With the fake smile pushed aside, Donna Noble-Temple was royally pissed. Not only had Shaun been off with another woman, again, but her mother had managed to drain about three thousand of her life savings on whatever it was that made her home look motherly.
In response to whatever angered or wounded her, Donna would go on her nightly walks through the town. The night was cold, a low but thick fog settled on the wet pavement, the stars above reflecting in the puddles or occasional droplet of water caught on a pebble. The stars comforted her; the thought of the vast space above was not an everyday reoccurring thought but a comfy one at that. If she could just leave this stressful little planet and see what's above…why, that's just silly.
Donna cursed as her heel caught the ground and snapped. She kept her balance, taking off her shoes and cursing at the broken platform in her hand. With a huff of energy, Donna threw it into the air and watched it sail into the darkness. A streetlight flickered in the distance, a large boink heard from the hell colliding with the light's glass.
Donna momentarily forgot her anger as she came upon the heel again, and heaved it further again and again for two blocks. Little puffs of excited breaths turned into steam in the cold air, and she stopped a moment to calm herself, licking her dry lips. Then she heard the sound; a sound, something archaic and forgotten, a sound that Donna couldn't quite place her neatly manicured nail on. What was that sound?
It wasn't coming from her, and rather came from around the corner of a building, leading into an alley. Donna poked her head around the corner, curious as to why that particular whirring noise in the air suddenly made her heart beat faster. Nothing in the alley was out of the ordinary, the dark corners and noises of rats constant and normal and never ending; much like her life problems.
However a blue telephone box stood clean and unmarked in the alley. Its paint was worn and the lamp up top needed dusting, but it was out of place no matter how convenient its purpose. Donna warily approached it, and then berated herself for being so shy of a telly box.
Donna considered giving her mum a ring, or a cab to take her home. She reached for the handle and when her long, pale fingers wrapped around the chilly metal handle, something miraculous happened.
She remembered.
"You are bonkers!" Donna exclaimed to the suited man before her. He was the Doctor, and wasn't the Doctor, but was her as the Doctor and oh gosh darn it was all so confusing and frustrating. The Doctor fired off something about his suit and Donna rolled her eyes.
"Is that what timelords do? Knock a bit off, grow another one? You like worms?!" She exclaimed.
"N-n-n-n-n-o, I'm unique! Never been another like me. All that regeneration went into my hand; look at my hand," he raised it, "I love that hand but then you touched it WHAM!"
Donna flinched back.
"Shhhhh-"
What on Earth was happening? Donna's head began to throb, the contents of her stomach rising up against her throat. She leaned against the box, but that only made it worse.
PB
"Are you alright?" Donna asked. He looked away.
"I'm alright." The Doctor said after a moment. Donna tsked and looked away as well.
"Is alright timelord code for not alright?"
She vomited, relief momentarily calming her until the blood came next, the iron taste pushing past her throat and onto the ground below, its thick texture blocking her airways and leaving her internally screaming for air.
"I just want a mate." The strange man before her said, and Donna could practically feel her jaw drop.
"You just want to mate?" She asked, almost angry.
"No, I just want a mate."
"Well, you ain't matin' with me, sonny!"
Then came the burning behind her eyes that began reaching her brain, a burning sensation that left her blind and miserable in the darkness. Donna began scratching at her scalp, hoping in some desperate way to ease the pain.
"You said I was going to die, but you mean this whole world, is going to blink out of existence. But that's not dying, because a better world is taking its place. The Doctor's world, and I'm still alive. That's right, isn't it, I don't die if I change things I don't-
"Push this lever and it's over, twenty thousand people-
"Doctor, pleas-
"Not the whole town, just save-
"e don't make me go back-
"Take it away-
"Donna. Oh, Donna Noble. I am so sorry. But we had the best of times."
Donna finally slumped over, her head smacking onto the blue wood. Her eyes rolled back and fingers stopped grasping for ease. She just laid there, an empty carcass with the best of memories.
Inside the TARDIS, the Doctor smirked to himself when he realized he had sent the TARDIS to the wrong coordinates. An honest mistake, he thought. The silly mishap was forgotten as he pulled a few gizmos and twisted a few gadgets. The TARDIS disappeared into the darkness, its majestic whirring sound the last thing heard by the Lady Time Lord.