The Doctor Dies at the End: Rose
Rose Tyler was terrified.
That was an emotion she never expected to feel just a few days ago when she had gotten up and gone to work. It wasn't even something she felt after her workplace had been blown up by a mysterious man calling himself The Doctor. She had begun to feel the first effects of it when her boyfriend's head was ripped off by this "Doctor", but that fear was quickly replaced with confusion from stepping inside his "ship", it it could be called that.
But now, just beneath the London Eye, Rose was utterly and unmistakeably terrified.
They were down here to try to stop the Consciousness from transmitting a signal to the rest of the world, but the Doctor's plan had failed. Shop window mannequins were coming to life before her eyes, being controlled by some kind of red and orange blob-like creature called The Nestene Consciousness. The monstrous mass sat in a vat, roaring up at her and the Doctor, who was held fast by two mannequins that were threatening to throw him into the lava-like creature to be consumed. Currently, Rose felt a terrifying mixture of fear, confusion, and exhaustion. But mostly, she just wanted to go home.
Home.
Rose allowed her thoughts to drift to her home, which was a small council housing complex called The Powell Estate. There, she had spent most of her life growing up under the care of her mother, Jackie Tyler, who did the best she could to raise Rose right since the death of her husband, Pete. The thought of her mother pulled Rose back into reality, and she pulled out her mobile and hurriedly dialed her Mum's number.
Almost immediately her mother answered, cheerfully chirping a greeting to her daughter. "Oh, there you are! I was just going to phone. You can get compensation! I said so, and I've got this document thing off the police. Don't thank me," her mother said. It was clear to Rose that Jackie was blissfully unaware of the danger she could possibly be in. Rose prayed she wasn't anywhere near a shop.
"Where are you, Mum?" Rose asked tentatively, a tight knot of anxiety growing in the pit of her stomach.
"I'm in town," Jackie replied as if she could possibly be anywhere else.
"No, go home!" Rose shouted above the roar of the Nestene Consciousness. "Just go home right now!" There was a short silence on the line, sending Rose into a panic before her mother spoke again.
"Darling, you're breaking up. Listen, I'm just going to do a bit of late-night shopping. I'll see you later. Ta-ra!" and then she hung up.
"Mum? Mum!" Rose protested. It was no use, her mother was gone. She stared at her phone in disbelief before turning her attention back to the Doctor and his plight.
The situation hadn't changed. He was still struggling against the unusually mammoth grip of the mannequins. There was a rumble from above as the Nestene Consciousness gave another roar. The Doctor's jaw dropped.
"The activation signal! It's transmitting!" he shouted over the rumbling. The gravity of the situation finally struck Rose like two tons of bricks.
"It's the end of the world..."
"Get out, Rose! Run!" The Doctor shouted to her, still trying to squirm free.
Rose looked from him, to the exit, and back again. She realized she knew surprisingly little about this man. She knew his title, but she didn't know his real name. She didn't know his age, where he came from, or even if he was dangerous. But did she knew one thing, and that was that she couldn't leave him to die.
It was uncharacteristically brave of her, she thought, to be risking her life for this total stranger. But as she scanned the place for anything that could aid her in saving him, she knew it was the right thing to do.
Across the way, she spotted a chain hung on the wall. If she took the nearby axe and severed the rope holding the chain, she could use the chain to swing across to the Doctor and knock him free. She grinned.
"I've got no A-levels," she began, as she ran over to the chain and raised the axe high. "I've got no job, no future," in one swift movement, she swung the axe and cut the rope. Grabbing hold of the chain, she prepared herself to make the leap. "But I'll tell you what I have got. Jericho Street Junior School under 7s gymnastics team. I've got the bronze!"
She took a few steps back, ran forward, and swung. As her feet left the ground and she sailed through the air, she realized that her trajectory was wrong. She was swinging adjacent to the Doctor, not toward him. Due to the pressure she was under, she had miscalculated the leap, and now she just swinging back and forth above the vat the Nestene Consciousness sat in.
The Doctor's face twisted into an expression of sheer terror.
"Rose! What are you doing?" he shouted at her. Panic swelled inside of her as her swinging began to slow, until she was merely dangling above the creature below. But more than that, her strength was gone. The resolve she mustered trying to save the Doctor had been diminished, and she now felt the full weight of her actions. She looked at the Doctor with sad eyes.
"I'm sorry," she mouthed, her grip on the chain loosening. The Doctor screamed, but Rose didn't hear it. All she heard now the voice of her mother, reciting the stories she used to tell her about her father every night before she went to bed. As she fell, a smile crept across her face. She didn't say the next few words, but she might have if she had the time. Instead, she thought them.
"I'll see you soon, Dad."
And she was swallowed up by the Nestene Consciousness.
The Doctor struggled even harder now, but he only succeeded in throwing himself off balance and into the vat himself.
Above ground, the plastic people were slaughtering everyone they came across. It was complete and total anarchy, and there wasn't anyone around to stop it.
But it's to be expected. The Doctor is our life line. If he goes, we go.
And we went. All because The Doctor Died at the End.