Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who...at this point I think it owns me...

"Donna Noble," the Doctor said. "Outside these doors, a new planet, no OodSphere, no anything sad." He held out his arm toward the door, palm open.

"Oh, I'm still scared, though." she said. "But excited too. This never grows old!" The Doctor grinned.

"Me too."

Together, they stepped outside, and her breath was instantly taken away by what she saw. The ground was roughly the same as what was back on Earth, same colour rocks. Except they weren't at the same time. They were shinier than what would be out in nature on Earth, and a variety of different shapes.

And in front of them, towering mountains swirling like ice cream, twisting toward the heavens. A cream sunset stretched across the sky, and the ground was dotted with little white flowers for as far as the eye could see.

"It's-it's beautiful." she said. "And it's a different planet. A different planet with me on it. Again!" She laughed out loud. "Still hard to believe."

"It's called Drellmonistae." the Doctor said. "Part of the galaxy of Forgotten Memories." He slung an arm around Donna's shoulder and looked down at his companion. "Kinda a sad name, I know." he said, responding to the look he got. "But it's not a sad place at all. It's a place of peace and beauty. And cold if you come in the winter. I learned that the hard way." They both chuckled. "But otherwise, fantastic planet."

"So, you've been here before, then?" Donna asked.

"Once for a few minutes, a long time ago. Left because of the cold, though, and maybe the fact that the TARDIS was leaving without me." he replied. "But I never got a chance to look around properly!" He pointed to the crest of closer mountain. Donna could see a faint light there. "Do you fancy a walk?" he asked, grinning. "Let's go meet whoever lives all the way up there!"

Once more excited, Donna beamed and readily agreed. She was now fairly grateful for the fact that she had brought her hatbox, because it was starting to get a bit windy. She had grabbed a purple knit one with the two tassels before leaving the TARDIS, convinced she'd use her hats sometime, if only to prove it wasn't pointless to bring them.

"D'you know the odd thing about this planet is that they have no atmosphere." the Doctor said. "Yet we're breathing, and the people who live here are breathing just fine. Weather and everything."

"You brought me to a planet where we might not have been able to breathe?" Donna asked in mock outrage. "Glad to know you care about me that much..." The Doctor stopped walking, causing Donna to stop too.

His expression was serious when Donna looked back. "Donna," he said. "You know I care about you. You're my best friend!" He was a tiny bit scared she didn't know that, but of course she knew.

"I was joking." she said. "I know you care." She smiled, and the Doctor smiled too. They started walking again. Donna looked down at the ground when she said, "And, uh, I care a lot about you too. If you wanted to know." Even though she couldn't see him, Donna knew the Doctor was smiling.

The farther up the mountain they got, the colder it became. Of course it is, Donna thought, as was per usual with mountains. She supposed it didn't matter whether or not they were on an alien planet or back on Earth. It still wasn't as cold as on the planet of the Ood, though, for which she was grateful.

"So, that's why we're here?" Donna asked after a moment. "The atmosphere?" The Doctor grinned.

"Yeah, I picked up some weird readings in the TARDIS. Thought I'd have a look." he said. Donna smiled and laughed.

"And I just thought you wanted to show me new alien planets." she joked. "Come on, then, let's go investigate these mysterious going-ons."

They made it to the top of the hill in a little under ten minutes later. What greeted them was a small concrete building, rectangular in shape, that had a blinking light on its roof and some power boxes attached to the side of the wall. It had no markings otherwise, and was rather unremarkable.

"Let's go see who's home." the Doctor said, walking up to and knocking on the door. He smiled back at his companion while they waited for someone to answer the door. Eventually, it swung open and a man stepped out.

But he was a man like no other man Donna had ever met before. His skin was pale, verging on the palest of pale purples, and his hair was completely white, not an ounce of colour touching it. He was thin, and he wore heavy fur clothing, like he was dressed for snow and strong winds. Donna thought this strange, as it felt perfectly nice out, just a bit nippy. In fact, his coat would have rivaled hers the last time they went to a planet. The man raised his eyebrows in inquiry and asked, "Who are you? What are you doing here? This is only a guard station, not a safe house."

"I'm the Doctor, this is Donna." the Doctor said. He waved and Donna copied him, still intrigued by the odd appearance of this man. Well, he was alien of course. "Guard station? Safe house, what's that?" her friend asked, his expression changing to interest and curiosity.

"What- you don't know?" the man said, looking at them strangely. "We guard the Valley, try to stop anyone being taken. Though at this point we mainly just count those lost." The last bit was muttered under his breath. He pointed in the opposite direction from where they had come. "Out there, that's where the pilgrims come."

"Pilgrims?" Donna asked. "From where?" The man rolled his eyes, opened the door a little wider, and started going back inside.

"Come in, getting a bit cold out here." he said. "I can answer all your questions." The Doctor grinned at Donna and stepped inside, Donna following close behind. "And close the door behind you!" the man called from the next room.

"Sorry, what's your name?" the Doctor asked. The man turned around and sat down in a big, official looking chair.

"Kellen." he said. "Kellen O'Mark." The Doctor smiled.

"Nice to meet you, Kellen O'Mark!" he said cheerfully.

The room they stepped into was filled with machines and computers, and lots and lots of dials spinning around wildly. It seemed like a control room of some sort, not a guard station, and the man that had opened the door seemed to be the only one there. "How is this a guard station?" Donna muttered to the Doctor, who shrugged and bent down to look at some readings.

"Right, you have questions. Fire away." he said, looking out across the Valley through a huge window. The Doctor leaned against the one bit of wall that was bare, and Donna stood off to the side, wanting to look around but not wanting to miss the answers to the questions.

"Right, the Pilgrims." the Doctor said. "Who are they?"

"They come from across the Valley. Nobody knows who they actually are, but we know that they possess knowledge far beyond what we know." he answered. "They come over every year, and then keep walking until I suppose they get to their camp." He pointed over where the TARDIS had landed. "I don't see it, but I think it's over there somewhere."

"What about the safe houses?" Donna asked, recalling something he had said before. "What are those?" The man looked over to her.

"Well, that's where the pilgrims hide, obviously." he answered. "Keeps them away from the things." He shivered at the thought of these unknown things.

"And what things would those be?" the Doctor asked quietly, leaning forward.

"Well, the things that snatch away travelers in the Valley, of course." he said. "You're not from around here, I can tell. Else you'd know about them."

"No, we're from way far away." the Doctor said. "What do these things look like?" The man shrugged.

"Don't know. Nobody does, but one second there you are, perfectly fine, and the next you're gone. Just like that, out of thin air." The man looked frightened but determined to put up a brave face.

"And what do you do about them?" Donna asked. "Have you tried to investigate?"

"No, everyone's scared. Don't want to go out there if we can help it." he said defensively. "You better stay away too, if you know what's good for you."

"Good thing I don't, then." the Doctor said, and stood up. "Donna, you wait here. Might be dangerous." Donna shook her head.

"Yeah, no, that's not going to work." Donna said. "I'm coming too." Kellen gave both of the travelers a look that clearly said, 'You're mad, completely mad!'

"But there are things out there, snatching things!" the Doctor said. "I don't need you hurt, or taken, or something." Donna shook her head again and started walking to the door. The Doctor went after him, still trying to convince her to stay back.

"Doctor, you can stop telling me to stay in there." Donna said, stepping outside. "You're stuck with me." He smiled, and the Doctor sighed.

"Right, I never can reason with you." he said. "Allons-y, Donna!"

And off they went, toward mysterious things and potential danger, the Doctor and his companion, armed with a screwdriver, a lot of confidence and what the Doctor would describe as timey-wimey knowledge.

It took them about a minute or two to get to the Valley. The land was flat and sparsely dotted with tufts of greyish grass. It was very bleak and kind of abandoned looking. Nobody, no pilgrims or mysterious things, were out walking.

"So, what's our plan, Doctor?" Donna asked, looking around. "Just sonic around, or what?"

The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and whirred it around in a wide circle. "I can't pick up anything in the air." he said. "But, can you-" He stuck his tongue out and them pulled a face as if he had tasted something sour. "Donna, can you taste something? Something metalic, something strong, stinging?"

Donna too tasted the air, and she did taste what the Doctor did. "Like metal in gas form?" she guessed. "Or like there was something metal here before, but now it's gone?"

"Or," the Doctor said, drawing out the single word. "Teleportation? Snatching people out of thin air, Kellen said. Disappearing?"

Donna nodded, catching on. "You think they teleported?" she asked. The Doctor nodded, grinning.

"Or someone else teleported them out of here." he said. "Either way, we know the thing is somewhere else, my guess is up there." He pointed up at the sky, which was clear and darkening.

"A ship. An alien ship kidnapping innocent people." Donna craned her neck back to stare into the sky. "What do we do about it?"

"Nothing we can do about it now." the Doctor said. "We don't know for certain where they are, or what they're like. Can't take the TARDIS up there, too risky."

Donna bit her lip and tilted his head to the left. "So, we wait?" he asked. "We do what, just watch and look around."

"Back to the guard station, I think." he said. "I want to take a look at some of the graphs and numbers Kellen had." He turned back and started walking the way they came.

"Doctor!" Donna called. "What are we looking for? What are we facing?" The Doctor turned around to see her, his face serious.

"I don't know." he said. "I have no idea at all." Donna could see that this, if nothing else, frightened him. The Doctor always had some idea of what they were up against, or what to do. Always could spout out some facts and connect the dots. But not today, not with this.

"It's alright." she said, trying to be encouraging. "It's alright that you don't know. I don't know. You're brilliant, you'll think of something." She offered a small smile and her hand, both of which the Doctor returned.

"Yeah, I guess so." he said. And they walked in silence all the way back.

Kellen greeted them warmly, with a cheery, if dark, "Oh, I'm so glad you two didn't get taken by those things and lost forever. That would have been too bad." Donna nodded, immediately feeling much happier that they were still there, and the Doctor went into the other room, where he immediately pulled out sheets of paper and started looking through them.

"Coffee, tea?" Kellen asked. "It's a bit cold out there, I know." Donna actually thought it was nice, but accepted a coffee anyway. "Anything for you, Doctor?" he asked. The Doctor shook his head.

A few minutes later, Donna had her mug and was watching the Doctor work, his glasses on and scouring the read outs for anything useful. Kellen leaned against the counter with her and took a sip from his own coffee.

"So, are you two together, then?" he asked. "You and the Doctor?" Donna looked at him in surprise, even though this assumption was far from unusual now.

"No, no, friends." she said forcefully. "We're not together. Never, ever are we together."

"Sorry, because I saw you out there, and I just thought..." he said, letting his words trail off. He shook his head. "So, do you have anyone?"

Donna thought of home for the first time in a while. Of Lance. She sighed and said, "I used to, a long time ago. But I'm better without him." She laughed a little bit and added, "He was working with a giant spider, so no real loss there."

"Donna?" the Doctor called suddenly. "Look at this." Both went over, but the Doctor turned to Donna. "See that right there?" he asked, pointing to something on the graph. "Energy spikes."

"That's the teleportation." Donna assumed out loud. "Is that normal?"

"Kind of low, so we know that they aren't far from here." the Doctor said. "Probably still on the planet."

"Well, that's good, then." Donna said. "We can find them easier." But the Doctor still didn't look relieved.

"Well, no." he said. "The threat is a lot closer too, harder to get rid of if they're living here."

Donna and the Doctor then searched through all of the records from the station to see if they could find any clue as to where the Pilgrims were being taken or who was doing the taking. However, at the end of the hour, they found nothing.

"So, you think these were your weird readings in the TARDIS?" she asked him, remembering what he had said earlier.

"Well, no, I don't think this is it." he said. "Those were something different."

Donna sighed in fake annoyance. "Right, another alien threat we know nothing about. Great!"

"Kellen?" the Doctor called, turning around. "Did you notice anything strange in the past, around when the Pilgrims started vanishing?" he shook his head though, offering nothing of use.

"It's been going on for as long as I can remember, as long as anyone remembers." he said. "But I guess you could try the Pilgrims camp. They're older than any of us."

"Right." the Doctor said. "Onward we go!" He turned to Donna and smiled.

She returned the smile and pulled her hat back on, setting the mug down. "Partners in crime, again. Sort of." she said, linking her arm through his. "Let's go!"

A/N My first multi-chapter fic! Yay! Hope you like it. Thank you for all of your reviews, and for taking the time to read!