Title: "So This is How it Ends"
Author: Wish Wielder
Fandom: Doctor Who
Pairing / Character Focus: Donna Noble, (Tenth) Doctor, Rose Tyler, S4 Finale Antagonist (POSS. SPOILER)
Challenge / Series: Prequel to "Stop Promising".
Theme / Prompt: N/A
Word Count: 575
Rating: T / PG-13
Summary: One of them must die – and they've both waited too long for their happy ending for her to let it be ripped from them now.
Notes / Spoilers: S4 finale – assumptions and guesses made off of trailers/spoiler leaks (antagonist guess based on a leak; as far as I know it is not confirmed). TBW; character death. Also written for preemptive therapy – but please believe me when I say I do not want the character death (but if it has to happen, Uncle Rusty, it better be damned good).
Disclaimer: "Doctor Who" and all respective properties are © the BBC. Megan D. (Wish Wielder) does not, has never, nor will ever own "Doctor Who".
"So This is How it Ends"
So this is how it ends.
Her eyes dart from the crazy old scientist, down to the shrapnel the sonic screwdriver has become. The Doctor's hand - the one that isn't seeking out its match beside him - is clenched around the twisted metal, holding it a bit tighter than is probably necessary. His eyes don't leave Davros, narrowed in rage and remorse and regret; he knows how this must end, but knows that now...now, it's impossible. Her eyes flick to Rose, the Doctor's impossible girl, who looks as calculating as she is. She can see it in her eyes, in the quickest of shared looks; she's planning it, too. They both know - realize what the Doctor refuses to admit.
This is how it ends, with the screwdriver unable to send the signal.
This is how it ends, with one of them staying behind.
And she'll be damned if she's gonna let it be Rose.
Her attention shifts, back to the old enemies, and while no one's paying attention to what the fiery ginger's doing she moves, carefully slinking out of the teleport and towards the controls. She hears the Doctor, voice eerie and still as he tries to make Davros understand that he can't let him do this. She hears Davros, shouting back that he won't let the Doctor destroy the culmination of his life's work with the murders of his children. She hears Rose, steady and so full of pent-up rage as she tells Davros just what his 'children' have caused the universe - both of them. And then she's at the controls, the remote in her hands, and none of them are any wiser.
"Oi, Davros!" she shouts, and three heads whip around to settle identical sets of shocked expressions on her. Her eyes land on the Doctor, her heart breaking at the terror and realization dawning in his ancient eyes. To Rose, the woman she had known by legend up until only a few days ago; she thinks she would've liked to know her longer - they could have been great friends. She sees the scream rising in her throat as that horrible gun drops from her arms, but her thumb slams onto the button and the protective shield closes them into the capsule by the time her mouth's opened to release it. But they both know now, as she does; for everyone else in this whole bloody universe to live, one of them has to stay behind. One of them must die - and they've both waited too long for their happy ending for her to let it be ripped from them now. Her eyes dart back to the Doctor.
I wouldn't have missed it for the world, she thinks, and by the tilt of his lips and the look in his eyes she can almost pretend he hears her. Thank you.
She presses the button again, and a flash of light fills the room as the Doctor and Rose are taken back to Earth. She sees them one last time, the Doctor holding Rose close as she screams and fights against him, trying to smash her way through the glass and to her. And then she's looking at Davros, too startled to do anything other than gape at her. To this man - this monster who had dared to take away her Gramps's stars. With another breath, her thumbs slam down on the red button.
"Go to hell."