It was the blankness that shook Rose. All there was was white, no colour. There was no different shade, there was no shadow and there was no darkness. She was standing inside of a cotton ball and it was scaring her. So she ran.
Rose ran into the whiteness, the tears pouring down her face. She couldn't find any difference in her surroundings and so she fell to the floor and bought her knees up to her chest and buried her head in her hands. Her hair fell around her face like a curtain, protecting her from the Vortex she was in.
"Well, well, well. Miss Rose. How unsurprising that you're here." A voice boomed and Rose started. The voice was deep and rich and it filled her whole body with its sound. She lifted her head up and stared around, trying to find the source of the voice.
"Oh, you won't be able to find me Miss Rose, human eyes are strangely lacking. You know you could see me if you really tried, but humans are so narrow minded that you only look, you never see." The voice spoke again and Rose filled with fear and hope at its tune.
"How do I see you?" Rose asked, she wanted to see the body to the voice.
"See even now, you assume that there is a body to look at." The voice said as if it could hear her thoughts.
"Oh but I can Miss Rose. You seem to project your emotions and thoughts a lot more loudly than your fellow humans. Indeed there is a lot about you that is different." The voice spoke to her in a way that a teacher would speak to a child, Rose gritted her teeth and stared defiantly into the whiteness.
"So teach me, teach me to see you." Rose said clearly, not asking but telling.
"Miss Rose, it is not something I can teach." The voice sighed "If your Doctor was here he would tell you the same thing. Just because I do not have a physical body does not mean I am not a being."
"Humans learnt to block out what they thought was different. What scared them. You are so full of fear and hate that you cannot see what is right in front of your eyes. Nevertheless, you seem different."
"You are more opening, you are more excepting, so I will try to teach you Miss Rose. Close your eyes." The voice demanded and Rose did as she was told.
"When you open your eyes, anticipate your surroundings. You know what the Vortex you are standing in looks like but don't look for that. When you open your eyes imagine you are a baby opening it's eyes to the world for the first time."
"See the different shades of white that surround you, feel the different air. See the imperfections of the ground you stand. What seems smooth and plain is rough and jagged filled with bends and turns."
"Do not limit your emotions, your sense. Open up every part of you. Now Miss Rose, open your eyes." The voice told her and as she did her breath caught in her throat.
She saw. For the first time in her life, Rose Tyler saw her surroundings, she saw the wind as it brushed past her face.
She saw the lumps and cracks in the ground she stood on. She saw the different colours of white that radiated off the wall and she saw the voice.
He was a ball of light, of colour and of emotions. The colours swirled together, twisting and turning. He was elegant and graceful. The light swirled around her body, covering her body and Rose laughed with it and she span and danced with the colour.
"You see now Miss Rose. You see." He said softly and she grinned.
"I see." Rose replied smiling at the light.
"But you now will answer my question." He demanded and Rose cocked her head to one side.
"Okay?" She said hesitantly sitting on the floor and crossing her legs as the light hovered in front of her.
"Why are you here?" He asked twisting and moving in front of her.
"I'm here because... I mean I'm here... I'm here..." Rose trailed of, staring at her hands which she had placed in her lap.
"I don't know why I'm here." She finished softly, tucking her hair behind her ear.
"Surely you must have a reason for being here?" The voice prompted and Rose looked up and nodded.
"I did. At least I think I did. I wanted you to bring them back to me." She said quietly looking back down at her hands.
The light stopped moving for the first time since Rose had opened her eyes and came to hover directly in front of her.
"Oh child, you know that is not possible." He said gently but firmly.
"But why? Why is it not possible? You bought The Doctor across from a parallel universe for Christ's sake why can't you bring them back?" Rose said loudly her eyes pleading with the light.
"Because Miss Rose it's the rules. No matter what wish I grant, I can never undo the consequences from that wish. John knew that." He said to Rose understandingly.
"However I will send you back to the moment John was about to make the wish. It is up to you to stop him, if you fail you will have lost both of them forever." He said his voice echoing across the Vortex.
"So I never get to see The Doctor..." Rose trailed off trying not to be unhappy and ungrateful about that fact.
"Child, you and The Doctor are meant to be together. Just because you are not with him in the first very miniscule aspect of your life does not mean that you will not travel with him for eternity afterwards." The voice gently chided her.
"So in the Afterlife?" Rose asked hope in her voice.
"Maybe, if that is what you wish to call it. But Miss Rose do not take this life for granted. It is precious and you should not spend it wishing after The Doctor. The time will come for you two to be re-untied, be sure of that. Enjoy the time you have that can be your own, the time where you are not relying on The Doctor to be your air. Where you do not love him to the point where you can not live without him, because Miss Rose while your love for The Doctor at the moment stands strong it will become stronger." The voice boomed at her and Rose smiled and stood up.
"Why are you helping me?" She asked curiously staring at the beauty of light that was swirling in front of her.
"You have a pure heart Miss Rose but you were getting lost, too lost in the emotions and pain. It was threatening to swallow you and I did not want that. I see your future Miss Rose and it is a great one, I could not allow you to be consumed with fear and hatred as so many others are."
"Goodbye, Rose Tyler and good luck." The voice said gently and Rose could hear the smile behind the words before she was released from the Vortex and back down to Earth.