Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Donna and Ten - The Inbetweens and backstories ❯ Chapter Twenty One ( Chapter 21 )

`WHOP!'

 

"Oh typical", Rose thought to herself, night time again, but it wasn't London this time, it was Leeds. She heard footsteps coming down the street from around the corner, and waited. Sure enough, Donna Noble came around the corner.

 

'Hello,' Donna said quietly. There was no animosity this time; this woman had saved their lives at Christmas. Not that they had much of a life now, it was more of an existence, living from day to day until the next disaster stuck, which appeared to be suffocation by Atmos devices.

 

'Hi,' Rose said; an air of sadness in her voice. 'Shall we go somewhere quiet where we can talk?'

 

They walked down the street together in silence, as Donna took them through an alley between two terraced blocks of houses and headed up a hill, into a small park, where they sat on a bench under some trees.

 

'It's the ATMOS devices,' Rose started to explain, talking as though she was an inhabitant of this hellish world.

 

'We're lucky, it's not so bad here, Britain hasn't got that much petrol. But all over Europe, China, South Africa, they're getting choked by gas.'

 

'Can't anyone stop it?'

 

'Yeah, they're trying right now, this little band of fighters, on board the Sontaran ship . . . Any second now.'

 

As they watched, the sky caught fire with a roar, spreading out to the horizon in all directions; Donna's mouth fell open in horror.

 

'And that was?'

 

'That was the Torchwood team . . . Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, they gave their lives . . . And Captain Jack Harkness has transported to the Sontaran home world, there's no one left,' she said with resignation.

 

'You're always wearing the same clothes, why won't you tell me your name?'

 

Rose wanted to tell her, but knew that she couldn't. 'None of this was meant to happen,' she said by way of an explanation. 'There was a man . . . this . . . wonderful man, and he stopped it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, he stopped them all from happening.'

 

'That Doctor?' Donna realised.

 

'You knew him.'

 

'Did I?' she asked eagerly. 'When?'

 

'I think you dream about him sometimes. It's a man in a suit. Tall, thin man. Grrreat hair . . . Some . . . really great hair,' Rose remembered with a desire and a need to see that impossibly sticky up hair again.

 

'Who-are-you?' Donna asked again.

 

'I was like you . . . I used to be you. You've travelled with him, Donna. You've travelled with the Doctor in a different world.'

 

'I never met him, and he's dead,' she said with an air of finality.

 

'He died underneath the Thames on Christmas Eve, but you were meant to be there. He needed someone to stop him, and that was you. You made him leave. You saved his life.'

 

Donna stared past Rose, off into the distance, remembering fire and water, and the silhouette of a man with sticky up hair.

 

[`Doctor, you can stop now',] she had shouted. That memory unsettled her and she stood up, walking quickly away from this strange, nameless woman. 'Stop it. I don't know what you're talking about. Leave me alone!'

 

'Something's coming, Donna,' Rose said with emotion. 'Something worse.'

 

'The whole world is stinking . . . How can anything be worse than this?'

 

'Trust me; we need the Doctor more than ever. I've . . .' She hesitated, did she tell her truth? What choice did she have? They needed Donna to make the right choice.

'I've been pulled across from a different universe because every single universe is in danger. Its coming, Donna, it's coming from across the stars and nothing can stop it.'

 

'What is?' Donna asked angrily.

 

'The darkness.'

 

That sounded ominous, but what had it got to do with her? 'Well, what do you keep telling me for? What am I supposed to do? I'm nothing special. I mean, I'm . . . I'm not. I'm nothing special. I'm a temp. I'm not even that. I'm nothing.'

 

'Donna Noble, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation,' Rose said with a conviction that made her laugh.

 

'Oh, don't . . . Just don't.' That was too much. 'I'm tired . . . I'm so . . . tired.'

 

'I need you to come with me,' Rose said urgently as Donna started to walk away.

 

Donna turned around and gave her attitude. 'Yeah . . . Well . . . blonde hair might work on the men, but you ain't shifting me, lady.'

 

Rose smiled. 'That's more like it.'

 

'I've got plenty more,' she nodded.

 

Rose relaxed, she'd done it, and Donna had got her attitude back. 'Then you'll come with me . . . only when you want to.'

 

'You'll have a long wait, then,' she said, walking away.

 

'Not really, just three weeks.' The certainty in her voice made Donna stop and turn around. 'Tell me, does your grandfather still own that telescope?'

 

'He never lets go of it.'

 

'Three weeks time, but you've got to be certain . . . because when you come with me, Donna, sorry . . . so sorry, but . . . you're gonna die.'

 

`WHOP!'

 

Rose staggered into the lever room, afternoon sunlight shining through the windows of her father's glass fronted office opposite.

 

'How'd it go Sweetheart?' Pete asked her, as she handed the Dimension Disk to a technician.

 

'Good,' she said distractedly, and then looked into her fathers eyes. 'Well, not good for her. I told her the facts, and got her attitude back,' she said with a smile, which faded quickly. 'And, I told her that she would die . . . I've given her the choice; it's all up to her now.'

 

 

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Kate Stewart, the Head of Scientific Research at UNIT, was in the Operations Room of UNIT headquarters, under the remains of the Tower of London, when her mobile phone rang. She took it out of her jacket pocket, and looked at the display, which said `TORCHWOOD'. There had to be a mistake, Torchwood no longer existed, Torchwood One had been devastated by the Dalek, Cybermen battle in 2007, and Jack Harkness's team had recently perished in the Atmos incident.

 

'Osgood, put a trace on this call,' she called to her personal assistant, before answering the call. 'Hello?'

 

'Kate Stewart? I need your help,' a young woman said.

 

'How did you get my number, its unlisted and confidential, it doesn't exist.'

 

'We have a mutual acquaintance,' the caller said, and then corrected herself. 'Had a mutual acquaintance.'

 

'Oh, and who's that then?'

 

'A man from Gallifrey.'

 

'Ma'am, I've triangulated a lock on the caller,' Osgood told her.

 

[`Where is she?'] She mouthed to her.

 

'Oh, and by the way, I'm in the courtyard above you,' the caller said.

 

Kate walked towards the young, blonde woman, accompanied by two soldiers carrying rifles. When she saw her, she didn't believe it was Rose Tyler, she'd died in 2007, at the battle of CanaryWharf.

 

She held out her hand. 'Kate Stewart,' she said in greeting. 'And you look like Rose Tyler, but you can't be, because you are on the list of the dead from CanaryWharf.'

 

Rose shook the offered hand. 'I need you to believe me, and I need you to trust me if you want to put all this right,' she said, waving her arms at the scaffolding around the damaged Tower, and getting straight to the point.

 

'I'm listening, but firstly, how do I know you are actually Rose Tyler? Which Doctor did you travel with?' she asked as a test.

 

Rose smiled, she liked this woman; she was smart. 'There is only one Doctor . . . he may change his appearance, and his demeanour, but it's the same person.'

 

'Yes, sorry, I mean what did he look like when you travelled with him.'

 

'I first met him when he had short black hair, big ears, and a big daft smile,' she said with a wistful smile. 'He blew up the shop that I worked in . . . remember the Autons? That was us, as was the Slitheen at Downing Street; he blew that up as well.'

 

Kate laughed. 'Yes, I remember that, he certainly liked blowing things up.'

 

'And then he changed one Christmas; that was the Sycorax invasion. He was taller, thinner, with a cute smile, and sticky up hair . . . great, sticky up hair. At the battle of CanaryWharf, I helped him open the breach, and suck all the Daleks and Cybermen into the Void, the dead space between universes. Unfortunately, I got stuck on the other side of the breach in a parallel universe.'

 

Kate looked at the woman in front of her and saw the look in her eyes; this young woman had been in love with the Doctor.

 

'That's why you were listed as missing, presumed dead. And now you've come back?'

 

'Yes, because the breach is opening again, and from the other universe, I could see this one, and the Doctor was alive. But something happened, a woman he was meant to travel with, changed her mind, and reality changed with her. None of this was supposed to happen, the Adipose, the Titanic, the Sontarans.'

 

Kate was convinced that this was Rose Tyler, she knew too much about the Doctor. 'Can you change it back?'

 

'Yes, but I'll need UNIT's help. Can you take me to the TARDIS?'

 

'What makes you think we have the TARDIS?' she asked suspiciously.

 

'Kate, I could have gone to the Black Archive without you, but I need a team to help me . . . also, you haven't been able to get inside, have you?'

 

Kate was shocked, how did Rose know about the Black Archive? She couldn't possibly remember having been there. When she had recovered from the initial shock, she shook her head. 'No, it defies all attempts at entry.'

 

Rose reached inside her plum coloured top, and pulled out a chain with a key on it. 'Would you like to see inside? `Cos I've got a key.'

 

'You'd better come with me,' Kate said.

 

Kate took Rose into the ruined Tower of London, which was still in the process of being rebuilt after the Titanic spaceship had crashed onto BuckinghamPalace last Christmas. She took her down into the bomb proof sub basement of UNIT. They made their way along a dimly lit corridor, to a door, where a man sat at a desk.

 

'Ma'am,' the man said, standing up to greet them.

 

Kate handed him her key. 'Atkins, isn't it, how's your first day on the job?'

 

'Oh, very good ma'am, quiet, but it gives me chance to read all the policies and procedures.'

 

'Very good Atkins, carry on.'

 

He opened the door, and they walked inside the most secret room on the planet. On one wall, was a board, covered with photographs of people who had visited the gallery in the past.

 

'Oh look, Sarah Jane, she's been here,' Rose said. 'Hang on, that's me . . . in here, with you. When was that taken?'

 

'Let me see,' she said as she took the photo down and looked at the back. 'Er, April 2007 . . . I think you said you were staying over with your mother, while the Doctor infiltrated a school.'

 

'Oh my God, that was DeffryValeHigh School, and the Krillitane.'

 

'Yes, that was it; the corridor erases your memory when you leave this place. Atkins has been having his first day at work for ten years now. By the way, I hope you don't mind me asking, but . . . your mother was on the list of the missing presumed dead,' Kate said with concern.

 

'She's with me, and Mickey Smith, we're in the parallel universe.'

 

'Oh, that's a relief,' she said as she pinned the photograph back on the board. 'Come on, this way.'

 

Rose followed her to a dark room, where she flicked a switch and a spotlight illuminated the doors of a blue wooden box. Rose's hand covered her mouth as she gasped at the sight of the TARDIS.

 

'Oh girl . . . what's happened to you?' She had tears in her eyes as she walked forwards and hesitantly reached out to touch the wooden exterior. A dim light glowed behind the windows, and the lamp on top also tried to illuminate.

 

'That's the first sign that the TARDIS is still working since we brought it here,' Kate told her.

 

Rose could feel the TARDIS's sadness and grief. 'We're mourning the loss of our Time Lord.'

 

She put the key in the lock and turned it, pushing the door open and stepping into the dim interior. Kate followed her inside and walked up the ramp behind her.

 

Rose gently stroked the console. 'Hello old girl, how have you been?' The roundels glowed in greeting, and she leaned across to stroke the time rotor. There was a stuttering wheeze, as it tried to pump up and down.

 

Kate stood by her side. 'Rose, you said you could change this, what did you mean?'

 

'The woman who was supposed to save him, her name is Donna Noble, and she has a perception filtered alien creature on her back, which is making her change her choices. We think it's feeding on the infinite potential energy that gets left behind.'

 

'And what do you need from UNIT?'

 

Rose reached inside her jacket, and took out an A4 plastic wallet of papers. 'These are blueprints for a time machine, drawn up by Malcolm Taylor and the Torchwood team. It will be powered by the TARDIS, and we need your Malcolm to build it.'

 

Kate glanced over the papers in the folder. 'Right, I think I'll get Captain Magambo to oversee the movement of the TARDIS to . . .'

 

'A secure warehouse in CanningTown,' Rose finished for her, as she started down the ramp to the doors. 'It will take Malcolm three weeks to complete the work, and then Donna Noble will accompany me to change her time line.'

 

Kate looked stunned; this remarkable woman really was the Doctor's companion.

 

Rose closed the door, and stroked the wood. 'Like I said, from the other universe, we can see your future . . . up to a point.'

 

'And what point is that?' Kate asked.

 

'Be careful when you move her,' Rose said, ignoring Kate's question. 'She's fragile now that she's lost the Doctor. Oh, and Malcolm will need this.' She took the key from around her neck and held the chain out in front of her; gently dropping it into Kate's cupped hands.

Kate looked at the ordinary Yale key, as though it was the most precious jewel on Earth. She was going to say thank you to Rose, but when she looked up, Kate was alone.