Author's Note: So here goes. The final chapter. You have probably guessed by now, but this takes place after Doomsday. For those of you who like this sort of thing: I wrote the first half of this chapter with the song Toxic by District 78 on repeat, so I suggest listening to it as you read. But I know every time I read something like that in an author's note I always think: Oh, cool... nah! So feel free to just delve into the angst! Enjoy! And drop me a line to let me know what you thought of the finished product.

Chapter 6

Colors swirled around indescribably, and floated amidst sounds and movements. Everything was distorted just slightly, but just enough to make the world wrong in a scary way. She felt her heart thump as the beat that drove the twisting swirl. Every breath she drew in brought a light closer and closer. It felt like she was breathing in a toxin that caused the world to shift around her and move under her feet so that she was closer to the light. The light that kept growing. She started fighting it, disgusted at the feeling of breathing in movement and everything around her that was wrong.

The world melted. Her movement pulled some invisible string that broke the barrier between her and the vortex around her. Her body got thrown in all directions, swirling along with everything else. It was melted apart and mixed into the churn and the toxin continued to pour into her and became a part of her. She choked on her breaths but she couldn't stop inhaling. It felt like breathing in water. But it was much thicker and so very wrong. Her fear made her heart speed up and the world sped up along with it. The whirl got faster and faster until it was out of control along with her heart which felt like it would burst. Every breath that she took, she inhaled more of the world around her and she panicked a little more and her heart sped up a little more until it was all completely out of control. She wound around herself and she could see and feel herself being spread around and twisted into a stream that blended into the world around her like the stroke of a brush blending into the bigger picture.

Then suddenly, it ended. In one heartbeat she was thrust back into her normal form and the world righted itself around her. The sudden stillness was dizzying and she closed her eyes until she felt the last of the sickening toxin melt away, gunk being sucked down an invisible drain. She opened her eyes and reeled. The instant she did, all her senses felt like they had been pierced by a knife. Along with that came the instant realization of where she was.

Bad Wolf Bay.

She gasped, but nothing came out. She tried to turn around but instead found her legs moving towards a figure that appeared in the distance and she recognized it instantly as him. This can't be happening. She wanted to run away, to turn around and flee with all her might. But she kept moving towards him. Steadily being carried against her will to her doom. Then his face came into focus and a tear that didn't come out rolled down her cheek.

There he was. Standing there, looking at her. Everything was as clear as if it was happening for the first time, but her senses were magnified to an incredible degree. Every line on his face was so defined it hurt her eyes. Every wave that crashed on the shore sounded as loud as a car crash. And everything was sharp, so sharp that it hurt. Every thundering heartbeat preserved in her mind to the most excruciating detail and replaying in front of her eyes. She watched and couldn't control her own mouth or body. The scene developed out in front of her like an atrocious play that she was a part of but couldn't control or change.

"You look like a ghost," her voice said.

"Hold on," he replied and then came into focus. Everything was happening exactly the same. Her body took a few steps forward and she noticed that they were completely alone. Her mum and dad and Mickey were nowhere to be seen, and there was no wind. It was eerily still. The stillness only added to the piercing clarity of every moment.

"Can I t-" her hand reached up to touch him and Rose cried out in an effort to make it move forward just an inch more, to touch him even though she knew she couldn't. It stopped even as he replied sadly,

"I'm still just an image. No touch." Her hand fell away. The conversation carried on and Rose felt herself crumbling as she realized what was going to happen. And the fear that had been in her chest gave way to complete sorrow and denial. She whimpered in denial over and over again even as the scene played on and on, not stopping or slowing down. Moving steadily towards its inevitable end, but she fought with all her strength and determination.

"How long have we got?"

"About two minutes."

"I can't think of what to say," her body smiled bitterly, but Rose was crying and screaming at herself to say it before it was too late. Just say it so that she could hear his response. One simple request. It wasn't much to ask. She just wanted to hear him finish his farewell. Please.

"There's five of us now. Mum, Dad, Mickey… and the baby."

"You're not?" The look on his face broke her heart all over again. As her body laughed and explained, she felt her stomach fall to her feet, along with her lungs.

"And what about you? Are you…?" Rose chocked on a sob. Her past self rambled away about Torchwood, but Rose melted as she read in his look the true question behind that statement for the first time. She wanted desperately to reach out and cradle his face with her hand, but no matter what she did she couldn't change anything. Before she could stop herself she whispered sadly "Never. There could never be anyone besides you," but her lips didn't move. She would have given anything for him to be able to hear her.

And still the scene played on.

She crumbled all over again as he beamed about her defending the Earth. The unspoken words that passed between them as soon as his words were uttered reverberated around harshly in the scene. So obvious in the surreal clarity of it all that they might as well have been spoken aloud.

"But it's not right. Not without you."

She felt herself breaking. Rose's attempts not to cry crumbled as she felt herself facing the same thing and choked out,

"Am I ever going to see you again?"

"You can't." Her world crumbled.

"What are you gonna do?"

"Aw, I've still got the TARDIS. Same old life, last of the Time Lords."

"On your own?"

He nodded. Her heart broke.

"I l-" She screamed, but her body choked. "I love you." She knew what was coming and her panic grew. She fought hard. She had to change it. She had to do something. She could not relive this moment. She had already been forced to live it once. No.

"Quite right too." She couldn't go through it again. Not again. No. No, no, no. NO. NO!

"And I suppose…" Please NO! "If it's my last chance to say it.." PLEASE! "Rose Tyler,"

"NOOO!" She burst through and clutched air just as his image disappeared. She collapsed down onto the ground, reaching in vain towards where he had been just a moment before. She cried. And in between her sobs she repeated her pleas and denials.

But this time, there was no one there to hold her. Her mum's arms weren't there to hold her. Her dad's arms weren't there to support her, and there was no one there to carry her home. And above all, the Doctor wasn't there to chase away this horrible nightmare.

She was kneeling on a beach that had suddenly lost all definition, completely alone.

The first time Rose woke up from a bad dream after Bad Wolf Bay, there was no one there, no one at all.