Doctor Who Fan Fiction ❯ Donna and Ten - The Inbetweens and backstories ❯ Chapter Twenty Two ( Chapter 22 )

Donna screamed, as key events in her altered timeline rewound. She could hear the word `left', echoing in her memory. A parasitic alien beetle dropped from her back, as the Asian fortune teller cowered in the corner of the hut in fear.

 

'What the hell is that?' Donna said in disgust.

 

'You were so strong . . . What are you? What will you be?' she said, scrabbling to her feet, and fleeing out the back of the hut. 'What will you be?' she repeated from outside as she ran away.

 

'Everything all right?' the Doctor said cheerfully, popping his head between the curtains.

 

'Oh, God,' she said in distress, rushing forward and hugging him.

 

'What was that for?' the Doctor said, bemused by her reaction.

 

'I don't know,' she laughed, and hugged him again. 'I'm just SO glad that you're here, and not dead.'

 

'Eh?'

 

'I was having my palm read, and it was like I was daydreaming, but it was real. I never met you and you were killed in that incident under the Thames, and the world went to hell in a hand basket,' she said quickly, trying to tell him before it went and was forgotten.

 

'Oh hello, and what's this thing then?' he said, looking at the dead beetle on it's back.

 

'I . . . I turned left. I was in the car with Mum, and I turned left, and then everything seemed to go in reverse, and that thing fell off my back.'

 

The Doctor picked it up off the floor, and placed it on a cloth covered box. He guided his trembling companion to a chair and sat her down, before sitting himself and flipping over the beetle to examine it. He prodded it with a small stick, and leg twitched in a reflex action, it was definitely dead.

 

'So what happened in this vision of hell that you had?'

 

'I can't remember . . . it's slipping away . . . You know like when you try and think of a dream and it just sort of goes.'

 

'Just got lucky, this thing, it's one of the Trickster's Brigade . . . Changes a life in tiny little ways,' he told her. It was a creature of the abstract, a smaller, less powerful version of a weeping angel.  'Most times, the universe just compensates around it, but with you? Great big parallel world.'

 

Donna smiled, and then thought about what he'd said. 'Hold on. You said parallel worlds are sealed off.'

 

'They are, but you had one created around you. Funny thing is, seems to be happening a lot . . . to you.' There was something he couldn't put his finger on, something about Donna.

 

'How do you mean?'

 

'Well, the Library and then this.'

 

'Just . . . goes with the job, I suppose.'

 

'Sometimes I think there's way too much coincidence around you, Donna.' He was trying to gather his thoughts; it was as though she was the opposite of Jack Harkness, where he appeared "wrong", Donna Noble appeared impossibly "right".

 

'I met you once, then I met your grandfather, then I met you again . . . In the whole wide universe, I met you for a second time . . . It's like something's binding us together.'

 

'Don't be so daft. I'm nothing special.'

 

'Yes, you are. You're brilliant,' he said in a playful voice that made her smile.

 

['He thought you were brilliant.'] She saw the blonde woman, in the TARDIS, telling her just that.

 

'She said that.'

 

'Who did?'

 

'That woman . . . I can't remember,' she said, shaking her head.

 

'Well, she never existed now.' That time line had been changed, corrected, eliminated.

 

'No, but she said the stars . . . She said the stars are going out.'

 

'Yeah, but that world's gone.' Donna didn't understand about temporal flux, and how some time lines changed, changing the perception of reality.

 

'No, but she said it was all worlds, every world . . . She said the darkness is coming . . . even here.'

 

"Hang on", he thought, how did Donna know about all the possible parallel worlds?

 

[`Doctor, she is returning.'] The words of Lucius echoed in his mind.

 

'Who was she?'

 

'I don't know.'

 

'What did she look like?' he asked, hoping beyond hope for the right answer.

 

'She was . . .' Donna saw a fleeting glimps of her in her memory. 'Blonde.'

 

[`She is returning.']

 

'What was her name?' he asked urgently.

 

'I don't know.'

 

'Donna, what was her name?' Now he was desperate.

 

Donna then remembered the end of her vision; the blonde woman leaned over her as she lay dying in the road. 'But she told me to warn you. She said two words.'

 

[`She is returning.']

 

'What two words? What were they? What did she say?' The questions poured from his lips, desperate to hear the message.

 

'Bad Wolf . . .'

 

[`She is returning.']

 

Bad Wolf . . .? BAD WOLF . . .? What the hell? He certainly wasn't expecting that. But still, there was only one blonde that would send a warning like that. "Oh Rose, It's you!" he thought in stunned silence.

 

'Well, what does it mean?'

 

That was a very good question, he thought as he ran outside. Every printed thing now said Bad Wolf, the posters on the walls, the flags, the banners. Even the TARDIS said Bad Wolf instead of Police Box. He ran inside, to see the time rotor glowing with an ominous red light.

 

`DONG!' The cloister bell tolled.

 

'Doctor, what is it . . .? What's Bad Wolf?'

 

'It's the end of the universe.'

 

'What?'

 

'We've got to get back to Earth,' he told her as he started the time rotor. He ran around the console like a man possessed, impatient to land and see what fate was about to befall the universe. He ran outside . . . onto a grass verge of a quiet, suburban street.

 

'It's fine . . . Everything's fine . . . Nothing's wrong, all fine,' he said as they turned in circles, looking around at the normal street.

 

They watched a milk float trundle up the street and stop outside a house. 'Excuse me . . . what day is it?' the Doctor called to the Milkman.

 

'Saturday,' the Milkman called back, thinking he must have had a good Friday night out if he couldn't remember it was Saturday.

 

'Saturday . . . Good,' he called back. 'Good, I like Saturdays,' he said quietly to himself.

 

'So, I just met Rose Tyler?' Donna asked him.

 

'Yeah,' he replied distractedly.

 

She could see now why he fell in love with her, and why it took him so long to come to terms with losing her, she was awesome. 'But she's locked away in a parallel world.'

 

'Exactly. If she can cross from her parallel world to your parallel world, then that means the walls of the universe are breaking down, which puts everything in danger. Everything . . . But how?'

 

He went back into the TARDIS to check on the status of the universe, and Donna followed him. He started adjusting the controls, and looked at the display monitor.

 

'The thing is, Doctor . . . no matter what's happening, and I'm sure it's bad, I get that,' she started, trying to judge his current mood. 'But, Rose is coming back . . . Isn't that good?'

 

He looked up from the console, his brow furrowed with worry about the Bad Wolf warning, but he thought about his love returning, and he smiled; a smile that Donna had not seen before, a smile that reached his eyes, and came from his soul. 'Yeah.'

 

Nah, the universe contested, as the TARDIS lurched with a crunching sound, sending them sprawling across the console. It was odd, because they weren't even in flight, they were still parked on the grass verge on the quiet, suburban street, or so he thought.

 

'What the hell was that?' Donna shouted.

 

'Don't know. It came from outside.' He ran down the ramp to see what had happened, and he pulled the doors open. The grass verge on the quiet, suburban street had gone, so had the Milkman and his float, along with the houses, the neighbourhood, and the rest of the planet.

 

'But we're in space,' Donna observed as he ran back to the console. 'How did that happen.. what did you do?'

'We haven't moved, we're fixed,' he said, frowning at the monitor. 'It can't have . . . No.' He ran back to join Donna at the Doors. 'The TARDIS is still in the same place, but the Earth has gone . . . the entire planet . . . it's gone.'

 

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

 

 

The Doctor had followed the Tandocca Trail into the Medusa Cascade, hoping to find Earth, only it wasn't there, there was nothing, just the clouds of nebulous gas and dust. Now what? They were leaning against the coral struts around the console, trying to think of how they could find the Earth, he was sure the trail would lead them to the stolen planet.

 

And then Martha's phone had rung, and he had been able to follow the signal, that was just one second out of sync with the rest of the universe, and there it was, planet Earth. Only it wasn't alone, there were twenty six other planets and the Daleks, and they were up to something, something bad.

 

He landed the TARDIS in London, and they stepped out on to the ruins of a suburban street at night. Well, actually, it was night all over the planet, because there was no sun. Abandoned cars littered the deserted street.

 

'It's like a ghost town,' Donna noted.

 

'Sarah Jane said they were taking the people. What for? Think, Donna, when you met Rose in that parallel world, what did she say?'

 

'Just . . . the darkness is coming.'

 

What did that mean? He thought to himself. 'Anything else?'

 

Donna shook her head and was about to say no, when she looked past his shoulder. Oh at last, after all this time, thank God. He was about to get his miracle. 'Why don't you ask her yourself?'

 

He frowned at her, and saw that she was looking behind him. He looked over his shoulder, and at the end of the street he saw a lone figure standing there, a young woman, a blonde woman. Could it be? He didn't want to believe it, because he didn't want to be wrong and be disappointed. But then she smiled, and his heart soared, oh how he'd missed that smile.

 

Donna was grinning like a Cheshire cat, as Rose Tyler started to run towards him, and then, the Doctor started running towards her, faster and faster, impatient to be reunited with his love. As usual though, things didn't go as he would have liked. He was the Doctor, and the universe expected payment for performing miracles.

 

Rose saw it first from her viewpoint and skidded to a halt, as a Dalek came from a side street to her right.

 

'Exterminate,' it declared in a screechy voice, and fired a bolt of energy at the Doctor. He didn't see it until the last moment, and tried to dodge out of the way. He managed to avoid the full force of the energy discharge, but it still glanced across his chest, lighting him up and sending him spinning to the ground.

 

Donna and Rose gasped in disbelief as he fell, surely it couldn't end like this. There was a flash of bright light, and Jack Harkness appeared with a large plasma cannon, which he quickly used to dispatch the Dalek.

 

Rose shrugged off her plasma rifle and put it on the floor as she knelt down to cradle his head in her hand. 'I've got you. It missed you. Look, it's me, Doctor.'

 

'Rose,' he breathed with a smile.

 

'Hi,' she said, trying to hide her fear and concern.

 

'Long time no see,' he gasped, it was difficult to breath.

 

'Yeah.' She nearly lost it and sobbed, but managed to turn it into a smile. 'Been busy, you know?'

 

He groaned in pain, and she grabbed his head with both hands. 'Don't die . . . Oh, my God, don't die. Oh my God, don't die.' She was now on the edge of breaking down.

 

Jack and Donna reached them, and Jack took control. 'Get him into the TARDIS, quick. Move.' Rose and Donna supported him under each armpit, as Jack picked up Rose's rifle and covered their backs while they made their way to the TARDIS.

 

They stumbled and dragged their way up the ramp, and lowered him onto the floor grating by the console. Rose had tears in her eyes, as she looked at her dying love.

 

'What, what do we do?' Donna asked urgently. 'There must be some medicine or something.'

 

Jack put the weapons on the jump seat. 'Just step back . . . Rose, do as I say, and get back. He's dying and you know what happens next.'

 

'What do you mean? He can't,' Donna said.

 

'Oh, no. I came all this way,' Rose sobbed. All those years of hoping, all those years of trying . . . it can't end like this, it's not fair.

 

'What do you mean, what happens next?' Donna asked, starting to cry herself. This was her best friend, and he was dying.

 

He held up his right hand and looked at it; Rose saw the golden glow that she had seen once before, when he had big ears, a northern attitude, and a daft grin.

 

'It's starting,' the Doctor said, resigned to what must come next.

 

'Here we go, Jack said, grabbing Rose and pulling her to a coral strut with Donna. 'Good luck, Doctor.'

 

'Will someone please tell me what is going on?' Donna asked, as the Doctor pulled himself to his feet using the console.

 

'When he's dying, his er, his body, it repairs itself. It changes,' Rose explained. 'But you can't!' she cried.

 

'I'm sorry, it's too late.' He started to pant, as though he was going to throw up. 'I'm regenerating.' He turned away from them and threw his head back, and his arms out. Bright, golden light shone from his body which hurt their eyes as they tried to watch.

 

Golden energy streamed from his hands and head, and he, Jack, Rose, and Donna believed he was regenerating. With an effort, he turned and pointed both hands towards his spare hand in the jar under the console. The energy flowed into the jar, causing the fluid to bubble as it absorbed the Artron energy.

 

The Doctor staggered backwards, panting breathlessly, as the energy discharge ceased. His three friends looked on with mouths open, and stunned expressions on their tear stained faces.

 

'Now then,' he said with a sniff. 'Where were we?' He went over to the console and crouched down to check on his glowing spare hand.

 

'There now,' he said, blowing the glowing mist away.

 

He looked up at his stunned friends. 'You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but soon as I was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to. Why would I? Look at me,' he said, straightening his tie. 'So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle, namely my hand . . . my hand there. My handy spare hand.'

 

He looked at Rose. 'Remember? Christmas Day, Sycorax. Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand . . . What do you think?'

 

Rose walked uncertainly towards him. 'You're still . . . you?'

 

'I'm still me,' he said with a smile.

 

Her heart soared with joy, and she hugged him so hard. It had worked, all the planning and effort to find him and reach him, and now she had him, here in her arms. She so wanted to kiss him, but with Jack and Donna there, she knew he would be reluctant to show his real feelings.

 

Jack and Donna didn't mind though, you could feel the love in the room, even the TARDIS was resonating a feeling of love through the ship.

 

'You can hug me, if you want,' Donna said and Jack just laughed. 'No, really . . . you can hug me.' She wouldn't mind a hug from this gorgeous hunk. "You watch, it'd just be my luck that he's gay", she thought to herself as she pulled him into a hug.