The City of Angels

Part 1

The TARDIS moaned, sounding as if the machine itself were breathing, every exhale a whirling, whooshing sound, and every inhale the inverse.  The Doctor stood by the controls, romping around the console, flipping several lever and pushing buttons.  Rose leaned against the railing watching him show off.  When the TARDIS's breaths finally fell short, The Doctor turned to her and smiled a wicked grin.  

"Where are we?"  Rose inquired.

The Doctor made no reply, instead he simply raised an eyebrow and dipped his head toward the door.

"Oh, come on, Doctor, where are we?"

He grabbed his coat and pulled it over his head, moving toward the door.

"Why don't we got find out?"

Rose returns his smile and laughs, skips to the doors, and flings them open.

The air is suddenly rich with a deafening scream, as Rose turns despeartely in the Doctor's direction, she yells once more

"DOCTOR!"

Rose vanishes from sight, appearing to have disappeared without a trace, the air around her empty, the only thing in view was, exactly where Rose had been standing, a lone stone angel.

The Doctor's hearts miss a beat, for one second he stands completly still, unable to process wht he just witnessed.  Sentient beings are like that.  They deny the things that are too difficult for their minds to process.  He simply stood there, staring at the place where she had been, now occupied by the angel.  Eventually, reality closed in, fear and realization struck the Doctor, hard.  Rose was gone.

"Rose!"

The TARDIS, having, just a few seconds ago been completely silent, began ot breathe again.  But this time every inhale came out    rasp and a feeble beeping sound.  There was another sound, like nails against a chalkboard or tires slipping in the rain.  The TARDIS was screaming.  The floor began to shake, in fact the entire room began to shake violently, then it whirled and spun tossing The Doctor about like he was but a little toy rag doll.  He was thrown about, eventually grabbing hold of one of the coral-shaped pillars and wedging himself between it and the chair.  He was silent and hurt was caught in his eyes.  The loss of Rose still fresh, he felt as if he had been torn open, a jagged wound across his entire body, and that he was somehow empty and hollow.  He was still having trouble believing it.  But deep inside he knew it was true.  Rose was gone.  He just didn't want it to be true.  It couldn't be true.  Not Rose.  Never Rose.

Sparks begin to shoot from the console, flying about wildly, fire spreads around it.  Flames lap around the control room.  The TARDIS lights begin to flicker, then die, leaving no light but that of the hungry tongues of fire shooting out from the console.  Rose is gone.  Rose is gone.

The quaking motion of the TARDIS slows, and eventually comes to a stop.  The TARDIS's screams die away, and the fire that had been consuming the TARDIS whole, blinks out like it and never been there in the first place.  The Doctor is left alone in the darkness.  The Doctor looks up from where he had wedged himself, safely unharmed, with the exception, of course, of the gaping hole Rose had left in his hearts.  He  let his head drop back onto the floor, lolling slightly to the side.  

"Rose..."  he whispered it like it was a forbidden word.  The loss still struck him.

He could see no point in getting up.  But of course, he is the Doctor, and the Doctor had suffered enough loss to know that lying around wasn't helping anyone, certainly not Rose.  He heaved himself to his feet, with difficulty, and cleanses the emotion from his face, replacing it with a faraway, unearthly expression.  He walks over to the console at a deliberately slow pace, runs his finger over some of the controls and attempts to move them.  Nothing happens.  The Doctor sighs and turns to face the doors, knowing perfectly well he had to go outside but not really wanting to.  Reluctantly, he opens the doors, revealing a sloping hillside, and spread out below him the jagged peaks of high rise buildings and towers.  The sky is a restless gray, the color of slate and roaring seas, ominous arsenic clouds gathered at the horizon, keeping watch over the city below.  Beneath him, in infinite splendor, lay the city of Los Angeles.