It was funny, how life could end so quickly. It could just whizz past people without them ever noticing. So many people touching and having an effect on each other without them ever noticing, not once, ever.

The first of February 2006 was one of these days. Such a woman as Sylvia Noble could just walk down the street and no-one would know that this was the day that she'd get brutally murdered. For no-one could tell the future. How could they? No-one truly knew what was going to happen to them in the next minute, never mind the next hour, day, month or even year. So how could anyone know how to act when someone's heart only had a limited number of beats left and mouth had only a few desperate gulps of air left to take?

Donna Noble's final farewell to her mother was one that she would regret for the rest of her days. "Well go out then! I'm not flippin' stopping you from going into the city. Go if you bloody well must! I'm ill." The redhead had shouted angrily after her mother as she'd been given the usual rant about how useless she was; being ill on a night when they'd planned to go out.

Her mother had then grabbed her coat and stormed off to the train station to go to London herself, leaving Donna in a humph as she strolled back upstairs and went to rest her head on the pillow; in hope of sleeping her illness off and to not worry about anything for just a while. Maybe one day she'd find a proper job and have enough money to afford one of those Cybus earpieces thingies.

"BOOM" came a sound that jolted the Temp awake and to her feet as the sound ricocheted throughout the three-bedroomed house. "What the blazes was that?" Donna cried out as she quickly dragged her curtains open to reveal the dark night sky alight with a burning fire, as what looked like Cybus Industries was nothing but a billow of smoke and obliterated piles of rubble.

And then her mind clicked.

"MUM!" she gasped out in horror with one clamped to her mouth in shock. Where her Mum had been going was extremely close to the Cybus Industries factory. No! Sylvia wouldn't be dead. She couldn't! Donna told herself as she fumbled around her room for her mobile phone and quickly clicked the contact named 'Mum'.
"Oh pick up the phone!" she yelled at the device in her hand before it disconnected the call. No matter how many times she tried, she still got the same lifeless bleep of a switched off phone or something. And deep down, she knew in her heart that it would be no use; Sylvia Noble was dead.

She could have been there…Donna's eyes widened as realisation comprehended in her mind. Oh god, she should have been there. Or should have forced her mother to stay and wait until she was better and that they could have gone another day…

"It's all my fault" she sobbed silently a few hours later, sat down on the couch, fingers wrapped around a steaming mug of coffee with her Dad and Gramps on either side of her.
"Don't be ridiculous, Sweetheart!" her Gramps had chided her, shaking his head as he wrapped an arm around her and drew her close to him. "It is though," she replied "If I hadn't have been ill, we'd have both gone. Or I could have just told her to wait for another day, no matter that she'd booked the tickets."
"Shh now…" Her father had tried to comfort her with a sombre smile painted across his face.

As the proceeding days passed, The Noble household held a forlorn mood as its occupants tried to move on with their lives as the news was constantly confirming the deaths of many people that they had known, and they were living in dread of the phone call confirming Sylvia's death; but there had been so many people, it was taking so much time. There had even been reports of metal men found with traces of human DNA contained inside the metal suits. Chunks of human flesh encased inside a metal skin! But that was far from the worse part, as of where Donna Noble was concerned.

"Hello, is this the Noble residence?" a formal voice asked from the other end of the phone line. Oh god, this would be it, Donna thought as she shakily answered "Y-Yes…How can I help you?"
"Ma'am, I am terribly sorry, but as I am sure you are aware about what happened at Cybus Industries. We regret to inform you that we think that your mother may be in the list of the dead… But we cannot confirm this presently, as we will need one member of Sylvia's immediate family to come and confirm the body. Would you or any other member of the family be able to come to The Royal Hope Morgue this afternoon to confirm the body?" the man on the phone asked.
Donna took a deep breath to steady herself and nodded, before clearing her throat and responding "Y-Yes. I-I can set off now. I'll be there in about half an hour."
"Thank you, Miss… Noble?"
"Yeah, that's me, Donna Noble."

She hung the phone up and slouched against the wall, letting another wave of silent tears stream down her cheeks. Oh god, she was going to have to see her mother's broken and contorted body. But she knew that she couldn't condemn her Gramps or Dad to see it. It was her fault, and she wouldn't let them see an image that could scar them for the rest of her life. She didn't care if they'd get mad at her later, none of that mattered. She was just so grateful that they were out, so no-one would notice her disappear out of the house.

About half an hour later, Donna's blue Peugeot 307 pulled up into The Royal Hope's back entrance, which she would have to enter to get to the morgue. With her redheaded head held high and many deep breaths following, she stepped out of her car, locked it and walked quickly through the automatic doors.
"Hello," she addressed the receptionist "I'm Donna Noble…I'm here to confirm-"
"Ah, Miss Noble" an authoritative voice sounded from the other end of the room, and she turned to see a young doctor dressed in the typical long white coat. "If you'd like to follow me please. This won't take too long, thank you for coming." He stated as he led her through various corridors to a clinical room that held one single metal table which was currently occupied by a covered body.
"Now, please tell me when you're ready to look and we'l-"
"I'm ready. Just get it over and done with." Donna spoke over the young doctor, trying to stay strong and prepare herself for the sight that she was about to see.
"Are you sure?" he double checked. She nodded once to show that she was.

Ever so slowly, the doctor picked up the edges of the material that covered the body and began to raise them up and backwards, so as to let her see the face. She had tried to prepare herself, but absolutely nothing could prepare her for the sight that lay before her eyes. Her throat tightened as if she was about to throw up and her body trembled as she saw twisted metal meet the flesh of her mother's skin. One vacant eye of her mother's remained intact, compared to the triangular twisted piece of metal that was embedded into her mother's skull where her eye should have been. She didn't even want to think about how the rest of her body must have looked like… What kind of…creature could do such a thing?!

Donna's body convulsed and she took a step back and pressed herself against the wall; trying to refrain from throwing-up; she had to stay strong. After a few moments, she had managed to calm herself enough to be able to get a few words out. "Yes…That's her. I'm sorry, am I alright to go? I can't, I just can't stay in here any longer." She gasped out her sentence, her eyes still wide open from shock.
"Yes, yes of course. I perfectly understand, Miss Noble, thank you for your time. And once again, I am so terribly sorry for your loss" The young doctor smiled sadly, able to tell that she wanted to get out of the room as fast as she could.

More days passed, and the contorted face of her mother haunted her every time that she closed her eyes and the darkness followed. She had told her Gramps and Dad about going to confirm the body. Whilst they were cross with her and tragically upset that Donna had to see such a thing, they were both glad that, for now, except the upcoming funeral, the worst of it was over.

The funeral passed thankfully quickly in one of the hardest days of Donna's life. No matter how many times she had rowed with her mother over petty things, she had still loved her; she was her mother. For there had not only been the bad times, but so many great memories of holidays and days out, along with laughs over daft little jokes that they had shared. And she'd had to say goodbye to one of the most influential women in her life. But not the most influential, for that was still to come in Donna Noble's life. Her life would change, quite soon, and her eyes would be opened even wider than they had on the day that she had had to confirm her mother's body.

Her Grandfather came up to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Holding up, are we?" he asked. "Just about." She shrugged nonchalantly in response, still trying to stay strong for the people around her.
"I read something in the paper this morning about that whole thing at Cybus" Wilfred started, trying to make a bit of conversation and knowing that his granddaughter would be intrigued.
"Oh yeah?" she asked, indicating for him to continue.
"Well, apparently, according to some sort of video footage or whatever it is that they have, a blonde and some tall skinny bloke were seen leaving the wreckage, along with Pete Tyler of Vitex. It was said that they probably stopped it all. You know… Stopped your mum in the process of changing and all that. Saved the day, apparently."
"It's always a blonde." Donna rolled her eyes exasperatedly at the thought of the typical dumb blonde being the apparent hero. Yeah right.