A/N: - Sorry this took forever, but HURRAH I finally got this thing up. OK, firstly, just to let you know, I've borrowed quite a lot of dialogue from this chapter and it'll probably be the same with the next chapter – but I've tried to put in as much originality as I could!

This chapter focuses on Rose just a bit more, but I'll be switching it to hover over Donna's shoulders, a bit, in the next chapter, so don't worry!!! I'm not leaving Donna out – she's amazing!

Reviews are loved (as much as chocolate!!)

PS: - I'd love it if you checked out my new Pushing Daisies/Doctor Who crossover fic, 'And Talking About Trainers' and commented!!! *hints* lol

HAPPY READING PEOPLE!

=D ;)

Series Four in Yellow, Red and Brown

Volcano Day (AKA: Fires of Pompeii)

Part One

"Ancient Rome!" The Doctor beamed widely, pushing aside the large rough blue curtain in his way and allowing a small gangway for a certain blonde and red-head to pass through. "Well, not to them, obviously. To all intents and purposes right now... this is brand new Rome."

"Well, I have ta say, it makes a change from last time," Rose grinned, inhaling the musty exotic scent of the busy market, in front of them.

"What d'you mean by last time?" he replied cheekily with a high-pitched intonation.

She cocked up an eyebrow, "Last time we landed up in Rome, we 'ad sewage water up to our ankles and it smelt like horse dung everywhere. I hope we actually stop to sight-see this time, couldn't really see much as a statue."

"Oi! That was… different! The TARDIS didn't know where to--"

"We've gone back in time!" Donna intercepted loudly, voice thick with great enthusiasm. "Look at this place. It's... it's so Roman. This is fantastic!" Donna swiftly grabbed the Doctor into a tight hug. "I'm here... in Rome. Donna Noble in Rome," she let go and continued walking along the street happily. "This is just weird. I mean, everyone here is dead."

"Don't go telling them that," the Doctor warned cheerfully.

"I know it's amazing, isn't it?" Rose added. "Just think, over two-thousand years from now, this'll be all gone!"

"Where'd he take you on your first trip?" Donna quizzed Rose, slowing down a bit.

"Five billion years into the future," Donna's mouth dropped open in surprise, and she shot the Doctor a glare as if to say: You took Rose billions of years into the future on her first trip and I land up in technology-free Ancient Rome? "I know, that's what I thought at first, but then it turns out 'e only took me there to watch the my 'ome planet blow up!"

"You what?" Donna supplied, staring at the two of them

"Totally different man back then," The Doctor concluded. "'Sides what's so bad about watching the Earth blow up? We had fun, didn't we!?"

"Yeah, if nearly getting burned to death by the sun and then having a psychopathic piece of skin try to murder you, counts as fun, then it was the best time of my life."

Donna stared at the Doctor nonplussed and turned to Rose for help, but Rose shrugged and rolled her eyes. Smiling to herself, Donna just shook her head and walked ahead, trying to make her existence in Ancient Rome feel real. Because, even though she was quite plainly walking around in an ancient market street that was inn fact Ancient Rome, it felt like an impossible dream come true! Donna Noble, a normal temp from Chiswick, was in Ancient Rome! How real was that?

Rose hooked her arm through the Doctor's and skipped happily next to him, while Donna strolled on ahead still in taking her surroundings with utter awe.

"Where abouts are we?" Rose asked the Doctor all of a sudden, as she briefly stopped to check out one of the stalls that displayed beautifully decorated pottery.

She accidentally tripped, but caught the clay pot just before it hit the ground and earned a raised eyebrow from the Doctor. Smacking the dust of her clothes, she swiftly replaced the pot onto its original shelf.

Just as she was about to go after the Doctor, a sudden breeze picked up and two people whooshed past her, large clay pots stuffed in their greedy hands. She opened her mouth to protest, but comprehended the situation tardily and watched with a sad frown, as the thieves sprinted down the street, barging past more panicky shoppers.

"Some things never change," Rose murmured to herself with a sigh.

She smiled sadly at the stall-holder that had just come out of his hut to find some of his prized possessions missing and looked up, only to late, to see the thieves round a corner .

"I'm not entirely sure to be honest; we could actually be where we were last time," the Doctor intermitted, falling into her step and unaware of the events, as he was far too busy examining some items in a shop. "But the TARDIS didn't tell us on the scanner so we'll just have to play along and find out somehow."

Rose just nodded and fell into his step, entwining their hands together.

"Rose, this better not be some kinda hoax, cos I am not standing for it!" Donna yelled from down the street.

Rose frowned at the Doctor and they ran speedily down the street to see what was wrong.

"What you talkin' about?" Rose asked Donna.

Donna pointed to the sign behind him that protruded large, black English lettering, "That sign over there is in English. Are you having me on? Are we in Epcot?"

"Oh," Rose breathed and started explaining, generally turning to the Doctor for support. "That's the TARDIS; she sorta…" Rose looked at the Doctor for help, but when she found him too busy chatting to a stall-holder selling tools – Rose randomly gestured to her head and waved her hands around a bit, to demonstrate. "gets into your head and translates different languages for you. Don't ask; the Doctor knows more about it than me. Anyway, it just makes everythin' look like English... speech as well. You're talkin' Latin, right this second."

"Seriously?"

"Yep!" the Doctor butted in, popping the 'p' as usual, just catching the ends of the conversation after having a very significant discussion with a stall-holder about the architecture of Roman buildings and construction tools.

"Had a nice chat with hefty over there?" Rose asked him with a grin.

"Yeah actually and his names Manito actually; he's actually very nice and--"

"I just said 'seriously' in Latin" Donna interjected, gleefully.

"Sure did" Rose added. "And I just said 'sure did' in La'in too!"

Donna laughed, "What if I said something in actual Latin? Like 'veni, vidi, ici'? My dad said that when he came back from football. If I said 'veni, vidi, vici' to that lot, what would it sound like?"

"I'm not sure -- you have to think of difficult questions, don't you?" the Doctor sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah, maybe they think you're speakin' some alien language or somethin'. You 'ave a point there, never actually thought of that before," Rose said. "Remind me to try it next time round."

"I'm gonna try it, now."

Flicking her long hair out of her face and distancing herself from the pair, Donna proudly strolled up to a nearby stall-holder. She gave Rose the thumbs up, which was returned enthusiastically along with a gesture of an amused-looking Doctor.

"Hello, sweetheart," declared the male stall-holder with the brown curly hair and dirty crème toga. "What can I get for you, my love?"

"Veni, vidi, vici," Donna pronounced perfectly, inwardly anticipating the stallholder's reaction.

"Huh? Sorry?" the stall-holder replied blankly and then leaned down to her height, pointedly shake his head in confusion - thinking that Donna was foreign "Me. No. Speak. Celtic. No can do, missy."

Donna just smiled weakly at him and traipsed back to the Doctor and Rose.

"What 'appened?" Rose asked apprehensively, as she was unable to hear because of her unfortunately un-bat like hearing.

Donna shook her head with failure and Rose burst out laughing. "He just stared at me and spoke to me really slowly, like I was foreign or something and then, 'e called me 'Celtic'! Anyway, what does he mean 'Celtic'?"

"Welsh. You sound Welsh. There we are. That's something."

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

They carried on slowly walking the streets, generally stopping to have a look at interesting stalls while the Doctor yapped on about something geeky or other.

"Won't our clothes look a bit odd?" Donna asked after a while, indicating her pretty purple ankle-length dress. "I mean, this dress isn't exactly Ancient Rome… I mean, look at it!"

"If that dress is bad, look at me!" smirked Rose, as she pointed out the dark purple shirt that hung over her jeans and the scruffy white trainers that covered her feet

Suddenly, a small frown of unease adorned Rose's features, as she couldn't help that there was something wrong in the air and it gave her a queasy feeling. She spun around and saw a hooded figure in crimson-red robes hiding behind a pillar, who seemed to be looking straight at them. Rose blinked and the figure was gone again – she opted for the choice that explained the red-robed figure as an illusion..

"Nah. Ancient Rome, anything goes," the Doctor said, scratching the spot behind his ear. "It's like Soho... but bigger."

"You were saying… So you've been here before then?" Donna asked again.

"Hmm, ages ago. Me and Rose, had to go searching for a missing boy. A lot of things happened then… Very complicated," The Doctor replied. "Before you ask, that fire had nothing to do with me. Well, a little bit, but I hadn't gotten the chance to look around properly. Colosseum... Pantheon... Circus Maximus..."

Hairs raised on the back of her neck and Rose quickly spun around frowning, just in time to see a flash of red disappear around a corner. OK, this was getting far weird. Who was it?

"You'd expect them to be looming by now. Where is everything?" the Doctor spun around on the spot, but found no large architecture of some sort. This worried him. "
Try this way."

For the next few minutes, they busied themselves walking up and down the streets, looking for anything that would confirm their presence in Rome, but nothing. Nothing whatsoever.

The same strange vibes triggered Rose's instinct again and she grew more and more disturbed by the second, and by this time, she was absolutely 110% sure that somebody was on their trail!

"Doctor, I'm not tryin' to be funny or anythin', but I think there's somebody watching us," Rose whispered, deciding it was better now than never.

"Who?" the Doctor muttered back to her, brows knitting together.

" A woman I think; I'm sure we haven't met before."

"What does 'she' look like?"

"I dunno, I couldn't see her face. She was covered in these red robes and her face was hidden by this hood."

"I'm not an expert," Donna piped up suddenly, squinting at the enormous form in the far distance. "But there are Seven Hills of Rome, aren't there? How come they only got one? That can't be right!"

The Doctor craned his head up to see a gigantic mountain, and his eyes widened in realisation, as the ground suddenly quaked dangerously beneath their feet

"Here we go again!" a stall-holder yelled, grabbing onto a nearby tree

"'Ang on, that aint no hill!" Rose exclaimed, watching as the people around them clung on to the nearest support they could find. "Wait a minute, that's a…"

"Mountain..." finished Donna, with a hint of triumph and slight alarm. "With smoke... which makes this..."

"Pompeii.," the Doctor supplied, breathlessly. "We're in Pompeii... and it's Volcano Day!"

The ground around them trembled malevolently, causing screams of shock to erupt from shoppers in the vicinity and the citizens of the city to tumble over, as they attempted to grab hold of something to steady their balance. The Doctor, Rose and Donna stood there, just maintain their equilibrium, as they witnessed the sight before them.

A sudden thought pelted Donna full in the head, as she remembered Pompeii from all her old History lessons, but it was all supposed to be rubble, dirt and all completely stone… This couldn't be it! It was too happy and lively… These people didn't look a bit fussed at all?! Rose joined her thoughts, thinking along the same lines, but feeling depressed after a thought of the thousands of people that'd been claimed dead. Innocent lives lost…

Rose watched in confusion at the dozens of people, just clinging onto their tents and tables, laughing and grinning away, just as if all this earth-quaking business was fairly normal to them.

The bulky grey Mount Vesuvius puffed out great rings of thick smoke, like an old man taking a long drag from his pipe and exhaling – vicious fumes wafted in and out of streets, emitting loud coughs and chokes.

"THAT'S 'ER!" Rose yelled suddenly at the Doctor, jabbing her finger in the direction of a billowing red cloak that was sweeping away.

But her fellow travellers didn't seem to hear her and the Doctor just yelled, "Come on! We've got to get back to the TARDIS, NOW!"

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

The cloaked figure in red sprinted into the temple and pulled her hood down, bowing. She was joined by other figures cloaked in red, all kneeling and praying under their breaths.

The young soothsayer brushed her heavy garments to the side and prostrated down on the cold stone floor.

"I beg audience with the High Priestess of the Sibylline," the soothsayer declared humbly.

"The High Priestess cannot be seen," another woman in red said, shaking her head. "What would you tell her, sister?"

"It has come... as foretold in the prophecy. The box... the blue box."

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Donna raced down the streets, retracing their steps to try and locate the TARDIS again. As soon as they'd got there, the Doctor swiftly whipped the veil out of the way and his jaw dropped open to find no TARDIS, at all. Not event he slightest hint of it.

"You're kidding," Donna said, aghast and shaking her head. "Don't tell me the TARDIS is gone".

"OK."

"Where is it then?"

"You told me not to tell you."

"Don't get clever in Latin."

"Um...excuse me! Excuse me!" he ran to the same stall-holder that Donna had had her encounter with. "There was a box--big, blue box. Big, blue, wooden box...just over there. Where's it gone?"

The stallholder grinned smugly, arms crossed with pride. "Sold it, didn't I!"

"But... it wasn't yours to sell." The Doctor reasoned, a small chunk of his Timelord gut instinct, that this wasn't going to help them because it was already gone.

"It was on my patch, wasn't it? I got 15 sesterce for it. Lovely jubbly." He replied and rubbed his hands together, mind drifting away into a daydream of a field of money.... Ah, how he would love it if that were--

"Who did you sell it to?" the man in the strange brown coat and foreign shoes interrupted – rather rudely.

"Old Caecilius. Look... if you want to argue, why don't you take it up with him? He's on Foss Street. Big villa can't miss it."

"Thanks." And with that he sprinted off again, Donna in tow.

"Wait a minute," Donna said, eyes widening in horror as she pulled on the Doctor's coat to stop him from running any further.

"What? The sooner we find this villa, the sooner we can get out of here!"

"Err, Doctor. I think we're missing someone."

"Yeah, I know, the TARDIS! Oh and thanks for referring her to someone, instead of something, cos she's not just a machine – she's living and have I told you that--"

"No, you dimwit! Rose?! Rose Tyler? Oh come on," Donna hissed and the Doctor looked at her blankly. She sighed at how thick the Doctor could be sometimes. "Hell, you can be thick sometimes. Where is Rose? Rose. Is. Missing!"

"Ah… I thought you were with her!"

"But, I thought you were with her! You were s'posed to be lookin' after her, spaceman. "

"Then, where is she?!" they chorused simultaneously.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

In the blur and mess of the crowds, Rose lost contact of Donna or the Doctor, being knocked aside by members of the public. She called out to them, but they paid no attention to her, because she was obviously too far away from them. But as soon as the great stampede and mildewed dust had cleared, her friends were nowhere to be seen. Just her luck, they'd left without her!

But then, she saw the figure in red dash past her again and Rose wouldn't let her/him slip away this time. Besides, a bit of investigating wouldn't hurt, plus it was only until the Doctor found her! She was almost 100% sure that they wouldn't leave her behind....

As surreptitiously as a girl, with conspicuous bright yellow hair and blaring 21st century clothes, could be, Rose sneaked off after the person in red and managed not to be seen. She trekked her through a huge array of streets, alley ways and steamy bath houses, until she came to a vast brown temple that was elaborately decorated and jewelled, on the outside.

On the inside, it was a totally different story. It was dark, damp and smelt stale, mixed in with the aroma of sweat and the pungent bitter smell of incense burning. Pushing through a series of thin translucent veils, Rose followed after the cloaked anonymity, being careful not to set off any echoes with her footsteps. Finally she came to a large ancient chamber, filled with dozens of other red-cloaked figures.

"Must be some sort of cult," Rose whispered, leaning in the doorway.

She'd probably get caught, if she dared go any further and the worshippers would probably offer her up as a sacrifice for trespassing on holy land without permission or wearing red garments or something – knowing her luck, that is…

For the next three minutes, Rose bored herself by listening to their conversation and yawned from tediousness, stretching and sinking down to the ground, in the small archway. It turned out that the cloaked ambiguities were actually just very religious women – kinda like nuns, that had painted their faces white and ornately imprinted designs onto them, finishing off the touch by painting their hands with an eerie image of eyes. On first impression, Rose had shivered at the sight because, to her, it felt like those eyes were watching her every move.

But then, one moment later, Rose's ears pricked up and she leapt up at the sudden mention…

"It has come... as foretold in the prophecy. The box... the blue box." Declared the woman.

So she was following them! But why and what was she on about, by prophecy? What did they know about them or the TARDIS? Rose crept forward a little, determined to soak up some more information.

"Come closer… Tell me more, child…" rasped a croaky, ancient feminine sounding voice. Rose edged forward nervously, back glued to the wall, as she crooked her head to look into the room and looked in mystification, at the thin greyish figure behind the veil. It didn't look human, or was that just her? Her heart thundered, as the tension got to her. What would happen if she got caught? By the looks of things, these sisters meant business

"But high priestess… Are you sure?" another voice confirmed, a trace of nervousness prevailing.

"Do not challenge my authority, Sister Spurrina!" the ancient voice hissed. "Bring the child forward; I want to hear more… Let her acknowledge my true identity, and then we shall see if she is a true sister to our kind..."

"Sisters, prepare the high priestess!" 'Sister Spurrina' called out brusquely.

Rose watched as half a dozen cloaked figures modestly shuffled forward, rose up onto the high altar and positioned themselvesadjacent to the thin veil that shielded this mysterious figure.

"Sister Metella, come forward and face the High Priestess with great honour and prestige…" said 'Sister Spurrina' conceitedly. "Open the veil…"

Sister Metella scuffled forward with beads of sweat trickling down her forward from the heat and anxiety, and she kneeled down in front of the veil – praying to herself that she would guided, in the process, of meeting her high priestess. Hers eyed drifted upwards as the curtain was slowly but surely gracefully uplifted, only to reveal a creature of nightmares. Sister Metella's heart hammered wildly, but she didn't show her fear and persuaded herself that the gods would be looking down on her, guiding her through a safe path. She was a chosen one and she needed to be proud of it – not scared of her own… high priestess.

Rose gasped and clamped her hands over her mouth, before she gave herself away. Seated on a unkempt array of cushions and bedding, sat cross-legged a figure dressed in fine red garments, but whose face was composed out of stone… Her face looked like a ancient grey rock, dotted with pinpricks for eyes and a small gap for a mouth and nose, completed with flakes of stone crumbling away every now and again. Now she was undeniably alien.

"It is an honour to see you at last, high priestess. I shall continue to serve you with all my life,"

"We'll have to see about that. Now…" the high-priestess hissed, more chunks of rock crumbling away as she opened her mouth to speak. "Tell me more, about this…blue box. What did your eyes see, Sister?"

"The blue box appeared out of nowhere, concealed by a single curtain and then… three of the most strange looking…"

"Ouch!" Rose yelped unwillingly, as she felt something nip at her ankle and she didn't have time to look before it scuttled away. She soon realised her mistake and bit down on her lip, while hopping like a loon on one foot as the painful affect of the bite spread across her foot.

"Who dares trespass the Temple of Sybul?" Sister Spurrina bellowed.

"It is I, a fellow member of the sisterhood…" Rose improvised, spitting out the first words that came to her head, in a low – hopefully- convincing tone, that didn't sound too Cockney.

"Oh… What are you doing hiding there? Come forward and greet the high-priestess. She awaits. It is rude to interrupt he least you can do is pay your respects!"

Rose had had enough and as soon as the last word was spoken, she legged it down the many corridors and out the building itself – gasping with relief, as she inhaled the cool outside air once again.

*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*

ToBeContinued…

Hope you enjoyed reading! Now, don't spend more than a couple of seconds to tap me a review!! CHOCOLATES FOR ALL REVIEWERS… lol