[ for rude_not_ginger; shadows and light ]

[roseoflegend]

Winter wasn't coming, it had already been there and claimed its territory. London was unrelenting at this time of year, the way it tended to be with snowstorms and sleeting rain that solidified into ice and made the going across the roads near to impossible with a steady stride. Jackie was adamant about staying in until things thawed out but Rose

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[rude_not_ginger]

He could do anything.

He could do anything.

He split the fabric of the universe and took a quick trip. Just a quick trip. For a man who could do anything, this was nothing. The universe would repair itself.

The TARDIS landed inside of London. He only breezed past the date, making sure he was somewhere in the right vicinity. He wouldn't meet himself, and if he did, so what? So he met himself.

He wanted to prove just how much he could do.

[rude_not_ginger]

"I didn't think to ask you if you needed anything from there," he said. It wasn't an apology. He could do anything, he would get what she needed from their universe.

Their universe.

He liked that.

Stupid thing to think, really. Owning a universe.

He pulled another lever and the ship slowed. "Draxitica."

[roseoflegend]

"Draxitica?" Rose tried out the unfamiliar name on her tongue and a smile broke across her face. It was different but new, and she liked it. The way she had liked things when they had run across fields of apple grass together and the entire universe was waiting.

"I like that name." Her eyes shone.

[rude_not_ginger]

"Good."

He reached down and took her hand again. At what point would it hit her this was real? At what point would she wonder if she could go back? Or, maybe, she already knew and didn't care.

He liked that option the best and decided it was the one that was true.

He hopped down the ramp towards the door, her in tow.

[roseoflegend]

The reality was starting to settle in to her, and prickle at the edges of her mind. Rose was a smart girl, she knew things that others often didn't, could deduce what was going on in the world around her. But when it came to the Doctor, if something bad was happening she often didn't listen to it.

And right now her senses were screaming that something wasn't right, but she couldn't make herself care. Not yet.

Her fingers entwined with his and Rose hurried down to his side, towards the opening door.

[rude_not_ginger]

On the other side of the doors was a world of smoke. Literally. Spires of black smoke rose to a bright white sky, mountains of pink smoke in the distance, blue smoke-trees surrounding them. They stood on the edge of a chasm, with a purple smoke-waterfall tumbling over and evaporating into nothing.

The solidity of the cloud the TARDIS was on was really questionable at best, but it would stay for him and the field he'd set up for the TARDIS.

It was like he was a god, telling the skies to stand still.

[roseoflegend]

It was beautiful. Above and beyond any kind of beauty that she had ever seen on Earth, or in any other place they had gone to. Rose could remember what overtook her when she first saw the end of the world, when the Doctor had had a different face and things had been so new, so strange and foreign to her. That, in a way, had been beautiful, too.

But this was beyond it. Like something right out of a fairytale, something only meant to be seen by minds that could dare to dream it up.

"Oh," she whispered, "oh, it's beautiful. It's so beautiful." Rose knew it sounded idealistic and might have come to be a bit silly, but she didn't care. It was breathtaking. Her fingers tightened their grasp on his.

[rude_not_ginger]

"It's not bad at all," he agreed with a nod. The wonder on her face was perfect. It was exactly what he wanted, what he craved.

And he always got what he wanted. He knew how.

[roseoflegend]

"Tell me about this place?" Rose turned her head so she could look up into his face, the sparkle in her eyes bright and evident. She remembered the ways he would tell her about places, races of existence, galaxies - how he could talk for hours to her about things she never would have dared to dream.

[rude_not_ginger]

"The people died a long time ago," he said. "Blast from the Time War burned them up, and they instantly evolved into the smoke clouds here. We're treading on their backs, so tread lightly."

He liked to think that their loss was his gain.

He created this place.

[roseoflegend]

The Time War. The idea sent a chill up Rose's spine but she bit it down, shoved it back in favor of letting her head lay against his shoulder. Whenever things felt strange she always turned to him, she always had in the past. Now, it would be the same.

Her arm rested around his waist, a close kind of embrace.

"Were there a lot of them?"

[rude_not_ginger]

"A whole planet." Which wasn't really that many, in the grand scheme of things. The tone of his voice showed his feelings on that, though he did refrain from shrugging indifferently.

"Let's look around."

[roseoflegend]

She nodded because she wanted to see it all. Her fingers tightened a little more on his hip and she gave him the smile that had always been just for him.

"Lead the way."

[rude_not_ginger]

Did she think he wouldn't?

He slipped his hand possessively around her waist again and began walking along the side of the cliff.

"You think this is a dream," he finally voiced.

[roseoflegend]

Her gaze was lifted to the side of his face and she kept her eyes completely away from where they were going, trusting him completely to not let her fall. Surprise glinted in her eyes, because she hadn't expected him to guess at what she had been thinking. Not that particular thought.

"I've had so many dreams about you coming back," she admitted. "I always wake up and find you gone."

[rude_not_ginger]

"Not this time. I'm very real. And very here. As are you." To prove his point, he very gently pinched her hip. It was gentler than most of his actions.

"I suppose I should've convinced you before we left that other universe." Also, not an apology.