Last time:
A crowd from Olyesti goes to rescue the Doctor, but in the capitol, the TARDIS prevents Donna and Gawain from going with them. The ship instead sends them to learn about the operational Loom and recruit help from the temporary housing.
When Donna reaches the fight, there's an explosion and the Doctor cries out her name as everything collapses.
Chapter 14
In Which Gallifrey is Destroyed
She landed on something soft a fleshy. Two hearts beat wildly below her ear. Not a corpse then. She'd take that.
All around her, there was a bright glow that penetrated her eyelids. It was far too bright.
Reflexively, she buried her head in the Time Lord's manly chest. He smelled good, like bananas. He smelled familiar. For a millisecond, she let herself relax and forget what she was in the middle of.
Cool fingers touched her temples. Something calm brushed against her mind. "Donna, are you injured?" It was the Doctor's voice.
She opened her eyes. Below her was the Doctor's blue-and-black pinstripe suit, stained with red dust and burnt-orange spots. She pushed herself up quickly, flinching when she moved her aching left arm. That was bruised under her purple jacket's sleeve, wasn't it? "I'm not dying. You?"
He propped himself up. "I got lucky. I don't have to regenerate."
He was injured though. Donna would have to be blind to miss the way he flinched and lowered himself against what was formerly a piece of thick white railing. Despite his obvious pain, he reached to brush Donna's hair behind her ear. "I'm sorry. I had to set off the blast. I just wish I'd known you were here before I did it."
"Doctor, I was in the city earlier. One of the Loomlings lost a hand…." She breathed the story into his ear. "People have been going missing from the city. They took my friend Myecet because she saw something."
He paled. "Their bodies aren't like rubble, you said? I knew we didn't have the manpower to clean up so quickly with the limited help we allowed from Earth. I bet even those who supposedly went home were used as raw materials. The High Council's sacrifices to create slaves."
All around them, Time Lords were getting to their feet in misfitting clothes and digging their friends out of the rubble. One Councilor walked toward them, smirking, No, that wasn't the seal of an ordinary council member – that was Rassilon himself. He was fit, young, and looked able to seduce all the martian ladies on this planet with a flip of his rich black hair or a wink of his chocolate eyes. Oh, like he needed any more power.
He puffed his chest out when he stood just out of the Doctor's reach. "So, Doctor, you've failed." His voice boomed as though he were wearing a hidden microphone.
Donna glanced at the Doctor. "What does he mean?"
"I was trying to break their psychic control over the soldiers they Loomed." The Doctor pointed out all the guns trained on them with his eyes.
"This is a great day for Gallifrey," Rassilon continued. "This is the day we thwart the Matrix's worst prophesy: the prophesy of the Hybrid."
Donna's heart tore as she saw Terraviel unearth her sister, who was wearing a second new face: a chestnut-haired beauty with rosy cheeks and a delicate chin. She stood alongside Himecet as she straightened up.
"How's that?" Himecet shouted at Rassilon. "Going after the Doctor won't change anything. He's one of Gallifrey's greatest heroes. He knows better than to create a hybrid with his wife. Everyone who came to save him trusts him not to do that."
A few of the soldiers trained their guns at her, but Rassilon held up a hand. "Let her be. She's just a confused civilian. There have been too many of those killed today. We would not have killed any were it not necessary to defend ourselves." Rassilon took a step away from the Doctor and looked around at the crowd. "You've misunderstood our intentions. It's true that the Doctor was once our greatest child. Perhaps that's the most tragic part: this is the story of a fallen hero."
The Doctor caught Donna's eye. "You've got to act like you didn't know or they'll kill you too," he mouthed. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
She leaned forward. "But what about the prophesies? Every single one. You can't die yet."
He gulped. "There's one possibility we haven't considered: that I'm executed for my broken-hearted actions, my death is so controversial that it destroys Gallifrey, and what remains of the Time Lords erects a statue of me to memorialize our civil war."
Donna squeezed his hand. "No. Force some other interpretation. Change it."
He squeezed her hand. "I have a plan. I don't want anything to happen to you if it goes wrong. I can regenerate. You can't."
They looked back at Rassilon, catching the end of his claims that the Loomhouses were shut down because they didn't know if the Doctor could be trusted with them. Donna's breath caught as she looked around the ruins. The Doctor's would-be rescuers were discussing things among themselves, and very few of them looked angry with Rassilon anymore.
To her surprise, the biggest objection came from a Councilor lying trapped underneath a chunk of flooring. "Lies! It's all lies!"
"Oh, be quiet, Lungbarrow! Your testimony is suspect with the results of your son's genetic scan. Or rather, your step-son's genetic scan." Rassilon reached into his robes and pulled out the probe that Donna had spotted when she'd watched the Doctor confront the High Council about the Looms.
Every eye stared as Rassilon raised the probe and projected a hologram in the air, large enough for all to see. Triple helices spun lazily around, each base labeled. Donna couldn't tell what part of her husband's DNA was at all human – not that it was her field of expertise, but humans only had two strands per chromosome, didn't they? - but whatever was different than a full-blooded Time Lord's was causing a buzz. "Adenine and thymine?"
The Doctor's hands trembled. "Donna," he whispered. "Get away. You shouldn't get too close to a regeneration."
She released his hands, but instead of backing away, she attempted to help him up. His left leg was trapped under something large and made of metal. She couldn't move it herself.
"Donna!" he hissed.
Swallowing hard, she backed away. She remained unnoticed by even the guards, who were still gawking at hybrid genetics with everyone else.
"Half Time Lord," Rassilon drawled, "half-human. Speculation got it wrong. The Doctor isn't going to father the Hybrid: he is the Hybrid."
In the corner of her eye, Donna noticed clean robes, both white and red, surrounding the spectacle. Among the gathering Time Lords was Demeter, who was openly wearing her white robes and cap. Donna wanted to cry with relief. She slipped past the armed perimeter to greet her. "You've got to help him."
Demeter kept looking ahead. "I'm only to observe."
Donna glared at her. "You're no help. What they're about to do to him is wrong and you know it."
"He needs someone for many things. Sometimes he needs someone to stop him." Pursing her lips, Demeter tilted her head toward the Doctor.
"What is he, your knight used as a lure for your opponent's king?" Donna put her hands on her hips. "He is innocent, and there is no reason he can't still be a good man, a hero even! You can't just let him be killed for something he hasn't even done yet."
Demeter grabbed Donna by the arms and steered her to where she could easily see the Doctor trapped under the scrap metal. "Donna Noble Lungbarrow. Pay close attention to what the Doctor is about to do."
Rassilon nodded to the soldiers, and every single gun was aimed at the Doctor, but the Doctor pulled out a big metal-grated cube. "I'll use it!"
All the Time Lords froze, and Demeter whispered to Donna what the Moment could do. Burning. Scorching. Pieces evaporating as the planet exploded. Like Hiroshima on steroids. All of this would happen in under a second.
The Doctor was staring Rassilon down, face blank, but his eyes, his eyes…. No! Donna's skin chilled. Her heart cringed. "Doctor!"
"Donna, get back to the TARDIS! There's a yellow button under the typewriter. Push it and you'll return to Earth." The Doctor narrowed his eyes at Rassilon. "And you'll let her."
"No!" She leaped, slipping and sliding through the rubble. "Doctor, you can't! Not like this." She wrapped her arms around his chest. His hearts were pounding under her arms.
He glanced at her. "I'm sorry. I can't allow this to go on. Please go back to Earth. I can't bear to have to kill you too."
"Now, Doctor, I'm sure we can talk about this reasonably. As a sign of good faith, we'll even dig your step-mother out from under there." Rassilon nodded toward two of his soldiers. Immediately, they locked their weapons and placed them gingerly atop a bent metal plane. They waded toward the trapped Councilor, who was too teary to offer any words.
The Doctor nodded. "Well, since I wouldn't prefer Gallifrey's destruction either…. I want you to explain something to me."
Rassilon straightened fully. "And what is it you want me to explain?"
"There was a young lady in the temporary housing. Myecet, her name was."
Donna noticed Himecet gnawing her lip, eyes drilling into Rassilon's back. The Doctor continued, uninterrupted. "There were others too. Where have they gone?"
Rassilon twitched. "I haven't the faintest idea."
"Don't you?" The Doctor looked to the crowd for a moment and raised his volume. "You see, this isn't the first time we've had this stand-off. During the war, just before the final battle at the Citadel, then-Lord-President-Rassilon had an idea of how to end it: destroy the physical universe, turning Time Lords into shadows of ourselves and murdering every other species in existence in the process. Don't you remember? The final sanction, he called it."
The crowd murmured.
"Most of the Council agreed, but my mother told me and asked me to stop it. I tried to make them see reason. It didn't work at first, so I stole the Moment and returned to the Wastelands to activate it. Rassilon followed me and promised he wouldn't use his sanction until most Time Lords agreed. You didn't." The Doctor wrinkled his nose. "And now they're producing Time Lords made to agree."
Rassilon's eyes darted among the non-programmed soldiers, who were no longer pointing their guns at the Doctor. Instead, an old man around them was barking orders to round up the corrupt High Council members. "If the populace are idiots, I'll thwart the prophesy myself."
His fist flew at the Doctor.
Shots flew. A barrage of red blinded Donna.
She dropped among the rubble.
"Oof!"
Donna heard more sounds coming from Rassilon and her husband. She peeked up.
A light blinded her.
Heat exploded across her back. And again.
With her eyes pressed tight, she could see white. She covered her eyes.
Something hit her back. Her teeth dipped into her tongue.
It tasted like iron.
She rolled away.
Someone yowled.
Donna opened her eyes. The Doctor had his trapped leg twisted so he could hold Rassilon's arms behind his back, and the Lord Chancellor's mouth was open.
Holding back a sob, Donna rubbed the Doctor's back. "You've told them. They'll investigate. You don't have to do this anymore. You can stop."
A smile dawned on the Doctor's face. "You're right. I don't have to do it yet." He pinned Rassilon to half a marble column, picked the Moment off a nearby bit of metal, and slipped it into his pocket. "Thank you. For stopping me I mean."
Two soldiers came and put Rassilon in restraints. They led him away.
In a minute, Gawain was beside the Doctor and Donna, holding a sonic stethoscope. "We want to verify what Rassilon showed us."
The Doctor swallowed. "Seeing as I can't stop you, I'll just admit it. Yeah, he was telling the truth about me."
Donna hugged him tighter. "What are you going to do to him?"
"I'm not sure." Gawain lowered the scanner. "He saved us this time, and he's saved us before, but he's still destined to destroy us in the end."
The Doctor looked at his knees, clenching a fist. "I don't know what to expect any better than you do. I don't want to do it, but I was on the verge of that twice already. I don't want to die either."
Pocketing the scanner, Gawain lowered his head. "I'm sorry, Doctor. I wish it wasn't you." He held out a hand. "If you don't mind, return the Moment. You'll stand a better chance if you can show us that you don't want to destroy Gallifrey."
He nodded, taking the large cube from his suit and giving it to Gawain instead. "I don't. I really, really don't. I've spent my life looking for ways to thwart the prophesy."
Donna held him to herself. "Come on. You know he's good. How do you know the prophecy's talking about a bad thing anyway?"
Both Time Lords looked at her. Gawain blinked. "What would you know about the prophecy anyway, human? Er, First Lady Donna. I apologize. It seems I'm impulsively rude in this incarnation."
Even with the apology, she huffed. "Are you saying humans are supposed to be stupid, you superstitious space schmuck?"
The Doctor squeezed her hand. "He didn't mean it like that." He lowered his head and picked up a handful of loose marble bits. "I get the feeling it is a bad thing. Look." He let the dusty, rough-broken bits rain to the ground. "I toppled the government and blew up a building, and I haven't even fulfilled…."
He trailed off, eyes growing to the size of his planet's largest moon. He snapped his head up at Gawain. "Do you know what this building was?"
Gawain blinked. "The capitol building?"
"Yes, yes, exactly." The Doctor grinned ear-to-ear. "The capitol building of Gallifrey." He waved his hand at the debris. "This is Gallifrey!" He burst into manic laughter. "I've destroyed Gallifrey! All that's left is to stand in its ruins. It wasn't talking about the planet. It was never fact that I would destroy the planet."
Donna grinned as he continued to laugh. "What did I tell you?"
"You, Donna Lungbarrow, are brilliant." The Doctor leaned in and kissed her cheek.
Gawain bit his lip. "It's just one building."
"But it was the most important building on Gallifrey. Don't you see?"
Gawain was still frowning, so Donna cut in. "It makes sense to me. It's like when someone back home talks about decisions made by London, they're not talking about all of London. Or when one's made by Washington, they're not talking about all of Washington."
Unfortunately, Donna's input just shifted Gawain's expression into open confusion.
Still grinning, the Doctor explained. "She means that humans sometimes use the name of the whole to represent the part. We both think that's the case here too."
Demeter's voice startled Donna. "Synecdoche has occurred in Matrix prophesies before."
Donna looked at the Time Lady, standing tall behind the Doctor. The seal of the Gallifreyan Advisory gleamed on her puffed-out chest. What was more, she was actually smiling.
Donna couldn't help but smile back.
"All this time that you were trying to coax me into fulfilling the prophesy, is this what you foresaw?" Gone from the Doctor's voice were distrust and accusation.
"We saw you overthrowing the corrupted High Council. They are also referred to as Gallifrey." She paused. "The Advisory Council knew for some time that it needed to be done. That's when they started recruiting from the Sisters of the Waters."
"I see." The Doctor peered up at Gawain. "What a relief to have the Matrix's most alarming prophesy out of the way. Am I right?"
Demeter shook her head. "Not quite yet." She looked at Donna and Gawain. "Dig him out. Help him stand. Then I can declare the prophesy fulfilled."
Between the two of them, they managed. The Doctor leaned heavily on Donna's shoulders, but he stood in the ruins of Gallifrey.
Demeter slipped off to deliver the news to the Advisory Council and everyone on-site, and Donna smirked at Gawain. "You have no reason to kill him now."
At last, he smiled back. "No, I don't."
The Doctor winked at Donna. "Soon, we'll have no reason not to be married Gallifreyan-style either. Well, there might still be cultural reasons not to, but do we really care? We told your planet that I wanted to show everyone I'm serious about relations. And besides… oh, you know."
She slapped him. "Just say it, you prawn!"
He paled a bit, but she stared him down until the words came out: "Donna Lungbarrow, I love you."
Next time: A planned bonus chapter where Donna and the Doctor go on an outing and officially get married.
Review incentive: None. However, my Doctor Who/Bendy and the Ink Machine crossover is out, and you do not need to know Bendy and the Ink Machine to follow it. Between the time Donna first turns down travelling with the Doctor and the time when the Doctor meets Martha, the TARDIS takes him inside a massive Groundhog Day Loop that threatens Earth and its neighbors. It's up to him to save the day - if he hasn't gotten in over his head. Meanwhile, murder plots are underway... Check it out if you're interested!
(By the way, the BATIM references in my DW fanfictions are:
*An Alien on Gallifrey - Donna, the Doctor, and the POTUS attend a production of Oedipus Rex in the S. Lawrence Performing Arts Buidling. Sammy Lawrence is the former head of the music department in BATIM's Joey Drew Studios.
*Chiswick Mercy - the Eleventh Doctor decides to take River to a studio that brings inky creations to life. Although the ones in CM turn out to be robots, inky creations that have been brought to life is the premise of BATIM.)
Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who.