Things Seen but Not Seen (Draw Down the Stars)
Title: Things Seen but Not Seen (Draw Down the Stars)
Summary: The more things change...
Rating: So very G (That means I'm pretty sure there's nothing here to offend anyone.)
Wordcount: 625
Notes: Thanks to uninvitedcat for the English-izing and for getting it. ♥ Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. "Draw Down the Stars" and "End of the World News" belong to Tom McRae. (Download and listen, for he is fantastic.) "This is the way the world ends..." is from T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men."
Set some nonspecific time not long after "The Parting of the Ways."
"Where are we going next?" asked Rose.
"That's up to you. Here." The Doctor handed her a newspaper. "Pick one."
"End of the World News'," she read aloud. "Pick one what?"
"An end of a world, of course."
"We already saw that ages ago. Don't you remember?" She frowned, wondering again if the change in appearance had done something to his memory.
"There's more than one world, Rose. There are millions upon millions and they all come to an end."
"And you want to see one right now? Why?"
"Because I want to show you something and that will be the best place to do it." He grinned and tapped the paper in her hand. "So pick one."
"Any one?"
"Any one. They're all good."
"You've already seen then all?"
"No, not all. But I've heard. It doesn't matter which you choose, so choose one."
"Okay." She opened to the middle and pointed to a random entry on the page. "That one."
"Excellent."
He fired up the TARDIS and she helped as best she could, following his directions as she always had. The engines whirred and the whosits sputtered and the whatsits clanged and they leapt through time and space until shuddering to a stop at their destination.
The Doctor turned a knob, revealing a window that hadn't been there before. "What, no fancy party for this one? No viewing platform?"
"No, not this time."
They stood side by side, hand in hand as they watched the final moments of the world before them. This planet seemed to be made of light and when it went, it wasn't the loud explosion she was expecting, but a quiet folding in on itself that left the sky filled with countless bits of radiance.
"'This is the way the world ends'," started the Doctor.
"'Not with a bang but a whimper'," finished Rose. "What? I've read things, too," she added in response to his raised eyebrow.
"Looks like stars, doesn't it?"
"But they're not stars. They're just bits of planet."
"Makes no difference now. Not to anyone looking at the after. What are stars anyway, but small lights in the darkness?"
"I suppose."
"Do you know where we are?" asked the Doctor, his voice still respectfully hushed.
Rose shook her head.
He reached out and tapped the glass of the window. The focus of their view shifted to one side, showing a cluster of the newborn stars swirling about each other, colliding and bouncing off one another.
Eventually, one star didn't bounce off the other, but stuck. Together they formed a new star and waited for another to join them.
"That's it, then," said the Doctor, satisfied.
"That's what? And where are we; you never said."
"Home," he answered simply.
"Home?" Rose frowned, not quite seeing it.
"Well, give it a few hundred million years or so. See the possibilities!" He held up his hands, framing the scene before them.
"Earth?" she asked, thinking that it was a very odd coincidence that she should choose this particular ending and beginning of the world out of all of them.
"No. That would be an amazing coincidence, wouldn't it?"
She laughed. "Whose home, then? Yours?"
"No. But nearly every planet has someone to call it home. And they all started from something like this. Every beginning has to come from an ending. Besides, I did once promise to take you here. I never did say when, though."
"Is that going to be-"
"Barcelona. We'll have to jump forward in time a bit to see the dogs without noses."
"I'd like that." She watched the formation of the planet through the window and the Doctor's reflection at the same time.
It was getting hard to tell them apart, endings and beginnings.
Summary: The more things change...
Rating: So very G (That means I'm pretty sure there's nothing here to offend anyone.)
Wordcount: 625
Notes: Thanks to uninvitedcat for the English-izing and for getting it. ♥ Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. "Draw Down the Stars" and "End of the World News" belong to Tom McRae. (Download and listen, for he is fantastic.) "This is the way the world ends..." is from T.S. Eliot's "The Hollow Men."
Set some nonspecific time not long after "The Parting of the Ways."
"Where are we going next?" asked Rose.
"That's up to you. Here." The Doctor handed her a newspaper. "Pick one."
"End of the World News'," she read aloud. "Pick one what?"
"An end of a world, of course."
"We already saw that ages ago. Don't you remember?" She frowned, wondering again if the change in appearance had done something to his memory.
"There's more than one world, Rose. There are millions upon millions and they all come to an end."
"And you want to see one right now? Why?"
"Because I want to show you something and that will be the best place to do it." He grinned and tapped the paper in her hand. "So pick one."
"Any one?"
"Any one. They're all good."
"You've already seen then all?"
"No, not all. But I've heard. It doesn't matter which you choose, so choose one."
"Okay." She opened to the middle and pointed to a random entry on the page. "That one."
"Excellent."
He fired up the TARDIS and she helped as best she could, following his directions as she always had. The engines whirred and the whosits sputtered and the whatsits clanged and they leapt through time and space until shuddering to a stop at their destination.
The Doctor turned a knob, revealing a window that hadn't been there before. "What, no fancy party for this one? No viewing platform?"
"No, not this time."
They stood side by side, hand in hand as they watched the final moments of the world before them. This planet seemed to be made of light and when it went, it wasn't the loud explosion she was expecting, but a quiet folding in on itself that left the sky filled with countless bits of radiance.
"'This is the way the world ends'," started the Doctor.
"'Not with a bang but a whimper'," finished Rose. "What? I've read things, too," she added in response to his raised eyebrow.
"Looks like stars, doesn't it?"
"But they're not stars. They're just bits of planet."
"Makes no difference now. Not to anyone looking at the after. What are stars anyway, but small lights in the darkness?"
"I suppose."
"Do you know where we are?" asked the Doctor, his voice still respectfully hushed.
Rose shook her head.
He reached out and tapped the glass of the window. The focus of their view shifted to one side, showing a cluster of the newborn stars swirling about each other, colliding and bouncing off one another.
Eventually, one star didn't bounce off the other, but stuck. Together they formed a new star and waited for another to join them.
"That's it, then," said the Doctor, satisfied.
"That's what? And where are we; you never said."
"Home," he answered simply.
"Home?" Rose frowned, not quite seeing it.
"Well, give it a few hundred million years or so. See the possibilities!" He held up his hands, framing the scene before them.
"Earth?" she asked, thinking that it was a very odd coincidence that she should choose this particular ending and beginning of the world out of all of them.
"No. That would be an amazing coincidence, wouldn't it?"
She laughed. "Whose home, then? Yours?"
"No. But nearly every planet has someone to call it home. And they all started from something like this. Every beginning has to come from an ending. Besides, I did once promise to take you here. I never did say when, though."
"Is that going to be-"
"Barcelona. We'll have to jump forward in time a bit to see the dogs without noses."
"I'd like that." She watched the formation of the planet through the window and the Doctor's reflection at the same time.
It was getting hard to tell them apart, endings and beginnings.