They were inseparable. She was the only family she had. Now she's gone forever.

***

Willow sat in Rose's bedroom in the TARDIS, alone whilst surrounded by some of their old stuff. The Doctor had allowed her to collect her things from their flat in the Powell Estate, abandoning it in the process. For twenty-four years, she had grown up there and now she can't ever return because there's nothing left for her now.

On Rose's bed, Willow searched through a box that contained several parts of their joint history. There was an old teddy that she had given Rose when she was two, she never slept without it until she was eleven. Another item she found was a heart-shaped locket with a picture of herself inside. She smiled at the old photo, recognising her hair was more red during her teen years. Willow remembered that she once dyed her hair blonde because Rose had done it, it's never really come out well.

Her hand searched the box for more items to remember Rose by. Then, she picked up three pictures of Rose and her. The first one was inside the TARDIS.

It must have been down there for a while now as the polaroid felt sticky on her hands. The next photo she viewed was a slightly younger one. She believed that it was when Rose dared her to skip school for the day and visit the countryside. They ended up hating it because it was too quiet. Rose remarked that it would have been better at school than being in the middle of a field.

The final one she admired was a picture of Willow and Rose when they were children, more specifically a year after Rose was born.

Her eyes looked so bright in the old photo, standing out, along with her ginger hair. However, she was most drawn to Rose. She had been there on the day she arrived on the Earth and tried to be there every step of the way until she just had to slip off the lever in Torchwood.

It was all their fault. Then again, the Doctor, Willow and Rose were the ones who started the organisation in the first place. If they never went to the manor in Scotland with Queen Victoria and the werewolf, she would have never created it and her cousin would still be in her arms. 

Although they may have been the ones who were trying to reach a spacial disturbance, the Daleks were the ones who smashed through the wall of the Void and allow the Cybermen to come to Earth. It was their fault.

There were so many things that led up to this event, so many little things that they thought didn't matter. All of those small details led Rose to become trapped in a parallel universe, along with the rest of her family.

Willow had already lost her father to the Time War, she had lost her adoptive uncle, she had lost her adoptive parents to the Auton attack and then she lost the rest of her family. She was alone, completely alone. The only person left in her life now was the Doctor, she wasn't even sure if marriage was in the cards now.

As she fumbled through the rest of Rose's stuff, Willow pulled out a small disk. On the top, written in black pen, it said: School Project - TPIA. She squinted, bewildered by what this meant. Curious to what was on this disk, Willow decidedly left her bedroom and wandered down the hallways to find a television set. 

After searching many rooms, she made her way back to the console where the Doctor was sitting, minding his own business until she walked in. "Hey, do you have a DVD player?"

He nodded, pointing at the screen. Willow handed him the disk, confusing him also. "What is this? Some kind of home movie."

"I don't know," She responded. "Just put it in."

"Ok," He inserted the disk into the console, configuring the screen to connect with the DVD. Suddenly, the screen changed as it began to load. "There we go."

There was a flash and, all of a sudden, they were looking through the view of the camera. There, standing in front of a mirror whilst playing ukelele, was a younger Willow. "Smile for the camera, Willow!" A girl's voice said off-camera.

"Rose, stop filming me!" Willow said with a chuckle in her voice.

"I can't, I have to film this for my school project." They watched as she turned the camera around, revealing a teen Rose. "The person I admire is my cousin, Willow! She's one of my best friends and we've grown up together, so I basically know everything about her!"

"You don't know everything about me!"

"This must have been in 2001, when Rose was fourteen." She theorised. "We sound so young."

"She inspires me because she's amazing, talented and extremely smart. She's like a pretty nerd!"

The two laughed at Rose, while the Willow in the film was cringing. "Don't say that, I'm really not!"

"Not a nerd or not pretty?" She asked, wanting to know her preference.

"I don't know," Young Willow replied, sitting down next to her cousin. "If I ever get the chance to have a boyfriend, I expect him to decide."

Willow glared at the Doctor beside her, sarcastically. He bobbed his head. "Well, I mean I don't really care. You're both beautiful and smart." He put an arm around her waist as they continued to watch.

"Ooh, you hear that boys! Willow Hughes is single and looking for LOOOOVE!"

"Shut up!" She tried to steal the camera off her, but Rose pushed it away for her.

"And the best thing about Willow is that I love her." Her statement brewed some emotion inside Willow that forced her into a depression again. "I love her to the moon and back! One day, we're going to see the world!"

"That's highly unlikely-"

"And we will never be parted." Rose put an arm around her, embracing her.

The video abruptly ended as Willow felt the tears returning. The Doctor continued to hold his fiancee close, now truly understanding how much Rose meant to her. She had been a good friend of his as well since she was the first he picked up before her cousin.

As Willow weeped into his jacket, he decided to speak. "Do you want to see her?"

She glanced up, disoriented. "What?"

"Do you want to see her?" He repeated his question.

"But the walls are closed, the breach is closed we... we saw it didn't we?"

"Yes, but all walls have gaps, even if they're not shown."

***

We're getting close to the end! I've finished all three chapters now, meaning I've completed the book. Wow, the second book. I never thought I'd make it this far.

- Alice ❤