively touched the picture.
"It's… killing me…"
"I think that you need a Doctor."
Rose wrenched her hand away as if burned and looked at the pictures under TENTH REGENERATION. There they were, running from a werewolf. She smiled nostalgically at all their adventures, occasionally touching one to listen to what they said. But the last picture she couldn't seem to remember. It was another picture of her and the Doctor, facing each other a stiff foot apart on a beach. There was no subtitle, and when she touched it all she could hear were the crashing waves. Rose looked a little closer. In the picture, she was crying. Dread crawled into her heart. She turned away.
Rose walked back along the Doctor's past, occasionally looking at the Cause of Death, but mostly looking at all of the Doctor's past companions, some of which were labeled.
Ace and the Seventh Doctor.
Perpugilliam 'Peri' Brown as she tries to dissuade the enigmatic Sixth Doctor from wearing his famously bright outfit.
Rose paused and grinned when she saw the final decision that was made on the coat. Shaking her head, she continued walking past to the fifth regeneration.
Nyssa of Traken hugging Tegan Jovanka as Nyssa makes a final decision to stay on Terminus.
The Fifth Doctor scoring in cricket on 1920s Earth.
The Master.
Rose stopped and frowned at the picture. The smile the man had on seemed nothing but deceptive and sinister. With a shiver, she moved on.
Cause of Death: falling off a radio tower
Sarah Jane Smith
The Fourth Doctor, watching as Davros presents the first Dalek.
Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart, trying to convince the Fourth Doctor to stay in bed.
Rose kept walking, looking at all the faces of 900 years. So many companions, so many worlds saved and lost.
Cause of death: forced regeneration.
How could the Doctor stand it?
GALLIFREY.
Rose stopped at a length of wall just before FIRST REGENERATION. It was covered in pictures of a beautiful planet, with an orange sky that gave the impression of a perpetual sunset. There were pictures of fields of lush red grass, tall silver trees, and a surreal-looking golden citadel in a bubble.
The Citadel.
The Gallifreyan Council.
Romana I.
My family.
Rose stared at the picture, a smiling man holding a beautiful, laughing woman in the midst of a large group of grinning adults, children, babies… Rose put a hand over her mouth, tears coming to her eyes.
My family.
"All lost in the Time War." Rose spun around to see the Doctor, standing with his hands in his pockets, that familiar, lonely look in his brown eyes. He came and stood next to her and pointed at the picture. "My wife, my children, my grandchildren, a few great-grandchildren. There's Susan, my granddaughter. She traveled with me for a while. Romana, Leela… she had her own K9 model for a while." He gave her a grin, but it was forced. "Marcus, one of my oldest, oldest… friends…" His hand dropped to his side and he fell silent, a painful look on his face.
"Doctor, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"
The Doctor smiled at her, a sad, forgiving smile. "It's fine, Rose. A nice little walk down memory lane, eh?"
Rose smiled back, but she could feel a tear slipping down her cheek. She stepped forward and put her arms around him, burying her face in his shoulder and turning away from the wall. The Doctor put his arms around her and fixed his gaze on a burnt orange sky.