A/N: So here's the last bit for The Runaway Bride, and I hope that I've done relatively okay for my first 'episode'. If you actually read these authors notes, I love you and you deserve a ginormous hug, because I don't think that anybody does. I have a few questions for those of you who want to kind of be involved in the way this story goes, but I'll save that for the end. *Hugs anyone who reads the author's notes.
Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, nor do I wish to. I don't think I'd be able to live with the pressure.. Whovians can be quite mean.. I should know, I am one!
"I like the stars. It's the illusion of permanence, I think. I mean, they're always flaring up and caving in and going out. But from here, I can pretend...I can pretend that things last. I can pretend that lives last longer than moments. Gods come, and gods go. Mortals flicker and flash and fade. Worlds don't last; and stars and galaxies are transient, fleeting things that twinkle like fireflies and vanish into cold and dust. But I can pretend..."
-Neil Gaiman
"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss? Or... are you the only one?" Rose taunted, taking a step back to better keep the monstrous being better in her sights.
"Such a sharp mind." She replied, followed by a particularly nasty hiss.
"That's it, the last of your kind." Rose turned to Donna, explaining quickly. "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago, billions. They were carnivores, omnivores, they devoured whole planets, killed millions, destroyed countless civilizations."
"Racnoss are born starving, is that our fault?" The Empress jeered in reply.
"They eat people?" Donna said, sounding shocked, and Rose just sighed. Of all the things today, that's what captured her interest. The fact that they ate people. Of course. It was as she rolled her eyes that she noticed it.
"Donna..H C Clements, did he wear those- those erm, black and white shoes?" She asked.
"He did! We used to laugh, we used to call him the fat cat in spats." As she said this, a smile split her face for a second. Rose nodded, then just pointed upward. Donna looked toward the ceiling where a pair of black and white shoes still attached to a man's body could be seen poking out of what looked suspiciously like a web.
"Oh, my God!" She gasped, sounding a little bit like she might just gag. The Empress seemed to find this reaction entertaining, because she laughed.
"Mm, my Christmas dinner." Cackles followed this, and a striking thought reached Rose, and before the beast was done laughing, she interrupted it.
"You shouldn't even exist! According to history, the Fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss millions of years ago - they were wiped out." As this was being explained, Donna spotted Lance on a balcony above the Racnoss', unbeknownst to her, and he quickly motioned for her to stay silent.
"Except for me." The Empress snarled in retort to Rose's description of the Racnoss' demise. Donna looked at the alien, determined to keep her from seeing Lance, she started speaking, loudly as she could.
"But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing. Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How comes I get all stacked up with these Huon particles?" She kept it up as Lance descended the stairs, axe at the ready. "Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me." The scarlet being seemed to find Donna's behavior amusing.
"The bride is so feisty!" She commented, but the fiery human wasn't done there.
"Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big... thing. But a spider's just a spider and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!" The last part of her little tirade was obviously directed at Lance, who swung the axe. The Empress swiveled around and hissed at the last moment, then the axe stopped. He glanced 'round to look at Donna and began to laugh, a deep belly laugh, and the Empress joined in with him.
"That was a good one." He managed through the laughter, pointing at the Empress. "Your face!"
"Lance is funny." The Racnoss seemed to decide, falling into laughter as well. Donna's face contorted into confusion, and all she could manage is a startled:
"What?" It hit Rose about a second later, and she put her fingertips on the woman's forearm.
"I'm sorry.." She said quietly. Either Donna didn't understand or she didn't want to believe the truth directly in front of her.
"Sorry for what? Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!" Lance smirked, then stared at her in a way that was pitying, like one might look at a stray dog or similar.
"God, she's thick..." He muttered, and Donna stared back at him, so confused. "Months I had to put up with her. Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map." His voice became a cruel sneer as he looked down at her with something like contempt.
"I don't understand..." Donna said, uncomprehendingly, so Rose took the moment to try to explain the cold truth as easily as she could.
"How did you meet him?" She asked her, her voice quiet, gentle, sad.
"In the office."
"He made you coffee." She reminded her, carefully, trying to make her see without actually having to say it.
"What?"
"Every day, I made you coffee." Lance snapped, as if he were addressing an idiot. Rose ignored him, her eyes still on Donna.
"You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months." The look on her face made it clear the Donna understood now, that she got it.
"H- He was poisoning me?" She asked, looking extremely hurt, her eyes still not having left Lance. Rose sighed at the irony of it all.
"It was all there in the job titled - the Head of Human Resources." She whispered, more to herself than to anybody else, but apparently Lance heard, because he started to laugh again.
"This time, it's personnel." And at that, he and the Racnoss roared into laughter again.
"But... we were getting married." Donna's eyes were wide, and tears threatened to brim over.
"Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavor Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap - "oh, Brad and Angelina - is Posh pregnant?" X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me, dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia." Donna listened to this torrent of abuse with an expression of increasing hurt and confusion. "I deserve a medal." he finished, looking quite proud of himself. Unexpected anger burned through Rose, and her next words were so angry and heated that they were nearly growled instead of spoken.
"Oh, is that what she's offered you? You're just as inhuman as she is! The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you? Her consort?" Then, to add insult to injury, Lance flashes a cold grin.
"It's better than a night with her." He snapped, jerking his head toward Donna, whose plaintive voice could be heard again.
"But I love you." He smiled nastily at the last statement.
"That's what made it easy." Hatred bubbled up within Rose at the man, her blood boiling in her veins as he spoke again. "It's like you said, Rose - the big picture - what's the point of it all if the Human Race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you?"
"Who is this child?" The Racnoss Empress hissed again, gesturing to Rose now.
"What she said - Martian." Lance offered, looking always eager to please, to be a good little servant to the Empress. Rose shrugged, looking careless.
"Right now that should be the least of your worries. What I really want to know is, what's down here? The Racnoss should be extinct. What do you think is gonna help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?"
"I think she wants us to talk." Lance drawled, smirking nastily.
"I think so too."
"Well, tough! All we need is Donna!" Obviously the Empress was in agreement.
"Kill this chattering little Rose-child!" Donna then spoke again, loudly, stepping in front of Rose protectively.
"Don't you hurt her!" Rose smiled gently, stepping past the protective arm cast out.
"No, no, it's all right." She could see that the human woman was trying with all her power to be brave, but it was painfully clear she was frightened to some degree.
"No, I won't let them!"
"At arms!" The Racnoss screeched, and obediently, the robots pointed their guns at Rose.
"Ah, now. Except.." Rose started, but is cut off by another screech from the arachnid-like beast.
"Take aim!"
"Well, I just think there's really something you ought to know-" She tried again, only to be once more spoken over.
"They won't hit the bride. They're such very good shots."
"Just- just- hang on there.. just a tic. If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So, I would think that if you reverse it... the spaceship comes to her." She flashed a cheeky grin before once again tweaking the tube of Huon particles, which immediately set the tube and Donna alight in a golden glow.
"Fire!" The Empress shrieked. Ever obedient, the robots fired their guns, but too late - the TARDIS materialized around them both, keeping Rose and Donna safe inside the walls of the ship. Rose lunged for the console, instantly in motion to get the TARDIS away.
"Off we go!" She dashed about the console, flicking switches and pressing buttons, looking as erratic as she once thought The Doctor to be. "Oh, you know what I said before about time machines? Well, now we're gonna use it." She paused as the TARDIS spun wildly through the vortex. "We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just fantastic. I don't get to say this much Donna but we're going further back than I've ever been before!" It was only then that she noticed Donna's shoulders were shuddering with silent tears pouring down her cheeks. Unsure of what she could say that could make anything better, she kept quiet, looking away.
The TARDIS, having arrived at its destination, clicked quietly as it cooled down and Rose peered around the console at Donna, who sat in one of the chairs. "We've arrived... want to see?" She asked gently.
"I s'pose." Was her unenthusiastic reply, and Rose started to swing the monitor round, when she paused.
"Oh, that monitor's a bit small, doesn't really capture it, does it?. Maybe your way's best." She walked to the doors, waiting for Donna to join her. "No human's ever seen this. You'll be the first." She said with a half-hearted laugh, trying to make her feel somewhat better.
"All I want to see is my bed." She sighed in tired response.
"Donna Noble - welcome to the creation of the Earth." She opened the doors onto a spectacular sight that made Donna's mouth fall open. The sun shone through beautiful colored dust and gas clouds, shadows cast by enormous rocks floating around. "We've gone back about... oh.. 4.6 billion years? There's no Solar System yes. Just dust and rocks and gas." She pointed to a spot in the distance. "That's the Sun over there, brand new, still a protostar. Just learning how to burn."
"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked, her eyes flicking around the marvelous sight.
"All around us... all this dust, the rocks, all of it." She explained, motioning to the beautiful clouds of dust that swirl just out of touching distance.
"Puts the wedding in perspective. Lance was right. We're just... tiny." Rose smiled at that. She remembered that fresh feeling after one of her first trips, the questioning if anything at all was worth it.
"No, but that's what w- you do. The Human Race. Making sense out of all the chaos out there. Marking it out with weddings and holidays and calendars. The whole process is beautiful, but it only is if it's being observed."
"So, I came out of all this?"
"Amazing, isn't it?" Rose asked as a massive chunk of rock floated lazily past the TARDIS. Donna eyed it dubiously.
"I think that's the Isle of Wight." She teased, and they both laughed.
"Eventually, gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier, more massive than the others, is big enough to start creating enough of a gravitational pull. It stars pulling other rocks and dust and little bits towards it. Bit by bit, everything gets all yanked in, piling itself up until.."
"You get Earth" Donna finished. Rose nodded in approval.
"But the question is... What exactly was that first rock, and why do the Racnoss need it?" As if on cue, a star shaped rock emerged through the clouds.
"Look."
"The Racnoss..." She breathed, rushing back to the console and turning a wheel frantically. "Wait.. that doesn't make any sense. At this point, the Racnoss are supposed to be hiding from the war, not running about down here. What's it doing?" She paused, waiting for Donna's answer.
"Exactly what you said." Wonder and amazement flooded through the human like adrenaline as she watched the rocks, the particles of dust and gas, all zooming towards the Racnoss as though drawn by a magnetic force. Rose raced back to the door to look, and it all clicked into place.
"Oh, they didn't just bury something at the center of the Earth... they literally became the centre of the Earth!" The TARDIS suddenly shuddered violently and they were suddenly almost knocked off their feet.
"What was that?" Donna asked, panicking as Rose's face turned into one of a grim expression.
"Trouble." Is all she managed before she slammed the doors shut. Both of them struggled to keep their balance as the ship shuddered and tipped, sparks flying and the whirring of the Time Rotor drowning out almost all other sound. Even Donna struggled to be heard over the noise.
"What the hell's it doing?" Rose was back to running all about the TARDIS, talking to the ship, stroking the console, struggling to pilot it as it soars through the Vortex.
"Remember that little trick I pulled - particles pulling particles? Well.. It works in reverse, and they've figured it out. They're pulling us back!"
"Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a hand brake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?" Rose stopped her motion to stare at Donna, dumbfounded for a second.
"Wait a minute!" She yelped, pulling out the extrapolator from where she knew it was underneath the console. "The extrapolator! Can't stop us, but it should give us a good enough bump to not be sitting ducks." There was a long pause as the TARDIS materialized. She dashed to the screen and grinned wildly. "It worked! Not too far away but far enough! Come on!"
They went running out of the TARDIS. Then they ran. It was only a few seconds before they made it to the doorway leading up to the Thames Flood Barrier.
"But what do we do?" Donna asked, sounding out of breath and scared, and who could blame her really? Rose ran her hands up and down the cool metal barrier, looking deep in thought, before pressing her ear up against it.
"I don't know! Figure I'll just make it up as I go along, not usually the best plan in the universe but I've made it work before, we'll live."
"But I still don't understand. I'm full of particles - but what for?" Rose turned and looked at her, taking in a deep breath before launching into explanation.
"There's a Racnoss web at the center of the Earth, alright? My 'people' unraveled their power source. The Huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss were stuck. So now they've been in hibernation for billions of years. Frozen. Dead. Whatever you want to call it, but you're the new key. Brand new particles, brand new living particles! They need you to open it." She turned back to the door, running the end of the sonic along it experimentally. After a second she stopped cold. "You've not been this quiet since I've met you." She whirled around to see Donna gone, and to be honest she wasn't exactly surprised. It really was only natural that her first outing in almost three years was a 'save-the-world' mission turned 'save-the-world-and-handle-a-hostage-situation' mission.
She groaned and looked up and down the empty corridor before opening the door before her with the sonic screwdriver, only then to be confronted with an armed robot. Just lovely. It was a simple matter of pulling out the screwdriver and aiming correctly, before, with a flurry of sparks and a hiss of smoke, the robot fell to the ground. An idea struck her, and she pulled the robes away from the robot, then the mask, and carefully placed them on herself before setting off at a jog toward the chamber. She managed to get in without being detected, but the story changed as she made it halfway up the staircase.
"My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them!" The Empress hissed and suddenly whirled to face Rose "So you might as well unmask, my clever little Rose-child." Rose stopped, and immediatly shed the cloak and the mask.
"Oh well. Nice try. Donna, stay calm, I'm going to get you out of there." She aimed her sonic screwdriver up at her and the web immediately began to loosen.
"I'm gonna fall!" Donna screeched in absolute terror, clinging to what little web was still left around her.
"Nope! You're gonna swing!" And sure enough, she swung right over the hole on one of the stands of web and towards the balcony where Rose stood, with an arm outstretched to reach for her hand. Donna screamed and swung almost underneath the balcony, barely managing to grab at Rose, who pulled her to safety.
"The rose-child amuses me." The Empress smirked. Rose's expression changed to something deathly serious, and she returned her attention to the Empress.
"Empress of the Racnoss - I give you one last chance. I can try to find you a planet and a place in the universe to coexist. This is my only offer, and I suggest you take it."
"These humans are so funny." The Racnoss snarled, looking toward Rose.
"What's your answer?" She demanded. A look of false apology flickered through the gruesome appearance of the Racnoss Queen, and she roared into new laughter.
"Oh - I'm afraid I have to decline."
"Fine, then what happens next is your own fault."
"I'll show you what happens next!" She hissed "At arms!" At their master's command, the robots once more raised their guns."Take aim! And fire!" But nothing happened. In fact, the robots go limp. Rose gave a little smirk, tilting her head at the Racnoss leader.
"What did you do?" Donna asked, looking confused.
"Guess what I've got, Donna?" She pulled the remote control from one of her jacket pockets. "Pockets."
"How did that fit in there?"
"They're bigger on the inside."
"Robo-forms are not necessary. My children may feast on Martian flesh." The Empress roared, infuriated.
"Oh. That's good. Here's the problem though, I'm not from Mars."
"Then where?"
"Technically I was born on Earth, but I'm guessing that's not what you mean. The home of my species was destroyed long ago in a brutal and deadly war. Gallifrey." Rose's voice grew in strength as for the first time she truly embraced the reality of the changes on her body, the change of her species, really, and the change of her status. For the very first time, she actually accepted the title of the last Time Lady.
The Empress emitted a noise much like a roar, her eyes full of anger. "They murdered the Racnoss!" She hissed wildly.
"I warned you. You did this to yourself." She said as she produced a handful of the explosive baubles from her pocket. It was now that the Racnoss began to panic, and rightly so.
"No! No! Don't! No!" Regardless of the pleas of the beast, Rose threw several handfuls of the baubles into the air. Some surrounded the Empress and some smashed into the walls of the corridor, destroying them and letting the water from the Thames rush though in torrents. Another bauble exploded, causing a fire at the Empress' feet. She wailed as water flooded into the chamber and down the hole.
"My children!" She wailed, grief-stricken. Rose stood there watching in total silence, surrounded by fire and water, while the river swirled down the hole like it's a plughole. She remained motionless as the last Racnoss howled in misery, screaming in upset. Raw power coursed through her veins, but it was a power that almost made her want to be violently sick, because it was wrong, but she couldn't stop. Something about the horrific scene before her had her completely transfixed and unable to look away, to stop. Donna blinked up at the girl, noting the coldness that colored her features, and she saw something for the first time. This girl, looking so young, had more than likely seen more horrors than she could even imagine.
"Rose! You can stop now!"
But Rose still couldn't stop - she watched the Racnoss writhe and wail in agony with dark eyes, full of some secret pain and then, she just stopped, turning to Donna with what was a poorly faked smile.
"Come on! Time I got you out!" They race their way up the stairs, dripping with water by the time they reach the surface.
"But what about the Empress?" Donna breathed after a quiet moment of climbing.
"She's used up all her Huon energy - she's defenseless." Rose said with a sigh that sounded more tired than it should have been. There was momentary relief as they clambered out into the night, both laughing and cheering in a somewhat morbid delight when they realized the Racnoss had been destroyed.
"Just... there's one problem." Donna said through gasps of air.
"What's that?"
"We've drained the Thames."
And so they had. They both burst into shaky laughter.
The TARDIS materialized across the road from Donna's house. She stepped outside, followed directly after by Rose, who gave a smile, patting the side of the ship affectionately. "There we go. Told you she'd be all right. She can survive anything."
"More than I've done." Donna commented, and Rose just smiled, pulling out the sonic screwdriver and scanning her over.
"Nope! All the Huon particles have gone. No damage, you're fine."
"Yeah, but apart from that... I missed my wedding, lost my job and became a widow on the same day. Sort of." A small bit of guilt lodged itself within Rose's stomach, making her uncomfortable for a second.
"I couldn't save him." She said quietly, not meeting Donna's eyes, that is until the unfeeling comment that came next.
"He deserved it." That made Rose raise her eyebrows, and almost in defeat, Donna's face softened. "Okay.. no, he didn't." She looked round at the house. "I'd better get inside. They'll be worried."
"Best Christmas present they could have." Rose said with a small smile as they watched Donna's parents hug tightly through the window. "Wait, no.. I forgot, you hate Christmas."
"Yes, I do."
"So... what is Donna Noble going to do with herself now?"
"Well I'm not going to get married, for starters. And I'm not gonna temp anymore. I dunno... travel... see a bit more of planet Earth... walk in the dust. Just... go out there and do something." Rose looked down. She'd been alone with the TARDIS for a long time now, and she wondered if it would be a good idea to ask Donna if she wanted to tag along.
"Well, you could always..." She started before she even realized herself what she was saying. Donna looked at her in partial surprise.
"What?" When Rose spoke again, it was tentatively, on the brink of timid, nothing at all like the tone she used with the Racnoss Empress.
"...come with me.." Donna smiled at her.
"No."
"Okay." She replied quickly, looking away.
"I can't.."
"No, that's fine." She said, putting on a mask of false indifference.
"No, but really... everything we did today... do you live your life like that?"
"... Not all the time." She said, though even she would later admit that her voice was less than definitely unconvincing.
"I think you do. And I couldn't."
"But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful." She argued half-heartedly.
"And it's also terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying and you just stood there like... I don't know... a stranger, a cold stranger. And to be honest Rose, I think half the time you have no clue what you're doing, I don't think you've been at it a long time, not long enough to be responsible for someone other than yourself yet. Am I right? I mean, you scare me to death!" Rose said nothing for a long second.
"Well then."
"Tell you what I will do though - Christmas dinner. Oh, come on."
"I- I don't do that sort of thing."
"You did it last year, you said so. And you might as well because Mum always cooks enough for twenty." Rose gave a half smile after making a few false reluctance noises.
"Oh, all right then. But you go first, better warn them. And... please don't say I'm a Martian yeah? Wouldn't want to have to explain." She indicates to the TARDIS. "Just give me a second, yeah? Gotta get a quick shower, get changed. Beauty of a time machine, really, never have to worry about being late. I'll see you in a minute." She disappeared inside the TARDIS and it almost immediately began to dematerialize - and that's when Donna realized she was actually leaving.
"Rose! Rose!" She yelled, and the engines stopped and Rose pops her head outside the door.
"You really can shout." She teased.
"What are the chances I'll see you again?"
"If I'm lucky, they're high." She said with a half-hearted smile.
"Just... promise me one thing; find someone."
"I don't need anyone." And right then she was absolutely floored at how very much she just sounded like The Doctor. It was almost scary, and for a brief second she was worried that she was becoming someone she wasn't, when Donna started talking again.
"Yes, you do. Because sometimes, I think you need someone to stop you, just get a bit more practice taking care of yourself first."
"Yeah." She agreed quietly, pausing. "Thanks then, Donna - good luck - and just... have a fantastic life." Donna smiled and gave a little laugh.
"I think I will, yeah." Rose just grinned and retreated back into the TARDIS.
"Rose?" The door of the TARDIS swung open once more and Rose sighed in mock exasperation.
"Oh, what now?"
"That friend of yours... what was his name?" She swallowed past a lump in her throat, scratching out the words.
"His name was The Doctor."
"Doctor who?"
"Just.. The Doctor."
She closed the door for the last time - and instead of her usual dematerialization, the TARDIS shot straight into the night sky. Donna watched with a sad smile before walking back home.
Okay, so I hope you enjoyed that chapter, and I hope you think I've done decently on this first bit of the story. Now here comes the questions I have, if you'd be so kind as to help me out.
1) When The Doctor was on Earth, he used the name John Smith. Well after Canary Wharf, Rose disappeared for almost three years, so she would've obviously ended up on the list of the dead, meaning she would obviously have to come up with some sort of alias to use, especially in the hospital where she meets Martha and when she later becomes human. My friend came up with Marion Smith, but I had something else in mind. Marion Dårlig Wolfe. Which one do you prefer?
2) Sometime later in the story I plan to bring in the Ninth Doctor, because I love him, his leather jacket, his northern accent, and the potential angsty goodness it could bring up. Which episode would you like to see him blunder in on? I was thinking maybe the two Dalek episodes, but what do you guys think?
If you could help me out with either of these I would love you so much there would be no words to describe my emotions.