The name tore through him in a way it never had before. Two words, three syllables and he was lost. "Rose?" he repeated in a whisper and Donna let out a gasp from behind but he didn't turn.

"Yes, Rose. Rose Tyler. They say, they say she trained with monks in China before it all happened. Say she can take out an entire fleet in the blink of an eye. She set up the safe zones, organizes food drops. They say that the only person the Master fears is her, is Rose Tyler. They say he can see the future and it's her." Of course, of the things the girl said it was only the last bit that was true. Rose had never even seen a Monk in real life nor was she capable of wiping out a fleet of 25 Toclafane in a single second.

However, the Doctor didn't take that into account as his mind was reeling. Rose, his Rose. When he dubbed her defender of the earth he hadn't known it would be from this. The Doctor swallowed the lump in his throat as he imagined the state of the world above him and furthermore the state of Rose - of her family. My G-d.

"Rose" Donna said coming to join the two instead of standing in the background. "Your Rose, the Rose you lost, this is her world?" The Doctor nodded and the girl looked at him in amazement.

"You know her? You know her!" she said excitedly, "Oh! Oh! He knows her, Rose Tyler!" the girl called to the shadows and all of a sudden there was more shuffling and clamoring and 5 more people joined the girls side. 4 males and another female ranging between the ages of 8 and 45.

The youngest was introduced as Harry. John was next at the age of 18 followed by a 23 year old named Tom and his father Henry. As for the girl - she was around 25 and they were all in the same shape as Marissa,.

"Is it true? Will she save us?" Henry asked, clapping a hand on his son's shoulder as he took in the well groomed pair before him trying not to feel angry for the state they were in as opposed to them. How had they managed to stay so in touch with their previous lives? He swallowed it though and waited for an answer.

"My boy here, he knew her. Knows her." he informed the Doctor, "Met her in the raid in Wales. He was at a safe house. I hadn't gotten there but they were coming, the Toclafanes. They were coming for all of them and she came - her and 20 other of the Torchwood gang got them all out. Well, not all of them."

The boy swallowed, "My mother" he said, "She was lost along with 10 others, they tried to assist." he said softly and his father squeezed his shoulder. "Oh, I'm so sorry" Donna said sincerely and the two smiled sadly and nodded at her. "Ay, so many" the man commented. "Too many" another added, "She'll save us though" Marissa insisted, "You'll see" the Doctor merely nodded. Oh Rose, where had he sent her?

--

She could feel the vomit rising in her throat as she ran, it burned. Whether it was bile or blood she didn't know but it was coming and she refused to stop. The shooting pains in her thighs and calves were screaming for her to stop but she couldn't, not with 25 lives in jeopardy. She had to get them out or secure the safe house. The Toclafane would stake themselves outside of the compound but there were emergency exits underground, into the tunnels. They could get out there.

Realizing that whatever her body was repelling wouldn't wait any longer, the brunette fell behind a crumbled wall and repelled the contents of her stomach though admittedly it wasn't much. Opening her eyes she swiped at the tears leaking from her them due to the burn with one hand and taking in her throw up. A mixture of poor excuses for meals and blood. Brilliant. Taking in deep gulps of air, she felt her chest heave painfully as she looked around. No Toclafanes and while normally that was a good sign that meant that they were either ahead of her or behind and either way she need to get moving. Despite her bodies protest - she ran.

--

Mickey mounted the fence and hopped down on the other side, Jakes shortly after as they carefully followed Rose's route though not identically. They had encountered about 6 Toclafane on their treck to the nursery and had taken out all but one who managed to get away. Knowing Toclafanes though it was probably still tracking them and so their guard was up.

"20 minutes" Mickey sighed, noting the marker and grimacing. "We'll never make it in time"

"Don't say that" Jake argued, "We will, we have too." That safe house was crucial. Those people, those children. Jake swallowed as he imagined what it would look like if they were too late and found himself choking back a sob as he looked out over the landscape. It was exactly what you would expect of a war ridden country. Barren, bombed out, a mirror image of what had become of Britain in world war II though Rose was the only one who knew that. Over time it was gradually getting worse though which was to be expected.

"We have to hurry up and get moving." Mickey stated harshly and Jakes nodded, "You think I don't know that?" he replied a bit angrily, "But we'll be no use to them dead so shut up and keep an eye out. " he snapped back, his nerves on edge and Mickey all but growled at him. "I know that" he replied before shutting up and taking in the other side before nodding. "Coast is clear"

Carefully creeping out from their hiding spot they began moving carefully along their route, they had to make it they just had to.

--

"A year and a half" the Doctor repeated what Henry had told them as they began walking away and Donna nodded. "Un-bloody-believable. Parallel universes." she shook her head, "So then, how come this didn't happen in ours? I thought we closely mirror each other." she asked as they walked along hoping to find a station so they could go up to the surface.

Donna was weary of this without proper weapons but the Doctor argued that they would figure something out. Besides images of Rose plagued his mind. Rose smiling, Rose laughing, her tongue peaking out of the corner of her mouth. His name rolling off her tongue and finally her sobbing good-bye. "But I love you" he heard her voice say and he swallowed the lump in his through "Alone?" she repeated, cries ringing through his head. He shook the thoughts off.

"Doctor?" Donna pushed and his attentions returned to the companion with him at the moment. "Ah, what?" he asked clearly our of it and Donna gave him a puzzled look before repeating her question. "I asked why we didn't have this war if our universe is supposed to nearly mirror this one?" she repeated looking over at him curiously and the Doctor opened and closed his mouth a few times before explaining.

"Ah, well, see, thing is that -- mmm -- it did" he explained and Donna blinked and shook her head furiously, her brow furrowing in confusion. "I know I missed a lot of things - space ships and what not before I met you but the Prime Minister releasing hell on earth and killing off 2/3 of the population - that - that I wouldn't have missed!" she exclaimed and the Doctor shook his head.

"It happened and it didn't at the same time. In our universe, Harold Saxon, or the Master, he was elected Prime Minister as well. See he's a Time Lord and --" he began and Donna opened her mouth to question this but he held his hand up and continued "and a war like this followed but it lasted a year and only a year. In our world he built factories to build missiles but in this world he's just -- wiping out the human race with no rhyme or reason. Why, I don't know but -- ahhh -- my other companion"

"Rose?"

"No, not Rose"

"Martha?"

"Yes Martha, she changed it. Traveled the world spoke of me and when the year came up when the missiles were supposed to be launched a universal thought changed it" he explained trying to be clear and concise but failing.

"What - what the bloody hell are you talking about what universal thought? What?" she asked confusedly as they continued along the train tracks. Where the bloody hell was a station?

"Doctor" he finally replied

"Doctor?"

"Doctor" he confirmed.

"But I don't I don't understand how is he a time lord, you're the last right? Right?" Donna asked and the Doctor nodded, "Now. Now I am. See, Time Lords have a nifty trick, can turn themselves humans hide their essence in order to avoid being detected." he explained and Donna's eyes widened but before she could interject he trudged on.

"However they forget who and what they are, they believe they are human. They work out a back up story and hide their essence in - well I suppose you lot would call it a fog watch" Donna let out a laugh of disbelief.

"You mean that you put yourself along with all of space and time in a fog watch" she said and the Doctor nodded and didn't laugh along which was really unlike him but the red head understood. He had a lot on his mind, she knew that. "Basically, the Master he did that during the time war and hid at the end of the universe" he explained and Donna blinked, "What? There's an end of the" she began.

"There's always an end" he whispered and Donna opened her mouth to say something but instead reached out and held his hand, giving it a squeeze and he returned the gesture with a weak smile.

"When we found him he didn't know who he was but when Martha saw the watch, she recognized it and brought it to his attention. The pull to it grew stronger and he opened it, became who he was meant to be, gained awareness and stole the Tardis. I locked the coordinates to your time though so he couldn't reek havoc in everyone's time line however and so when he arrived he began his quest and it went from there" he explained.

"I don't understand, why don't I remember it?" she questioned and the Doctor let out a sigh, "Thing is these Troclafane, they're human. This world just doesn't know it. The Master, he built a paradox machine inside my Tardis so when they exterminated this human race they didn't exterminate themselves as well" and Donna's jaw dropped.

"Then why don't they explain it to them they're related, they're descendants why don't they call them human'?" she asked. All his companions were full of questions, weren't they?

"They're not human anymore they've been changed, altered. When they left their planet they went to what I can only assume was a laboratory and were transformed, their bodies and brains bunched up and pushed into this suits of armor that hover above all and aim to destroy. The Master is called the Master because it is just that. He's a manipulator and he can control what he wants - he controls them and in doing so he's raised an army, an army hell bent on wiping out the population above and according to these people they're doing a pretty good job." he said with a sigh and Donna's mind was racing.

"Why don't I remember this?" she questioned again.

"Because, because welllll, time reversed itself when the paradox machine broke. We were above the time wave though so me and Martha and everyone at the Master's headquarters remember it" he explained,

"And where's that?" Donna countered.

"Station, in the sky" he returned.

"In the sky?" Donna repeated in the form of a question and the Doctor nodded.

"In the sky" he confirmed and Donna said no more. Well, Donna said no more for about a minute. "So, this world is our world but with a longer war and different reasonings behind it?" The Doctor nodded once more, kicking a pebble and listening as it pinged off one of the tracks.

"What I can't figure out is how the Master got here, is there another me and if their is how come I'm not helping? Am I in the same place as I was in our war - in the Master's headquarters? Imprisoned?" he asked, not really expecting Donna to answer but she did.

"I don't know, maybe." she said squinting up ahead, "There's a station." she interjected and the Doctor sighed, "Finally" he had to find Rose.