Quintessence: A theory in Aristotle's physics. Aristotle held the belief that the universe was divided into two parts; the terrestrial (earthly) region and the celestial (heavenly) region. In the realm of the Earth, all bodies were made out of the four substances – earth, fire, air and water, whereas in the region of the universe beyond the moon, the heavenly bodies such as the sun, stars and planets were made of a fifth substance called quintessence. This was a pure, perfect substance.
Quintessential love – pure and perfect love, lived beyond the stars – was alluded to in the poem 'The Good Morrow' by John Donne.
My face in thine eye, thine in mine appears,
And true plain hearts do in the faces rest;
Where can we find two better hemispheres
Without sharp north, without declining west?
Whatever dies, was not mix'd equally;
If our two loves be one, or thou and I
Love so alike that none can slacken, none can die.
Disclaimer: The poetry is not mine; all rights belong to the publishers. Doctor Who only holds a place in my heart, but it seems that doesn't mean I own it.
Prologue
The Doctor grabbed her shoulders and spun her around. "Rose, don't you understand?" he spat, beseeching her to properly listen. "Time is trying to catch up with us – the universe is out to get us. We have to keep running as far as we can!"
Rose shook her head. Tears were spilling from her eyes, telling him the truth. "Doctor we can't run forever."
"Yes, we can and we will!"
He lashed out in anger, his hands gripped at his hair. He appeared to be mad, deranged – heartbroken. He didn't understand how she was so resigned to the fact that their time together was ending.
It was only then he noticed her flinch. Her eyes were wide and watery. He was scaring her.
"Rose," he whispered, tenderly, "I can't lose you."
Chapter One: The Last Solution
Rose stared out at the sea. Its brisk and troublesome waves reflected her mood in that moment as she waited for him. Was this his goodbye? Or was he promising her that – one day – he would return?
Whatever the dream meant, whatever reason why the voice was calling out to her, she had already discussed the possibilities with Pete and Jackie. They had all came to the same agreement that Rose was better off with the Doctor than stuck on a parallel world which held no future opportunities. Jackie had Pete – and now the baby, her concerns would be elsewhere. She shouldn't have to worry about her nineteen year old daughter in constant danger.
Yet, that didn't mean they wouldn't miss each other. Or Mickey, for that matter. Rose was sure this was what she wanted. If there was any way she could be reunited – even if it meant doing the impossible and endangering life as she knew it – Rose would face anything, head on, and face it with open arms.
In a gentle gust of wind, Rose noticed the image of the translucent Doctor. He was standing, feet apart, looking right at her. But something wasn't right – his eyes held that mad glare he used to own when he was stressed or under pressure.
"Where are you?" she asked. All she could see was him; no surroundings.
"Inside the TARDIS," he gushed, sonic screwdriver in hand, "there's only one tiny gap in the universe left. Just about to close. And it takes a lot of power to send this projection. I'm in orbit around a supernova. I'm burning up a sun to do this. Never done that before."
Rose shook her head in an attempt to clear it. "You look like a ghost."
"Hold on." He twisted the sonic screwdriver and pointed it at something unseen to Rose. His image immediately became clearer and more enhanced.
Rose took a few reluctant steps forward. She held out her hand, wanting nothing more than to touch him. "Can I…?"
"I'm still just an image. No touch," the Doctor paused, a smile pulling at his lips. "Not yet, anyhow."
Frowning, she asked, "What do you mean? Can't you come through properly?"
"That's what I'm trying to do, Rose Tyler, but I need to ask you something first."
Her heart skipped a beat and she said nothing. Their eyes locked onto one another; the Doctor's dark and pleading, Rose's wide and desperate.
"That promise of forever," he said, very slowly, "do you still want to keep it?"
Rose made a sound, halfway between a shout of joy and an outcry of surprise. "Are you saying you can get me out of here? Back with you."
"Only if you want me to," the Doctor edged.
There was a moment, only a brief moment, when Rose turned to where her mother, Pete and Mickey were standing and watching. Something deep down told her to reconsider. To think this through. The Doctor said the breach would close forever, so why now was he able to get her back?
But this was what she wanted, wasn't it? This was what she hoped would happen. It had been three months since she'd last seen him and during those three months Rose had realised the extent of her love for him. It was impossible for them to be separated. She couldn't let this opportunity slip between her fingers.
"Do you even have to ask?" Rose said, jubilantly. "Of course I do!"
"Quite right too," the Doctor responded, bursting with fresh excitement. "Where are you? Where did the gap come out?"
"Norway. We're in Norway."
"Norway? Oops, sorry. Now, this isn't going to be easy and I've only got two minutes. Norway is going to have a really bad earthquake once I start this. You've got two minutes, Rose. Two minutes to say goodbye to your mother. This is your last chance to change your mind."
Rose's perspective was clear in theory. In practice; of course it was going to be hard to say goodbye to someone you loved with all of your heart. She turned on her heel without another word, and ran across the muddy sand to where her mother was standing, arms open, ready to accept her. Rose clung onto her embrace as the tears freely fell down her frozen cheeks. Jackie was stroking her hair with words of encouragement, but she could tell from her mother's tone and wobbly voice that she was finding this hard too.
"He can do it, mum; he can get me back –"
"This is your decision and your decision only. Is this what you want?" Jackie asked as she grabbed her daughter's head between her hands and stared into her eyes.
A wave of guilt enveloped Rose. "He's so lonely and he needs someone. You have Pete, and the baby and Mickey will look after you," Rose reasoned. Was she trying to convince herself, or her mother?
"There's no going back, Rose," Jackie warned with tears dropping from her eyelashes. "I'll never see you again, sweetheart. But I said it before, and I'll say it again; you've convinced me that this is your own life and you have to make your own decisions. No matter how much they break my heart."
Rose's voice caught in her throat. Pete engulfed her in a massive hug as she struggled to form words and she accepted it with silent thanks. Mickey then took over by kissing her on the cheek, his eyes glistening with emotion.
"We always knew this was going to happen," he told her, rationally. "We're always separated by events, you and me."
"I'm sorry, Mickey," she said in a whisper – and he knew she meant for everything.
Mickey shot her a cheeky smile. "Yeah well, thanks."
"Thanks for what?" Rose asked with a mischievous grin.
"Exactly," Mickey said, winking, as they repeated their previous conversation when she had ran off with the Doctor for the first time. After a short pause, however, he added, "And have a good life, Rose."
She nodded, slightly absentmindedly. Jackie pulled her into another hug. In a small voice that no one else could hear, she whispered, "Make sure he takes good care of you because I'll never forgive him for stealing you away. But it's a little bit of compensation when I know you're being looked after."
"I love you, mum," Rose cried into her shoulder. "I'll always love you."
"I love you too," Jackie said as she pulled away and let go of her daughter. "Now go. Do what you do best with him. Save the world."
The hardest thing of all was for Rose to turn her back on her mother and slowly run towards the Doctor. It made her decision very clear. There was no going back now. Yet, at the bottom of Jackie Tyler's heart, she still hoped until the very last moment that Rose would change her mind. Despite the promises.
Rose's tearful eyes blurred her surroundings and suddenly the line separating sand from sea from sky no longer existed. Everything was stormy, everything was dull and everything was grey. There was only the feeling of wet sand under her foot, the sound of the cold waves and the cloudy light stinging her eyelids to tell her there was a difference between the three. It mirrored her mixed emotions over head, heart and promise.
The Doctor waved without seeing to Jackie Tyler and Mickey. His translucent image was tied up in wires and cable cords. He hoped with all his might this would work, otherwise, two realities would fall into the void.
He ignored Rose's plentiful tears as she approached with staggering footsteps. Domestics. They weren't quite his thing, even after all of this time. He had given her a chance to leave and live a normal life. He just wished it had been different – that she didn't need to choose him or her family.
"If I come through properly the whole thing will collapse. Two realities will shatter. But, I'm trying to slightly extend the one remaining gap that is open by harnessing the energy of the supernova. With help from the faithful TARDIS, it should open just enough so you can be pulled through and into this reality – closing instantly. The problem is: what happens when you close a glass window too fast? Both windows shatter, or crack a tiny bit, meaning that if anything happens to both worlds simultaneously, they'll fall together at the same time. Which happens quite frequently on parallel worlds. So, my only solution is to hope for the best and try and support the infrastructure as best as I can," he rambled as he attempted to explain his choice of actions. "This is the only way I can get you back, Rose. I've thought of everything."
"I'm ready when you are," she replied with a fresh buzz of energy. She was trying to do anything she could to free her mind from the overwhelming guilt she was feeling.
"Right," the Doctor paused, his eyes locked onto hers, and he braced himself for the destruction he was about to cause. "Allons-y!"
The Doctor pointed his sonic screwdriver at the contraption of wires and everything inside the TARDIS erupted into chaos. Bright sparks consumed the console, causing the Doctor to leap to the side to avoid any injury. The ground beneath Rose's feet started to shake out of control; she turned to give Jackie one last fleeting look before falling to the trembling sandy beach floor. Just above her head appeared a golf ball sized hole – it was purple and bleeding yellow energy. Around its edges it seemed to be cracking and splitting and widening until it snapped to the size of a football. The cracks around the outside expanded a foot across and for a very brief moment Rose thought it had all went wrong.
A very familiar hand peeped through the purple hole in reality. Realising the visual image of the Doctor had disappeared; Rose reached up to grab onto it. The hand pulled her in, and the purple puncture absorbed her whole body until she was flung into another reality. The next thing she knew, she was lying on top of the metal gridding inside the TARDIS. All around her was bright orange flames. The thick scent of smoke made her choke on the air. She looked up with stinging eyes to see the Doctor zooming around the TARDIS, reaching for levers and desperately slamming down on buttons. Rose wanted to help – she tried to stand on her feet, but the TARDIS lurched to the side, and she fell with it.
"Doctor!" Rose yelled at the top of her lungs. "What's happening?!"
"We're crashing!" he shouted back, now with a fire extinguisher in one of his hands. "Time is trying to fix the wound I created! The TARDIS is pushed into overdrive. If I don't fix it, we'll all fall into the void!"
Wincing, Rose noticed it felt like one of her ribs was badly bruised. She attempted to stand again, but the Doctor advised her otherwise.
"Stay where you are! The TARDIS isn't safe; she's corrupting from the inside."
Rose took his advice and stayed where she was. The Doctor climbed on top of the TARDIS console. He used his strength to hang onto the central beam which was now flashing a dangerous shade of red. He pointed his sonic screwdriver at something deep within the control panel. There was a singular bright red spark. Then everything fell silent.
The flames died down, the TARDIS engine stopped. Everything slowed. The Doctor let go of the central beam and sucked in a deep, calming breath. With white smoke still hanging in the air, he squinted over to Rose and shot her a brilliant white smile.
"Well," he said triumphantly. "That was –"
BANG!
Something had hit the TARDIS on the outside. It spun out of control and sent the Doctor falling to the floor in an awkward position, right beside Rose. There was an awful falling sensation, in which Rose let out a small squeak of terror and the Doctor groaned in annoyance. The TARDIS engine seemed to be fighting an exterior threat which was pulling them further and further down into something unknown. The engines protested and the blue central beam flickered with its last drain of energy. Whatever was happening didn't sound too good.
"We're falling!" the Doctor told Rose as they were pressed to the TARDIS floor. "Something's pulling us in!"
"What are we going to do?" Rose shrieked.
The Doctor grabbed her hands in both of his and let out a cry of excitement. "The TARDIS is too exhausted to fight it off – we'll just have to wait and see. Welcome back, Rose Tyler, to my wonderful life of madness and mayhem!"
Despite their current situation, and ignoring the fact that only a few moments ago they had nearly destroyed two worlds in their reunion, Rose responded with a jubilant smile, and said, "I wouldn't miss it for the world."
A/N: The first chapter was always going to be crap and badly written – it is definitely going to get better. If you've read my story The Companion Who Never Was, then you'll know how this story is going to be developed. I make up my own adventures, not linked to episodes in the show, and write them like any other episode in the series. This involves my own creation of aliens, events in history and so on. So, just to make it clear, this is not a rewrite of series three but containing Rose. Just think of it as an alternative series that happened, but wasn't shown on television. And is going to be heartbreakingly sad.
I don't own WHO, and a large part of this chapter was taken from the last episode in series two. It's rated T in case I feel like writing an episode which is scary or could be frightening. Sometimes this involves mild swearing too. With all the technicalities out of the way, I hope you enjoy reading this story, and I try to upload once or twice a week. Reviews/Favourites/Follows would be amazing!