The Return of Donna Noble
Donna Noble's heels clacked on the cobbles of Oxford Street, her Ink-Black handbag slung over her shoulder, as she glanced up and down the street for any oncoming traffic. In her hand was clasped a newspaper, the front page reading 'Wi-Fi Madness'. The heading had jumped out at Donna and made her feel uncomfortable. She was going to merely toss the paper in the bin as she came off the Tube, but for some reason, she held on to it tightly, as if it were a link to something she dearly missed. Things like this happened fairly often to Donna, completely everyday things, seemed to stir a past memory, like something that was just out of her grasp. Once she'd crossed the street, Donna headed down Regent Street towards Hamley's. She had to sidle into the store past a massive group of children, all gaping at a display for a bunch of brightly colored toys. Once she'd clambered into the lobby of the store, she was finally able to shrug off her thick mink coat, the store's central heating was thankfully doing its job. Donna strode over to the lift in the far corner of the store. She aggressively punched the 'up' button, and stood awkwardly in front of the unyielding doors. Finally after what seemed an hour, the doors sprang open, and Donna clambered inside.
Inside the lift, there was a man. A tall man. He was wearing a tweed jacket, grey pants, army-style boots and a maroon coloured bow-tie. He stood awkwardly, with the guilty air of a small child who had been caught stealing cookies from the jar, or had just knocked over Mum's favourite vase. His hair was swept to the side, as if it constantly fell in his eyes. And his hands, they were constantly moving, always adjusting, fixing and addressing things, as if they were repairing thousands of invisible machines.
Donna observed the queer man out of the corner of her eyes. She felt strongly that she knew him, had possibly met him before, a face in the crowd. But no, Donna never forgot a face, and she would have never forgotten a man like this, he didn't look quite right, like a drawing of a person where you accidentally left out the nose. And so with this thought in mind Donna quickly turned and focused on the task ahead of her. Birthday present shopping.
The lift doors burst open, an automatic voice, tonelessly stating: "LEVEL 4, ELECTRONICS". The queer man quickly streaked out of the cramped elevator, as if putting distance between Donna and himself.
"Nutter," muttered Donna. She sighed to herself and started to move towards the gadget-lined shelves. Suddenly from further into the store, came an ear-piercing scream, causing Donna to jump. She sprinted towards the sound, rushing through aisle upon aisle of electronic equipment. As she turned the corner, she nearly collided into a young woman coming in the opposite direction.
"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay? Were you the one screaming?" cried Donna.
"Wait, what?" replied the woman, as she whipped a long metallic, green object, from the layers of her coat, "Oh yeah that was me, now RUN!"
Donna's head split, images flickering through her mind, like watching an old film. Images of her running, with a man, from what appeared to be mortal danger, but they were grinning, from ear to ear, as if this was a daily occurrence. Then the image changed, a wasp, a giant wasp, was chasing her and the strange man, through endless corridors. And then it happened. The end. It felt as if a hot, molten liquid was being poured into her consciousness, filling up every part of her with a warm, fulfilling, glowing energy.
"Donna? Hello? Wake up!" came a voice.
"Nah, I'm quite comfortable here. I think I'll just-"
"Oi, watch it earth-girl! Wake Up!" came the voice again. Earth-girl. Where had she heard that before? It stirred warm familiar memories, causing a smile to appear on her face. Earth. Girl. Space. Man. It was like a key had been turned, opening a once locked door. New rooms to explore. Donna felt the best she had in ages. Her mind was, there. It was hard to explain but everything felt right. She remembered. Donna Noble remembered. The Doctor-Donna remembered.
"I am going to flippin' kill you spaceman, Where am I?" muttered Donna, her eyes still closed.
"It's good you're back, and we're in the TARDIS" replied the Doctor.
"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" asked a woman, Donna presumed it was the one she had run into before.
"Yes, well it's complicated Clara, she's one of my-" started the Doctor.
"-One of your wives?" interrupted the girl called Clara.
"No! She's not one of my wives, or wife for that matter," grumbled the Doctor, "although I do have a wife…"
"So she's your spacey-girlfriend?"
"No, she's a friend, that's all! We used to travel together-" said the Doctor.
"In the 'Snog-Box'?" asked Clara.
"Yes in the 'Snog Box', wait, no, not in the 'Snog-Box', because it's a spaceship" said the Doctor tuning a deep shade of maroon.
"Oi! Hello, still here you two," mumbled Donna, "I'm going to try opening my eyes."
"Okay, but be careful Donna, you're body's under a lot of strain" said the Doctor knowingly.
"Doctor, I'm not an idiot. If I'm not careful my mind respond from too much exposure over to little time due to the meta-crisis internal change, causing the neurons to hyper-combust, sending my brain into a state of flux, blah, blah, blah"
"Okay what did she say?" asked a very confused Clara.
"Like she said, the neurons will hyper-combust, due to the meta-crisis internal-" started the Doctor.
"-In English" interjected Clara.
"Brain. Go. Boom" muttered the Doctor, rubbing his hands nervously.
"Oh, right. Well good luck Donna, see you on the other side," called Clara, as she shuffled away slowly behind the TARDIS console.
"Okay Donna, on three," started the Doctor, "One. Two. Three!"
Donna's eyelids flew open as if they were spring loaded, ready to open. But she didn't see, once again Donna's mind was flooded with images, and this time they all made sense. She was running with the Doctor, from Miss Foster, the Adipose 'nanny', then she was locked in a container, surrounded by red-eyed Ood, they were slowly chanting 'the circle must be broken, the circle must be broken'. The final image that flickered through Donna's mind was a haunting one. She was standing in the TARDIS, face to face with the Doctor, his hands pressed to her temple, tears running down his face, 'Donna. Oh, Donna Noble. I am so sorry. But we had the best of times. The best. Goodbye'. And that was it. It went dark for a few second but then Donna gained feeling. She felt the cold hard ground underneath her, she could hear the comforting scraping sound of the TARDIS, and could smell the familiar metallic tang that filled the room. Then her eyesight returned.