Let me tell ye a story, Rose.
It prol'ly won't help, but at least it's better than silence, yeah?
Even though I don't even know if yer listenin'.
'Sides, I'm here anyway. Might as well do somethin' with me time, or Pete will jus' keep watchin' me. Nice enough bloke, I guess, but a bit creepy sometimes. Or it might jus' be me. Or maybe jus' because I don't know ye, but I come an' sit with ye anyways.
... Anyway. I'm not much good at storytellin', but I'll try me best.
Once upon a time, there was a man. A boy. Somewhere in between the two. He lived by himself. He had no friends. An' he was angry- he was furious, because there was a man, a genius, who was takin' advantage o' the common person's desire ta keep up with the Joneses ta put everyone under his control.
An' nobody but the young man seemed ta realize it.
... Actually, this'll get really damn confusin' if I keep sayin' "the young man," so I'm jus' gonna flat-out refer ta meself as meself now. Screw mysticism an' storytellin' an' all that crap.
Oh, yeah. I was angry, because Lumic- the genius bloke, remember him?- was controllin' the whole world, an' nobody seemed ta realize it. ... Well, I'd also lost me job 'cause of him an' didn't have any way ta pay me rent or feed meself, which might have a bit ta do with it...
But then I found others who felt the same way. We got together, an' we made the Preachers. I fell in love-Â God, I loved Ricky. He made me happier than I'd been in years, ever since I ran a-
So I loved him. An' he loved me, an' I had this brilliant friend, Viviane- I think ye would've liked her- an' fer the first time in years, I felt like I had a family.
Well, Viviane, she- she died a few months before the Cybermen came, but... ye know what happened. The Cybermen appeared, an'... they were killed. All o' them, except fer me.
That was the first time we met. Remember? Ye were with Him.
It hurts ta remember, I know. It hurts me, too, even after all these years. An' it never stops hurtin', really, even though people tell ye otherwise.
Ye jus' learn ta cope with it, eventually. Ye have ta learn, or ye can't go on. An' I thought about it sometimes, believe me- thought about takin' a gun or a knife or anythin' I could get me hands on, an' I considered jus' endin' it, because I was scared. O' bein' alone. O' failin', an' havin' the Cybermen win.
I was terrified, really. I jus' pretended ta be brave. I still do it- it's a job requirement, I s'pose. Pretendin' ta be brave when yer scared shitless.
Still. Back ta the Cybermen. An' ta Mickey.
I hated him at first. Ye know that? I hated him, 'cause he was alive an' Ricky wasn't. An' it was so strange- 'cause sometimes, jus' every once in a while, I'd forget. An' I'd expect him ta do somethin', or say somethin', an' he'd do it- but jus' a little bit differently than Ricky would've done it.
It took a while ta get used to. An' then it became even worse, in a way, 'cause then IÂ knew Ricky was never comin' back, that I was alone again. Hell, the number o' times I had ta try not ta start bawlin' in front o' Mick...
I don't want it ta be like that fer you. I mean, yeah, ye can be sad, sayin' "don't be sad" is stupid 'cause it's not like yer sad by choice- but I don't want ye ta feel like ye don't have anyone ta turn to.
So if ye want a shoulder ta cry on, or a hug, or a cuppa tea, or even jus' ta be left alone- sometimes that's all ye want- jus' let me know, okay? I know how it feels, Rose. It hurts worse than gettin' shot, an' if I can do anythin' ta help... let me know.
[Too many emotions coursing through her. She's not all right, and she's not going to pretend to be, not for anyone. The tear tracks are still visible on her face, the face that was trying to be expressionless but instead only looked heartbroken.]
...thanks. [Her voice is broken, just like she is. She does have no one to turn to, because she's not going to bother kind Jake who she barely knows and who reminds her too much of a time past -- a time with the Doctor -- with her heartbreak. But it means a lot that he tried.]
