What He Did

I apologize in advance for any broken hearts, tears, and/or feels drawn from this story and/or any of the videos included. (The worst scene in all of Doctor Who to the side or above or wherever you see it. Music videos farther down.)

She was gone. For one heart-stopping moment, both his hearts died as he watched her fly toward the void while he hung on, helpless.

She was gone. Relief had swept through him when he saw Pete appear at just the right moment to pull her away. For a second, he hoped she could zap back, but he knew there wasn't time.

"Systems closed," the automated voice told him.

When the rip finally sealed, he knew she was gone. He knew they were separated. All those things she said barely five minutes before flashed through his mind.

He does it alone, mum. But not anymore. 'Cause now he's got me.

That look of betrayal she gave him as he fit the inter-dimensional teleportation necklace over her neck. That expression of determination she got when she'd made up her mind and nothing in the universe would ever be able to stop her.

I made my choice a long time ago, and I'm never gonna leave you.

Never.

They keep trying to split us up, but they never ever will.

Never.

His own words stabbed his mind like a dagger of ice.

Never say never ever.

He walked to the wall, with that lingering hope still in his hearts. His mind told him it was sealed, but his two hearts outnumbered it.

The wall was solid, and she was gone. He stared at it, as if that could make it change back. What he wouldn't sacrifice to hear her laugh again, see her smile again, watch her walk around an alien planet like she owned the place.

The one thing he couldn't sacrifice was the only thing that would actually bring her back.

Bringing her back would bring the Daleks and the Cybermen back. That would go against his very nature. And she would kill him.

He pressed his cheek against the wall, possibly hoping that he could hear something. Her voice, a Dalek, something that meant it was still open, that he could get her back.

There was nothing, just cold, empty silence. The silence of solitude once again.

And if she was over there, in the other universe, maybe she was in this very place. Maybe she knew he was here.

There was no way of knowing.

Still, he racked his brain for information. Something, anything. He ran through equations in his head, multiplied and squared and X-rooted factorials. Energy, mass, light speed, the Universal Number, kilowatts, joules, kelvins, knotts, miles, verrigats, noggurtzes, invisible numbers, the Franklain Graphs, cyber-pulses. Nothing.

He pressed his cheek harder against the wall, mentally screaming for his ears to hear something. Nothing.

He could sense the universe. He could sense the void closed. He could feel the safety of everyone.

Everyone but the one who mattered most. He couldn't feel her at all. She was gone.

He didn't have any piece of her, not even her family. They were all gone.

Could there be any kind of opening left? Gyddrehurtz, Kilobs, New Hungarian Fractors. Numbers and equations whizzed through his head. His magnificent brain calculated the facts faster than any computer ever would.