AN: Okay, so my take on this part of the story is the metacrisis developed into the previous regeneration of the Doctor, which will be explained in the next chapter. Donna will know why he was created in this version, but not all the Time Lord technology stuff until the zap still. Also, he won't be naked when he is "born" :p
Chapter 1- The New New Doctor
Every last cell in Donna Noble's body was burning. A golden light had engulfed her, strangled her, and now she felt like this was certainly the end for her.
That stupid spaceman's hand better do somethin' useful, she thought to herself. I will come back and slap him into his new regeneration if I died for nothin'.
Then she felt it. The golden light started to slowly die. She could feel her toes, then her legs, then her fingers, then her arms, and finally her head. She blinked and wiggled her limbs, just to check everything was in full working order again.
She patted her head. Full head of hair was still there...but something was different. She felt...more like the spaceman.
Donna whirled around to come face-to-face with a complete stranger. He was rough and wearing a leather jacket, he kind of looked like a u-boat captain.
"Who the hell are you?" she asked.
He looked startled. "Who the hell am I? Who the hell are you?" he retorted.
"Hold on," she held up a hand to shush him. She walked towards the man and placed a hand on his chest. "Only one heart...but. You remind me of my friend."
"Only one heart? Are you my new companion?" the man asked.
"Yeah, I am," she said proudly. "You are the Doctor then! But why do you only have one heart?" she asked, brows furrowed.
He opened his mouth, but she cut him off with a hand wave again.
"Shut it, I'm thinkin'. I touched your hand, this gold light surrounded me, and then when it goes away, you're here, with only one heart...you're half human!" she realized, exclaiming.
"I was just about to explain that," the Doctor mumbled. "How d'you know all that?"
"Because," Donna announced, finally able to place her finger on what was different about her, "I'm half Time Lord."
He scoffed. "No way."
"Yes way!" she exclaimed.
"Oh," the Doctor said suddenly, "We got to keep quiet. No one knows we're here."
"Well isn't that wizard?" she asked sarcastically. Her face turned serious. "I kept hearing your single heartbeat.
"Oh, that was me," the Doctor said. "My single heart. Because I'm a complicated event in space and time. Musta rippled back, convergin' on ya."
"But why me?" Donna asked.
"Because you're special," the Doctor shrugged.
"Oh, I keep tellin' ya, I'm not," she scoffed.
"No, but you are. Oh. You really don't believe that, do ya?" the Doctor asked, sadness in his eyes. "I can see, Donna, what you're thinkin'. All that attitude, all that lip, 'cause all this time ya think you're not worth it."
"Stop it," she said sternly.
"Shoutin' at the world because no one's listenin'. Well, why should they?" he asked.
"Doctor?" Donna said hesitantly. "Stop it."
"But look at what ya did. No, it's more than that. It's like we were always headin' for this. Ya came to the Tardis. And ya found me again. Your granddad. Your car. Donna, your car. You parked your car right where the Tardis was goin' to land! That's not coincidence at all! We've been blind. Somethin's been drawin' us together for such a long time."
"But you're talkin' like destiny. There's no such thing. Is there?" she asked.
"It's still not finished," the Doctor realized. "It's like the pattern's not complete. The strands are still drawin' together. But headin' for what?" He thought for another minute. "Wait," he said, "Where's Rose?"
"She's out there with the other you," Donna said.
"She still travels with me?" he beamed.
"Oi!" she complained loudly. "You're still as lovesick over her in this regeneration, too?"
The Doctor turned bright red. "I have no idea what you're talkin' about."
She sighed. "She was travelin' with you in this new body, but ya got separated, and now she's found her way back to ya. But unless we do somethin', we're all gonna die. Earth, you, me, Rose…"
The Doctor nodded determinedly. "Right, let's put our heads together then."
…
"What is that thing?" Donna asked him. The Doctor was tinkering with some type of gizmo.
"It's our only hope," he told her. "A Z-neutrino biological inversion catalyzer."
"Not in spaceman talk, please," Donna said.
"Davros said he built those Daleks outta himself," the Doctor reminded her. "His genetic code runs through the entire race. If I could use this to lock the Crucible's transmission onto Davros himself-"
"It destroys the Daleks?" she interrupted.
"Biggest backfire in history," he confirmed. He clicked the gizmo into place. "Ready? Maximum power."
He set the TARDIS for it's course and stepped out with the fashioned weapon.
"Brilliant," Jack said.
The previous version of the Doctor ran across the floor, only to get zapped and drop to the floor in pain.
"Stop!" Rose cried frantically, wishing she could rush over and comfort him.
"Activate holding cell," Davros commanded.
Donna ran out of the TARDIS and grabbed the weapon he dropped. "Doctor! I've got it! But I don't know what to do-"
It seemed she needn't have worried, because a volt of electricity was sent her way as well, and she crumpled.
"Donna!" the Doctor called. "Are you alright?"
"Destroy the weapon," Davros said. "I was wrong about your soldiers, Doctor. They are pathetic."
"How comes there are two of ya?" Rose asked. "And how come he looks like your previous self?"
"Long explanation," the Doctor told her. "Human biological metacrisis. But never mind that right now. Now we've got no way of stopping the reality bomb."
"Stand witness, Time Lord. Stand witness, humans. Your strategies have failed, your weapons are useless, and. Oh. The end of the universe has come," Davros said, almost gloating.
"Mmm, closing all Z-neutrino relay loops using an internalised synchronous back-feed reversal loop. That button there," Donna said from the corner. She pressed a button on the panel she was thrown against from the zap.
"Donna, you can't even change a plug," the Doctor scoffed.
"D'you wanna bet, Time Boy?" she asked.
"You'll suffer for this," Davros promised.
"Oh, bio-electric dampening field with a retrograde field arc inversion," she rattled off, pressing a few more levers.
"Exterminate her!"
"Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate," the Daleks called. "Weapons non-functional," the said in disbelief.
"Phwor!" Donna exclaimed. "Macrotransmission of a K-filter wavelength blocking Dalek weaponry in a self-replicating energy blindfold matrix."
"How did you work that out? You're-"
"Time Lord. Part Time Lord," the previous Doctor interrupted, beaming.
"Part human. Oh, yes. That was a two-way biological metacrisis. Half Doctor, half Donna," she informed him.
"The Doctor Donna. Just like the Ood said, remember? They saw it coming. The Doctor Donna," the Doctor said in disbelief.
"Holding cells deactivated. And seal the Vault. Well, don't just stand there, you skinny boys in suits. Get to work!" she commanded.
"Stop them! Get them away from the controls," Davros commanded.
"And spin," Donna said.
The Daleks started spinning where they sat. "Help me. Help me!" they called.
"What did ya do?" the previous Doctor asked in awe.
"Trip switch circuit-breaker in the psychokinetic threshold manipulator," she said.
"But that's fantastic!" he said gleefully.
"Why did we never think of that?" the Doctor asked.
"Because you two were just Time Lords, you dumbos, lackin' that little bit of human. That gut instinct that comes hand in hand with Planet Earth. I can think of ideas you two couldn't dream of in a million years. Ah, the universe has been waitin' for me. Now, let's send that trip switch all over the ship. Did I ever tell you, best temp in Chiswick? Hundred words per minute," Donna said proudly.
"Ha!" the previous Doctor shouted.
"Come on then, boys. We've got twenty seven planets to send home. Activate magnetron," Donna said. "Ready? And reverse."
"Off you go, Clom," the Doctor said.
"Back home, Adipose Three," the previous Doctor said.
"Shallacatop, Pyrovillia and the Lost Moon of Poosh. Sorted. Ha!" Donna exclaimed.
"Ha!" the previous Doctor shouted.
"We need more power!" the Doctor shouted.
"Is anyone goin' to tell us what's goin' on?" Rose asked, her eyebrows raised.
"He poured all his regeneration energy into his spare hand. I touched the hand, and he grew outta that but that fed back into me. But, it just stayed dormant in my head till the synapses got that little extra spark, kickin' them into life. Thank you, Davros! Part human, part Time Lord. And I got the best bit of the Doctor. I got his mind," Donna said.
"So there's three of you?" Sarah Jane Smith asked.
"Three Doctors?" Rose asked.
"I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now," Jack said.
"You're so unique the timelines were convergin' on you. Human being with a Time Lord brain," the previous Doctor stated.
"But you promised me, Dalek Caan. Why did you not foresee this?" Davros asked.
"Oh, I think he did. Something's been manipulating the timelines for ages, getting Donna Noble to the right place at the right time," the Doctor said.
"This would always have happened. I only helped, Doctor," Caan said.
"You betrayed the Daleks," Davros said.
"I saw the Daleks. What we have done, throughout time and space, I saw the truth of us, Creator, and I decreed, no more!"
"Oh, we've lost the magnetron," the Doctor said. "And there's only one planet left. Oh, guess which one. But we can use the Tardis." He ran into his ship.
"Holding Earth stability. Maintaining atmospheric shell," the previous Doctor grunted, holding down a lever.
"The prophecy must complete," Caan said. "I have seen the end of everything Dalek, and you must make it happen, Doctor."
"He's right," the previous version of the Doctor said. "'cause with or without a Reality bomb, this Dalek Empire's big enough to slaughter the cosmos. They've gotta be stopped."
"Just, just wait for the Doctor," Donna pleaded.
"I am the Doctor," he insisted. "Maximizin' Dalekanium power feeds. Blastin' them back!"
The Daleks started exploding, and the Doctor ran out of the TARDIS.
"What have you done?" he asked in horror.
"Fulfillin' the prophecy," the previous version said calmly.
"Do you know what you've done?" the Doctor asked angrily. "Now get in the Tardis! Everyone! All of you, inside! Run!"
"Sarah Jane! Rose! Jackie! Jack! Mickey!" the previous version of the Doctor called.
"Davros? Come with me. I promise I can save you," the Doctor said.
"Never forget, Doctor, you did this. I name you. Forever, you are the Destroyer of the Worlds!"
The Doctor closed the door to the TARDIS, shutting his eyes. "And off we go," he said.
"But what about the Earth? It's stuck in the wrong part of space," Sarah Jane said.
"I'm on it. Torchwood Hub, this is the Doctor. Are you receiving me?" he asked.
"Loud and clear," Gwen said. "Is Jack there?"
"Can't get rid of him," the DOctor assured. "Jack, what's her name?"
"Gwen Cooper," Jack said.
"Tell me, Gwen Cooper, are you from an old Cardiff family?" he asked.
"Yes, all the way back to the eighteen hundreds."
"Ah, thought so. Spatial genetic multiplicity."
"Oh, yeah," Rose said, grinning, as she realized who Gwen was related to.
"Yeah, it's a funny old world. Now, Torchwood, I want you to open up that rift manipulator. Send all the power to me," he instructed.
"What's that for?" Donna asked.
"It's a tow rope. Now then. Sarah, what was your son's name?" he asked.
"Luke. He's called Luke. And the computer's called Mister Smith," she informed him.
"Calling Luke and Mister Smith, this is the Doctor. Come on, Luke. Shake a leg," he called.
"Is Mum there?" Luke asked.
"Oh, she's fine and dandy," the Doctor promised.
"Yes! Yes!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Now, Mister Smith, I want you to harness the rift power and loop it around the TARDIS. You got that?"
"I regret I will need remote access to Tardis base code numerals," the computer said.
"Oh, blimey, that's going to take a while," the Doctor lamented, running a hand through his hair.
"No, no, no. Let me. K9, out you come!" Sarah commanded.
"Affirmative, Mistress," the dog said.
"Oh! Oh ho! Oh, good dog!" the Doctor approved. "K9, give Mister Smith the base code."
"Master, TARDIS base code now being transferred. The process is simple."
"Now then, you lot. Sarah, hold that down. Mickey, you hold that. Because you know why this TARDIS is always rattling about the place? Rose? That, there. It's designed to have six pilots, and I have to do it single handed. Martha, keep that level. But not any more. Jack, there you go. Steady that. Now we can fly this thing. No, Jackie. No, no. Not you. Don't touch anything. Just stand back. Like it's meant to be flown. We've got the Torchwood Rift looped around the TARDIS by Mister Smith, and we're going to fly Planet Earth back home. Right then. Off we go."
"That's really good, Jack," Donna praised. "I think you're the best."
"Good job!" Jackie exclaimed as they set Earth back in it's correct place.
The Doctor set course for Sarah Jane's house first.
"You know," she said as they walked out, "you act like such a lonely man. But look at you. You've got the biggest family on Earth."
He hugged her tightly.
"Oh! Got to go. He's only fourteen. It's a long story. And thank you!" she called.
The Doctor walked back to his crowd.
"Yeah, I'm fine. Are you all right?" Donna rolled her eyes at her mobile.
"I'm goin' to miss ya more than anyone," Mickey told Jackie sincerely.
"What d'you mean? The Doctor's goin' to take us home, isn't he?" she asked, confused.
"Well, that's the point," he said.
They landed at a park, and Jack and Martha walked out.
"I told you, no teleport," he said to Jack disapprovingly, breaking his teleport bracelet once more. "And, Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing, eh? Save the world one more time."
"Consider it done," she smiled.
They saluted him, and he waved.
"You know, I'm not sure about UNIT these days. Maybe there's something else you could be doing?" Jack asked her as they walked away.
Mickey walked out of the TARDIS next.
"Oi, where are you going?" the Doctor protested.
"Well, I'm not stupid. I can work out what happens next. And hey, I had a good time in that parallel world, but my gran passed away. Nice and peaceful. She spent her last years livin' in a mansion. There's nothin' there for me now, certainly not Rose," he said, giving him a pointed look.
"What will you do?" he asked.
"Anythin'. Brand new life. Just you watch. See ya, boss. Hey, you two!" Mickey called.
"Just time for one last trip. Dårlig Ulv Stranden. Better known as-" the Doctor told the remaining inhabitants of the TARDIS, but he couldn't finish, because he knew he had to leave Rose again. And worse still, in the same place.
"Oh, fat lot of good this is," Jackie complaining as they walked out. "Back of beyond. Bloody Norway? I'm goin' to have to phone your father. He's on the nursery run. I was pregnant, d'you remember? Had a baby boy," she told the Doctor.
"Oh, brilliant. What did you call him?" he asked.
"Doctor."
"Really?" the previous version of the Doctor asked, his nose wrinkling at the thought.
"No, ya plum. He's called Tony," she laughed.
Hold on," Rose spoke up quietly. "This is the parallel universe, right?"
"You're back home," the Doctor told her.
"And the walls of the world are closin' again, now that the Reality Bomb never happened. It's dimensional retroclosure. See, I really get that stuff now," Donna said proudly.
"No, but I spent all that time tryin' to find ya. I'm not goin' back now!" Rose protested.
"But you've got to," he said more to himself than to her. "Because we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him. He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own."
"You made me!" the previous version exclaimed.
"Exactly. You were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge. Remind you of someone? That's me, when we first met. And you made me better. Now you can do the same for him."
"But he's not you," Rose said, her eyes filling with tears.
"He needs you," he told her. "That's very me." He walked closer to her. "Besides, what happened to all those you should just degenerate arguments, Rose? Now you can have him back?" His hearts thudded painfully at the memory.
"But I didn't mean it," she said. "I really didn't."
"But it's better than that, though. Don't you see what he's tryin' to give ya? Tell her. Go on," Donna prompted.
"I think like him, I'm the man you used to know. Same memories, same thoughts, same everythin'. Except I've only got one heart," the previous version of the Doctor said.
"Which means?" Rose breathed.
"I'm part human. Specifically, the agin' part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you, if ya want," he finished, beaming.
"You'll grow old at the same time as me?" she asked, her eyes boring into him.
"Together," he promised.
"We've got to go. This reality is sealing itself off forever," the Doctor said, the lump in his throat growing as he saw Rose look at him.
"But, it's still not right, 'cause the Doctor's still you," Rose protested.
"And I'm him." The Doctor pointed at the metacrisis.
"Alright. Both of ya, answer me this. When I last stood on this beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing ya said to me? Go on, say it," she challenged, looking them both square in the eye.
"I said, Rose Tyler," he said, pleading with her silently to drop it.
"Yeah, and how was that sentence goin' to end?" she pressed.
"Does it need saying?" the Doctor asked, the tears welling in his eyes in earnest now.
She turned away from him. "And you, Doctor? What was the end of that sentence?"
The previous regeneration of the Doctor leaned down and whispered, "I love you."
Rose pulled him to her by his leather jacket lapels and kissed him.
The Doctor looked on, his hearts constricting painfully and left with Donna to the TARDIS.