Author's Note: Hello everyone! This is my first Doctor Who story, and, hopefully, not my last. As in the description, this story is about London-girl Annabella Skye and her fantastic adventures with the 11th Doctor. I see this story as taking place mid-Season 7: after the departure of the Ponds in The Angels Take Manhattan, but before the Christmas Special The Snowmen. This chapter is kind of like a glimpse into the future, but I promise that in the next chapter, it'll start at the true beginning. :)

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, events, etc. relating to Doctor Who, with the rights truly belonging to the BBC.


One month into the future, on a parallel universe's war-filled Earth

With the universe exploding around us, the Doctor and I have only one thing left that we can do- run. The Doctor grabs my hand and off we go, running and running and running until there is nothing left- then we keep going. We approach the location of where the TARDIS was, and, when we discover that the old blue time machine is missing, we dash off, desperately searching for where our escape may lie. We dodge the flames as the bombs of the war detonate near us, but when I feel one of them about to drop right on top of us, I push the Doctor to the ground and create a shield around us with the little energy that I have left. After the flames have calmed down, I release my hold and collapse. Luckily, the Doctor catches me; he's always there to catch me when I fall.

"Are you okay?" He questions me like any concerned doctor would.

"As good as I could be at a time like this," I respond before giving him a little peck on the lips. He grins at me before we venture on towards, hopefully, to a different location where the TARDIS may be hidden.

We keep running at full speed, but when I glance to my right and I suddenly stop, both the Doctor and I tumble to the ground. I gasp and choke out a sob before covering my mouth in order to keep the grief in.

"What? What is it?" The Doctor looks at me with confusion in his eyes, but I can only shake my head. "Anna, what's the matter?"

Right before I completely give into my emotions, I lift up my arm and point towards the cause of my tears. The Doctor follows my hand with his head. When he sees it, the only thing that he can do is exhale sharply, with what seems to be a bit of a shudder in his voice. About a hundred yards from where we are there lay dozens of corpses piled up one on top of the other. And near the bottom, I could just make out the body of my parallel universe adopted father; killed in war in both universes-ours and this parallel's-, I'm devastated to say.

The Doctor turns to me and gathers me up in his arms while whispering, "Oh, my dear Annabella, I'm sorry that you had to see that. I'm so, so sorry." As I weep into his shoulder, he strokes my hair, while we are both oblivious to the fact that the end of the parallel world is happening all around us.

We only snap back into place when we hear the shrill voice of a Dalek screaming, "EXTERMINATE!"

We jump up and continue on, as there is no time for tears, now in more trouble than we were in before. I take a quick look behind me before focusing forward. "It's gaining!"

The Doctor shouts to me, "Quickly, this way!" We both make a sharp right turn and make a mad dash towards what looks to be an abandoned warehouse, because the best place to die in a situation like this is in an abandoned warehouse. We crash through the doors, but swiftly turn around and slam them shut, just when the Dalek approaches the doorway. With the ensuing explosion of the Dalek, the Doctor and I celebrate with a fast cheer and a slightly less fast kiss before moving on.

About three feet away from the doors the Doctor spins on his heel and goes back while saying, "Hold on." He whips the Sonic Screwdriver out of his jacket pocket and seals the door off with a quick pulse of the wrist. "Okay then, all better. Tally-ho!"

I roll my eyes and chuckle, forgetting for just a millisecond about all the pain and suffering that I have witnessed in the past couple of hours. The Doctor has always had that effect on people- even in the worst situations, his humor allows the victims to temporarily forget all of their worries. But, in this case, when I do remember, my smile fades and I can feel the tears trying to burst out from behind my eyes.

The Doctor's smile also fades as he approaches me, and as he puts his arm around my shoulder he utters, "C'mon, let's go."

We walk down the center of the warehouse, surrounded by an extremely eerie silence, even more unsettling especially since there are supposed to be deafening explosions happening just outside of the thin tin walls.

"Doctor, why is it so quiet in here?" I look at him and wait for that bright look in his eye to appear when he knows the explanation to something. The thing, though, is that it doesn't appear.

He sighs. "I don't know, Anna. I just don't know what is going on here." He brushes some of my matted and dusty hair away from my face. "Oh, my dear, look at you. You've been scarred far too much today. I've seen similar things during my time in the Last Great Time War, but this is all too new for you. My darling friend- my darling Anna. How to retain your innocence while you're in the middle of bloodshed?"

I start shivering. "Doctor, you know how old I am. You know that I have both seen and done terrible things in my extended lifetime, so I must ask: why do you say that?" He looks away. "Doctor, just tell me, what is going on?" He doesn't meet my eyes. "DOCTOR!"

He turns and looks at me with a solemn expression on his face. I take his head in my hands and he kisses my hand. "Anna, I have a feeling that something terrible is going to happen. And I can prevent it in the only way that I can. Just to let you know, what I'm going to do is as a last resort." He breaks away from my grasp and dashes down the center aisle of the warehouse, while I am left alone in his wake.

I shriek, "Doctor!" He doesn't stop, he doesn't turn, and he doesn't look back. I shout his name until I'm hoarse, but I know on the inside that even if I had gone after my doctor, I would not have been able to change his mind. He's stubborn like that. Now, I'm standing here wondering what horrible sacrifice he is about to make for me.