Fic: Elements series: Air
Title: Elements series: Air
Author: Mary (stillxmyxheart)
Beta: Rebekah (bekkis)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst
Word Count: 848
Characters: Rose, Ten
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize? Ain't mine.
Summary: All Rose wants is a breath of fresh air.
A/N: Pretty heavy. Apocalyptic. Post!Doomsday, AU. Now part of a series! Other parts coming soon!
The air is thick with smoke and Rose can't breathe for it. She coughs violently, falling to her knees amid the ruins of Torchwood.
Her nose and throat burn and tears stream down her cheeks. She feels as though she is covered in blood and she is not very wrong.
Her knees sting from the debris she's kneeling on but she can't stand. Not yet.
All Rose Tyler can do is stare out at the destruction all around her: all that's left of Torchwood, of London, the entire world.
She's the only one left. She doesn't know how she knows, but she does. There is no one.
There's a crash nearby and Rose jumps, cowering as she looks around for the source. She doesn't find it but hears nothing else and relaxes ever so slightly.
Rose closes her eyes and tries to breathe, wishing the air were clear. She wonders if moving would even help. Afraid if she moves, they'll come back.
They'd come from the skies, given no warning and showed no mercy and after just a matter of hours-
-hours, oh dear God-
-the world is gone, the planet dead along with her six billion inhabitants.
Except for Rose.
She doesn't know how she is still alive, how she's been missed, but she has.
It isn't a terribly desirable way to be.
A sob escapes Rose's lips as she pushes herself to stand, her entire body protesting.
She's completely lost. There is no precedence in her life for anything even remotely like this and she doesn't know what to do.
First in her mind is the desire to breathe clean air and so this is what she sets out to find.
She doesn't know if she will.
She walks gingerly along, keeping her eyes on her feet in a concerted effort to avoid looking at the bodies scattered around her.
Her hair is in her face and she pushes it back, feels that it's sticky. Her stomach turns and her hand drops to her side.
She keeps walking, keeps her head down. She is afraid to see the faces of the dead, knowing it would make it all too real.
*****
She has been walking for a day now.
Unaware of when exactly the sun rose this morning, the smoke and haze still so thick, all she knows is that it is brighter now than it was before.
She has not stopped and she has not rested. Her lungs ache now with every breath she takes, the smoke burning with every inhalation.
She is holding out for that breath of fresh air. She knows it is coming. She will rest then.
The city is behind her now. She doesn't know where she is, but it doesn't matter.
The houses that line the road are all either on fire or blackened heaps.
The air smells of burning wood and rubber and plastic, and something else that Rose can identify but doesn't want to think about.
A tree begins to fall and Rose watches as it gains momentum. It crashes into a house, splitting it down the middle and causing the flames to leap into the air, quickly igniting the tree as well.
Rose continues on.
*****
The sky is darkening again, the sun setting after a weary day of lighting a dead world.
The houses are beginning to thin out now and nature is encroaching.
The air already feels lighter but is still heavy with smoke.
Not what she wants, but she feels it is close.
There is a new sound. Engines.
Rose slows, her heart rising into her throat. They're coming back, she thinks, and wonders if she can hide. If there's even a point.
But as she listens, she realizes these are not the same engines.
And when she realizes what engines they are, she thinks she's gone mad.
Even as the blue box materializes in front of her, just down the road, she thinks it's a hallucination.
The door opens and the sound is so achingly familiar it brings tears to Rose's eyes.
He steps out, brown suit, blue shirt, and stares around, horrified.
Rose still does not know if he is real but she picks up her pace.
His gaze falls on her and his expression is something she can't describe. But there is joy, and there is relief.
He holds his hand out and Rose begins to run, ignoring the burning in her chest, the stiffness in her legs, the blisters on her feet.
Then he is there, sweeping her into his arms, and she holds him, hardly daring to believe he is real, even now.
But it feels like him and it smells like him. When he pulls away and takes her face in his hands, his eyes are full of concern. He's saying something that she's not hearing, but it is his voice.
She's crying now, unsure when she started, and he leads her into the blue box, away from this burning parallel world that is no longer her home.
He is her air, this is her home, and she is safe.
Author: Mary (stillxmyxheart)
Beta: Rebekah (bekkis)
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Angst
Word Count: 848
Characters: Rose, Ten
Spoilers: None
Disclaimer: Anything you recognize? Ain't mine.
Summary: All Rose wants is a breath of fresh air.
A/N: Pretty heavy. Apocalyptic. Post!Doomsday, AU. Now part of a series! Other parts coming soon!
The air is thick with smoke and Rose can't breathe for it. She coughs violently, falling to her knees amid the ruins of Torchwood.
Her nose and throat burn and tears stream down her cheeks. She feels as though she is covered in blood and she is not very wrong.
Her knees sting from the debris she's kneeling on but she can't stand. Not yet.
All Rose Tyler can do is stare out at the destruction all around her: all that's left of Torchwood, of London, the entire world.
She's the only one left. She doesn't know how she knows, but she does. There is no one.
There's a crash nearby and Rose jumps, cowering as she looks around for the source. She doesn't find it but hears nothing else and relaxes ever so slightly.
Rose closes her eyes and tries to breathe, wishing the air were clear. She wonders if moving would even help. Afraid if she moves, they'll come back.
They'd come from the skies, given no warning and showed no mercy and after just a matter of hours-
-hours, oh dear God-
-the world is gone, the planet dead along with her six billion inhabitants.
Except for Rose.
She doesn't know how she is still alive, how she's been missed, but she has.
It isn't a terribly desirable way to be.
A sob escapes Rose's lips as she pushes herself to stand, her entire body protesting.
She's completely lost. There is no precedence in her life for anything even remotely like this and she doesn't know what to do.
First in her mind is the desire to breathe clean air and so this is what she sets out to find.
She doesn't know if she will.
She walks gingerly along, keeping her eyes on her feet in a concerted effort to avoid looking at the bodies scattered around her.
Her hair is in her face and she pushes it back, feels that it's sticky. Her stomach turns and her hand drops to her side.
She keeps walking, keeps her head down. She is afraid to see the faces of the dead, knowing it would make it all too real.
*****
She has been walking for a day now.
Unaware of when exactly the sun rose this morning, the smoke and haze still so thick, all she knows is that it is brighter now than it was before.
She has not stopped and she has not rested. Her lungs ache now with every breath she takes, the smoke burning with every inhalation.
She is holding out for that breath of fresh air. She knows it is coming. She will rest then.
The city is behind her now. She doesn't know where she is, but it doesn't matter.
The houses that line the road are all either on fire or blackened heaps.
The air smells of burning wood and rubber and plastic, and something else that Rose can identify but doesn't want to think about.
A tree begins to fall and Rose watches as it gains momentum. It crashes into a house, splitting it down the middle and causing the flames to leap into the air, quickly igniting the tree as well.
Rose continues on.
*****
The sky is darkening again, the sun setting after a weary day of lighting a dead world.
The houses are beginning to thin out now and nature is encroaching.
The air already feels lighter but is still heavy with smoke.
Not what she wants, but she feels it is close.
There is a new sound. Engines.
Rose slows, her heart rising into her throat. They're coming back, she thinks, and wonders if she can hide. If there's even a point.
But as she listens, she realizes these are not the same engines.
And when she realizes what engines they are, she thinks she's gone mad.
Even as the blue box materializes in front of her, just down the road, she thinks it's a hallucination.
The door opens and the sound is so achingly familiar it brings tears to Rose's eyes.
He steps out, brown suit, blue shirt, and stares around, horrified.
Rose still does not know if he is real but she picks up her pace.
His gaze falls on her and his expression is something she can't describe. But there is joy, and there is relief.
He holds his hand out and Rose begins to run, ignoring the burning in her chest, the stiffness in her legs, the blisters on her feet.
Then he is there, sweeping her into his arms, and she holds him, hardly daring to believe he is real, even now.
But it feels like him and it smells like him. When he pulls away and takes her face in his hands, his eyes are full of concern. He's saying something that she's not hearing, but it is his voice.
She's crying now, unsure when she started, and he leads her into the blue box, away from this burning parallel world that is no longer her home.
He is her air, this is her home, and she is safe.