ignite ➝ Doctor Who¹

XXXXVIII

"Goodbye, Rose Tyler."
— Penelope Adaams, Doomsday

Penelope and Jasper watched in horror as their planet burned. Pete walked up to the wall where the breach had originated from, putting a yellow medallion around his neck. "I'm sorry, but you've had it. This world's going to crash and burn. There's nothing we can do. We're going home." He picked up another one from a commando, and held it out to Jackie. "Jacks, take this. You're coming with us." She looked at him horrified.

"But they're destroying the city." He rolled his eyes.

"I'd forgotten you could argue. It's not just London, it's the whole world. But there's another world just waiting for you, Jacks. And it's safe as long as the Doctor closes the breach. Doctor?" The man himself was just running around, still wearing that pair of 3D glasses and trying hard to ignore Penelope.

"Oh, I'm ready. I've got the equipment right here. Thank you, Torchwood." He pats the computer systems. "Slam it down and close off both universes." Rose frowns, catching his small look over to Penelope, who stood with Jasper, explaining everything to him.

"But we can't just leave. What about the Daleks? And the Cybermen?"

"They're part of the problem, and that makes them part of the solution. Oh yes! Well? Isn't anyone going to ask what is it with the glasses?" Rose smiled, taking his attention so that he could concentrate on her and his plan.

"What is it with the glasses?"

"I can see, that's what. Because we've got two separate worlds, but in between the two separate worlds, we've got the Void. That's where the Daleks were hiding. And the Cybermen travelled through the Void to get here. And you lot, one world to another, via the Void. Oh, I like that. Via the Void. Look," he handed the paper glasses to Rose, who put them on and looked around at the other people. "I've been through it. Do you see?"

She did, he was covered in them, but looking around, Penelope was even brighter.

"What is it?"

"Void stuff."

"Like er, background radiation."

"That's it. Look at the others. And the only ones who haven't been through the Void, your mother. First time she's looked normal all in her life. And that Agent." Penelope turned to look at him confused as Pete had to calm Jackie.

"Agent Jasper?" Her voice seemed to stir him up inside even more, and he just couldn't take it. So he ignored her.

"But the Daleks lived inside the Void. They're bristling with it. Cybermen, all of them. I just open the Void and reverse. The Void stuff gets sucked back inside."

"Pulling them all in!"

"Pulling them all in!" The Doctor smiled at his first companion, the first face his face saw. And his hearts broke, she couldn't stay.

Penelope wasn't watching them anymore, it hurt her a little too much to look at him. She couldn't understand what she had done. She had been explaining everything to Jasper. As much as she could without sounding insane, although he seemed very patient with her.

"Are you sure you're okay Penelope?"

"Do you think my aunt is okay?" He smiled at her softly. For the first time, he noticed the specks of gold in her worried eyes.

"If anything was wrong I'd hear about it, I'm sure everything is alright." Her chest was tight, and she spun the ring on her finger. She didn't like feeling helpless, maybe she should've just stayed behind.

Vaguely, the two of them could hear everyone else's conversations. They could hear Rose, shouting about something, but Penelope was focused on staying calm when her family could potentially be at risk. It had never occurred to her before, whilst travelling with the Doctor, the amount of risk that surrounded her and her family.

"What're you-" Rose's voice cut off with a flash, a blinding white light that hurt the backs of their eyelids. Penelope turned around, coming to face an empty room besides them and the Doctor.

"Where's Rose?" He barely looks at her, what the hell is going on?

"She's safe."

"Safe where? What is going on Doctor?"

"I've sent her back to the parallel world so that she doesn't get sucked into the void with the rest of the Daleks and the Cybermen. Which is something you'd actually know if you had paid any attention." The words stung, he could see it on her face. The same way that her blush used to flush across her cheeks, searing pain crossed instead. Jasper stepped forward, not really understanding what was happening.

"Sir. If it's got something to do with the 'background radiation' wouldn't that also put Penelope at risk?"

"Guess you'll have to hold on to her tight, Agent." The anger in his chest held off the feelings of regret as he watched her eyes start to water. Jasper walked forward, grabbing one of the three magnaclamps, before walking back over the woman he had been assigned to.

"Ma'am. I'm going to need you to hold on." She stormed past him, from where he was attaching it to the wall, towards the Doctor. Hot tears on her face and a closing throat. She couldn't differentiate between anger and sadness.

"What the hell have I done? Because I've been trying so damn hard to figure it out. But I don't know. I don't know what I've done. And I don't know why you won't look at me." He finally looked at her, and the sound of his hearts breaking at her expression was muffled under the rage.

He couldn't believe she had the nerve to ask what was wrong. Rose Tyler now had to live in a parallel world forever, a person he had known longer than her. Someone he would never see again. And she asked him what she had done.

"Did it maybe occur to you at any point, Miss Adaams, to inform me that you had been contacted by Torchwood. A group of people we know for a fact have kept popping up everywhere, always at the centre of a near disaster. But no, you kept it to yourself. If you had told me that you had been directly contacted by them then we would have checked them out, and none of this would've happened. I wouldn't have to say goodbye to Rose."

"Well I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. But between running for my life and having to bury my mother it slipped my mind."

"And-"

"And what? And maybe, you should ask about me? At least you got some form of a goodbye with Rose, I got nothing. She's my best friend Doctor, and you didn't let me say goodbye."

There was the same bright light again, and Rose was standing in the middle of the room. She didn't notice Penelope's tears or the hesitant anger lingering in the air.

"I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm never going to leave you two. So what can I do to help?" Penelope just marched over and hugged her close, terrified that she nearly never saw her again without saying goodbye. She never would've recovered. "Woah, Pen, what's up?"

"Can I say something, because I missed my chance before you left." The younger girl laughed, holding her friend closer.

"Of course you can."

"Goodbye, Rose Tyler."