Turn Left
The sound of gunfire rang through the air. People screaming, bullets clattering to the ground that cut short the singing songs that exploded over the house that the Noble's were living in. A soldier was shooting at the back of an army van in the area of the exhaust pipe. The whole street covered with smoke, inhabitants from all over the street were standing by the doors, the owners of number 29 were crowding outside as they looked at the yelling soldier, frowns of confusion shining on their faces.
"Hey-ey-ey! Firing at the car is not so good! You- you crazy or what?"
"It's this ATMOS thing, it won't stop! It's like gas, it's toxic."
"Well, switch it off!" Wilfred yelled, pointing towards the front of the car as the soldier continued to cradle his gun close to his stomach, his eyes wide, mouth hanging open in confusion as Rocco and Wilf yelled at the young man who was only doing his job.
"I have done, it's still going. It's every car. Every single ATMOS car, they've gone mad." He replied, his worry and panic rising over his form before he came aware of a clicking sound after Donna had turned around to face her mother. His eyes grew wider, almost popping out of their sockets as he stared right at Donna, his gun aimed right at her. Hi
"You, lady, turn around!" He shouted as he continued to aim his gun at Donna whose heart was hammering in her chest, her mouth hanging open as she stepped back. Her grandfather and Rocco automatically moving in front of her protectively. Rocco's eyebrows were in a frown, one of his hands pressed to Wilf's arm while Wilf was angrily shouting at the man.
"Are you crazy, boy?" Rocco accused
"Turn around!"
"Put the gun down!" Wilf yelled.
"Turn around! Turn around!"
"Do what he says! Turn around, now!" Sylvia spoke in distress, fearful for her daughter's safety, worried about loosing her as well as everything else.
"Turn around, now! Show me your back!" He yelled, watching as Donna shook with fear as he spoke to her. All she could do was take cautious steps towards him, her hands in the air as she showed him her back. Nothing. The soldier lowered his in confusion, his eyes wide in terrified confusion.
Donna turns around with her hands in the air - and there's nothing on her back. The soldier lowers his back, eyes wide in terrified confusion.
"Sorry... I thought I saw..." He managed to say, his voice shaking and quivering.
"Call yourself a soldier?" Wilfred yelled angrily as he took a step towards the soldier, his eyebrows in a frown as he gave his a hard glare. "Pointing guns at innocent women?" Wilf continued but Donna was not angry, she could do nothing but look at him with his mouth open as she had some idea of what the soldier might have seen. Her eyes drawn to a distant flash of blue light and the buzz of electricity. The same circumstances that happened that signaled Rose's last appearance when they had met.
"You're a disgrace. In my day, we would've had you court marshalled!" Wilf shouted, but Donna just walked silently in the direction of the blue flash, everyone watching her, everyone calling after her in fear.
"Donna? Where are you going? It's not safe at night! Donna! Donna!" Sylvia yelled in terror, but she still made no move to follow her.
As soon as she had rounded the corner, Donna came to a halt. Her mouth hanging open, her arms by her side as she took in the sight of rose waiting there patiently. Her leather jacket still clinging onto her sides, her purple top covering the top of her jeans, her hair flapping in the wind as she stood their waiting for her.
"Hello."
"Hi." Rose said gently before she lead Donna patiently and quietly towards the park. The pair od the sitting beside one another on a park bench, the tree's swaying behind them, the cold night air biting at their clothes, the starry sky shining down at them.
"It's the ATMOS devices." Rose started as she looked up at the sky, her hands clasped over one another, her legs folded over one another while Donna sat patiently as she spoke, never looking away from Rose. "We're lucky it's not so bad here, Britain hasn't got that much petrol. But all over Europe... China, South Africa... they're getting choked by gas." Roes finished, bring up her hand as she rubbed at the tender skin, her eyes still looking at the stars, Donna moving her own eyes to look above her.
"Can't anyone stop it?" Donna questioned, a frown pressed on her features, her shoulders shrugging at the same time, causing Rose to look at her
"Yeah, they're trying right now, this little band of fighters... on board the Sontaran ship... any second now..." Rose informed, looking from Donna and then back to the sky, her eyebrows raised, mouth still never closing fully as they looked up at the sky patiently. The sky turned to fire briefly, blazing over their heads before the calm is restored. Donna couldn't help but watch her mouth fall open.
"And that was...?"
"That was the Torchwood team. Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones - they gave their lives. And Captain Jack Harkness has transported to the Sontaran home world. There's no-one left." She stated, so tired, so numb, every emotion voided from her voice, having known the people. Donna could do nothing but frown at her as she continued to study the impressive woman in front of her.
"You're always wearing the same clothes. Why won't you tell me your name?" Donna asked testily.
"None of this was meant to happen. There was a man. This... wonderful man, and he stopped it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, he stopped them all from happening." Rose said. Pausing as her own thoughts were engulfed by those she shared with the Doctor. Her eyes watering with emotion, her head shaking as she spoke.
"That... Doctor?"
"You knew him." Rose implored gently, leaning closer to her as she spoke about the man she loved, having told him once on the beach of BAD WOLF BAY, the worst day of her life… the day she was taken from the man she loved.
"Did I? When?" Donna questioned, her eyebrows rising once again
"I think you dream about him, sometimes. It's a man in a suit? A tall, thin man, great hair." Rose voiced with a smile, staring at he in nothing in particular as she remembered what he looked like, really putting emphasize on the hair before she turned away from Donna. "Some... really great hair."
"Who are you?" Donna asked, with a great deal of restraint.
"I was like you. I used to be you. You've travelled with him, Donna. You've travelled with the Doctor in a different world." Rose implored, nodding her head at the red head who was shaking her head in misbelief
"I never met him, and he's dead."
"He died underneath the Thames on Christmas Eve, but you were meant to be there. He needed someone to stop him, and that was you. You made him leave. You saved his life." Rose argued, her eyes boring right into hers watching as she stared at her, and for a second, it seems like she remembers.
A flash under the Thames barrier. The Doctor , amidst a storm of fire and water, the Empress of the Racnoss screaming, withering, glass smashing, the tunnels flooding, and Donna standing their in her wedding dress, looking up at the man who was soaked to the bone, staring darkly down at the insect, his hearts falling to another place.
"DOCTOR" Donna yelled, screaming up at him, watching as he looked at her as though he had snapped out of a trance "You can stop now!"
"Stop it. I don't know what you're talking about, leave me alone!" Donna shouted, snapping her form away from the bench as she shoved her body away from the woman.
"Something's coming, Donna. Something worse." Rose cried, getting to her own feet and standing away from her as she looked at the woman.
"The whole world is stinking. How can anything be worse than this?" Donna shouted with angry skepticism.
"Trust me." She started emotional a she took a step towards her "We need the Doctor more than ever. I've—" She swallowed, struggling with her emotions as she placed her hand to her heart "I've been pulled across from a different universe, because every single universe is in danger. It's coming, Donna. It's coming from across the stars and nothing can stop it."
"WHAT is?" Tears of frustration shining in her eyes as she shook her head over at Rose
"The darkness."
"Well, what do you keep telling ME for? WHAT am I supposed to do? I'm nothing special. I mean, I'm- I'm not- I'm nothing special, I'm a temp. I'm not even that, I'm NOTHING." Donna yelled angrily and frustrated, unable to see what Rose was seeing.
"Donna Noble, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation." Rose said, almost laughing as she tried to make her see, almost laughing at the notion that Donna is nothing.
"Oh, don't. Just..."She stared, shaking her head, her smile wiped from her face "Don't. I'm tired. I'm so... tired." Donna said with a short, and mirthless laugh, shaking her head at Rose as she turned to leave
"I need you to come with me."
"Well. Blonde hair might work on the men, but you ain't shifting me, lady." Donna stated as she turned back with a derisive laugh
"That's more like it." Rose said with a smile
"I've got plenty more." Donna stated sarcastically
"I know you'll come with me. Only when you want to."
"You'll have a long wait, then." Donna yelled over her shoulder as she walked back.
"Not really, just three weeks." Rose said assumingly as she pulled the hair from her face, pressing her hand to her hip "Tell me, does your grandfather still own that telescope?" Again Donna could do nothing but turn her back, how the hell could she possible know about that?
"He never lets go of it." Donna whispered in bewilderment.
"Three weeks time. But you've got to be certain. Because, when you come with me, Donna... sorry... so sorry, but... you're going to die." Rose implored over at her, using the words the Doctor would have used causing Donna to stare at her. But before her very eyes, the figure of the most impressive woman Donna had ever met faded way, leaving her on her own.
However Rose was right. 3 weeks later Donna found herself saying goodbye to Rocco and his family. The families having grown closer together. People were being bundled into vans, evicted from their homes, taken away, knowing what was going to happen next. Knowing they were going to labor camps.
Her mother was an empty shell, not listening to her, not encouraging her, not doing anything. Her grandfather sitting more and more on his own with his telescope until it happened. Watching as every star started to disappear, constellation after constellation as if someone was turning them out. She was perturbed, but not surprised. She knew what she had to do and as soon as she had turned around Rose was already waiting for her.
The pair of them got into a UNIT van and were being driven towards the base. Once the van had come to a halt they jumped out into the cold night air. Rose was striding purposefully towards what looked like an enormous warehouse. Cold stone walls, wood littering the sides while Donna followed behind her. Rose pushed a curtain aside to allow Donna and herself to enter the enormous warehouse. Inside, there was a circle of mirrors with lights at intervals between them. A large blue police box. The TARDIS, was standing a short distance away from this circle, linked to it by bunches of wires.
"Loadstone testing now at 15.4. Repeat: 15.4."
"Ma'am." Captain Magambo stated, saluting at Rose
"I've told you, don't salute." Rose stated irritably as she tampered with a computer.
"Well, if you're not going to tell us your name..." She sighed as she turned so she was facing Rose.
"What, you don't know either?" Donna implored as she faced the woman in uniform who had her hands pressed behind her back as she looked over at Donna.
"There's too many different realities. Trust me, the wrong word in the wrong place can change an entire causal nexus." Rose voiced, still pressing certain buttons on the terminal.
"She talks like that. A lot. And you must be Miss Noble." The officer stated over at Donna, her face not showing any emotion while Donna just stared at her with her mouth open
"Donna." She smiled as she took the officers hand and shook it
"Captain Erisa Magambo. Thank you for this."
"I don't even know what I'm doing." Donna shouted as she shook her head but the pair of them was taken from their conversation when Rose turned from the computer and turned to face Magambo
"Is it awake?"
"It seems to be quiet today. Ticking over. Like it's waiting." The Captain informed as she turned to face the Box. Rose however walked over to Donna, her hands folded across her chest, her tongue still behind her cheek as she contemplated the TARDIS.
"Do you want to see it?" She asked with a smile.
"What's a police box?" Donna asked as she narrowed her eyes towards the machine and then back over to Rose.
"They salvaged it from underneath the Thames. Just go inside."
"What for?"
"Just go in!" Rose ordered and watched as Donna did as she was told, Rose following her, as the woman didn't understand the logic. She gave Rose a strange look before she stepped over the threshold of the TARDIS. Rose was waiting patiently, smiling a little as is she was waiting for it
"No. WAY." Donna voiced from inside the TARDIS, her voice echoing from inside, an incredulous laugh following. Rose could do nothing but smile as Donna came back out and then does the obligatory walk around the outside of the TARDIS, reassuring herself that it really is that small, feeling the sides, mouth hanging open before she walked back inside.
The TARDIS was completely dark and strangely silent. It looked very different from how Rose knew if, almost as through the life had been taken from it. Donna realizes her mouth was still hanging open, so she closes it as the whole thing got the better of her. She looked around a little again before coming back outside, looking straight over at Rose who was looking at her gently.
"What do you think?"
" ... can I have a coffee? " Donna managed to say.
A few minutes later Donna found herself walking around the TARDIS rota. A light shining from the top of the console room while Donna clutched at her steaming cup of coffee. Wires were spilling out all cover the console as Rose spoke to her, her hands touching and feeling the now dead ancient machine.
" Time And Relative Dimension In Space. This room used to shine with light." Rose said gently as she gazed up at the Rota "I think it's dying." She said sadly as she reached out to rub the console. The rota rose a feeble inch or two in response, a small smile etching over Rose's features as she understood what the TARDIS was trying to do.
" It's still trying to help."
"And... and it belonged to the Doctor?" Donna asked, looking down at the machine before looking back towards Rose who was looking towards the ceiling.
"He was a Time Lord. Last of his kind." Rose voiced as she nodded her head
"But if he's so special, what's he doing with me?" Donna stated, genuinely puzzled
"He thought you were brilliant." Rose said simply
"Don't be stupid." Donna snapped a little causing Rose to laugh at her
"Well, you are! It just took the Doctor to show you that, simply by being with him." Rose smiled before he looked away "He did the same to me. To everyone he touches." She said gently just for Donna to watch her for a moment, seeming to sense something.
"Were you and him...?" Donna asked gently.
"It was complicated. We were pulled apart, separated via a parallel world" She said as she looked at her. In all the times she had been asked this question, this was the first time she didn't have an answer, knowing this Universe was falling first. But she was distracted from her thoughts when she heard the clicking noise and reached out, smoothing her hand over Donna's shoulder and back; she shifted her eyes back to Donna who was looking at her hand
"Do you want to see it?" The blonde asked daringly.
"No." Donna stated immediately, but watching Rose peer at her back again made her heart thump "Go on, then." She stated just for Rose to take Donna into the centre of the circle of mirrors.
"We don't know how the TARDIS works, but we've managed to scrape off the surface technology - enough to show you the creature." Rose informed as she placed Donna into the corrected position
"It's a creature?" Donna snapped alarmed, shoving her body around to look at Rose for reassurance
"Just stand here." Rose said with a smile as she straightened up Donna.
"Out of the circle, please." The Captain said to Rose as she leant through the mirrors
"Yes, ma'am." Rose breathed sarcastically as she left the circle.
"Can't you stay with me?" Donna voiced fearfully, but Rose could do nothing but smile at her gently, her arms folded across her chest once again.
"Ready? And... activate." She stated just for a whirring of machinery- the lights around the circumference of the circle snapping on, one by one. Once all of them were on Donna screwed her eyes tight shut.
"Open your eyes, Donna." Rose said calmly, moving her hand in front of her
"Is it there?"
"Yeah- open your eyes. Look at it." Rose urged gently, once again moving her hands over at the woman who was shaking, shaking her head in the process
"I can't."
"It's part of you, Donna. Look." Rose voiced again, pressing her hands together, her eyebrows raised. But slowly, Donna opened her eyes, and in the mirrors, she could see what was on her back. A massive, black beetle. Gasping in horror, spinning around frantically she tried to get it off her back, her heart thumping in her chest, her eyes watering, her breath hitching.
"It's okay, it's okay, it's okay - calm down. Donna? Donna? Donna!" Rose said gently and comforting as she took a few steps towards her, getting her attention to stop her from spinning in a circle " Okay." She watched as Donna started taking deep breaths, she looked at the beetle with trepidation. It takes up most of her back, it's pincers nuzzling her hair, upon closer inspection, Donna realizes that it's not causing her any physical pain, it's just clinging their like a parasite, clicking away.
"What is it?" Donna whispered, trying to stay calm
"We don't know." Rose voiced apologetically, her hands pressed together again as she gave Donna and embarrassed smile
"Oh. Thanks." Donna bellowed with an impressive mix of dripping sarcasm and terror
"It feeds off time. By - by changing time, by making someone's life take a different turn, like er... meetings never made... children never born... a life never loved. But with you, it's... " Rose said, trying to explain to Donna, trying to keep her calm. The other's behind her looking away sadly.
"But I never did- anything important." Donna screamed, frozen with fear.
"Yeah, you did. One day, that thing made you turn right instead of left." Rose stated matter of fatly, her forehead creasing as she looked at the woman in front of her.
"When was that?"
"Oh, you wouldn't remember. It was the most ordinary day in the world, but by turning right, you never met the Doctor and the whole world just changed around you."
"Can you get rid- of it?" Donna stuttered out
"I can't even touch it." Rose said helplessly and sadly, her eyebrows raised as she moved to peer at it "It seems to be in a state of flux."
"What - does that - mean?" Donna yelled with the air of someone who's had enough of techno-babble thrown at her
"I don't know. It's the sort of thing the Doctor would say!" Rose said with a laugh, perhaps forgetting that Donna isn't in on this particular joke yet.
"You liar!" Donna screeched furiously, her eyes filling with tears as she becomes hysterical "You told me I was special! But it's not me! It's this thing! I'm just a host!"
"No, there's more than that. The readings are strange it's... it's like reality's just bending round you." Rose said calmly, moving her hands around in gestures as it helped her explain what she was saying
"Because of this thing!" Donna shouted again, not remotely reassured
"No, no! We're getting separate readings from you. And they've always been there, since the day you were born." Rose implored, staring right at Donna
"This is not relevant to the mission." The Captain stated again, leaning closer to Rose, her hands still embedded into her pockets.
"I thought it was just the Doctor we needed, but it's the both of you. The Doctor and Donna Noble. Together. To stop the stars from going out." Rose said quietly, staring intently at Donna a smile falling on her lips at the end
"Why? What can I do?" Donna roared hysterical, shaking with fear and sheer confusion, Rose gives an almost imperceptible shake of her head and cannot give Donna an answer. Donna half glances at the beetle, but cannot bring herself to look directly at it again. "Turn it off. Please." She whimpers
"Captain." Rose said quickly as she looked over at her shoulder towards the other woman.
"Power down." As soon as the lights powered down, Rose strode over to Donna who was shaking uncontrollably, although the beetle is no longer visible. She could do nothing but touch her arm comfortingly.
"It's... it's still there, though. What can I do... to get rid of it?" Donna asked shakily
"You're going to travel in time." Rose said with a smile, causing Donna to look at her with her mouth hanging open.
The next thing anyone new Rose had taken charge. She was very quickly explaining to Donna what she needed to do. Donna however was wearing a thick green jacket and a load of wires as she tried to keep up with what Rose was saying who was once again using her hands to help explain her point.
"The TARDIS has tracked down the moment of intervention, Monday the 25th, one minute past ten in the morning. Your car was on Little Sutton Street Ealing Road, but you turn right heading for Griffin's Parade. You need to turn left. That's the most important thing. You've got to go back and turn left. Have you got that, Donna? One minute past ten. Make yourself turn left, heading for the Chiswick Highroad."
"Keep the jacket on at all times - it's insulation against temporal feedback." The Captain said before heading towards her and placing a digital watch onto her wrist "This will correspond to local time wherever you land." She continued before pressing her with a glass of water "This is to combat dehydration."
The next thing was happening to quickly for Donna as she was being lef to the edge of the circle by several UNIT soldiers, Magambo and Rose. Just before she was going to step into the circle Rose turned to face her, a comforting smile pressed to her features.
"This is where we leave you."
"I don't want to see that thing on my back." Donna said quickly and fearfully.
"No! The mirrors are just incidental. They bounce chronon energy back into the centre which we control and decide the destination." Rose explained gently
"It's a time machine." Donna said in awe, her eyes popping out before looking over at Rose who was smirking at her
"It's a time machine." She smiled
"If you could?" The Captain informed before Rose gave Donna an encouraging smile, giving her arm one last squeeze, before she stepped into the circle once more.
"Powering up." The machine burst into life once again, the lights snapping on once by one
"How do you know it's going to work?" Donna said loudly, breathing in a nervous breath as she looked at Rose who had moved her eyebrows, her hand still pressed to her hips.
"Hmm? Oh... yeah... we- we don't. We're just... we're just guessing." She replied, sounding uncannily like the Doctor.
"Yeah. Oh, brilliant!" Donna said with an apprehensive laugh
"Just remember, when you get to the junction, change the car's direction by one minute past ten." She said, moving her hands to the left and then holding up one finger
"How do I do that?" Donna asked suddenly and urgently.
"It's up to you."
"Well, I just have to... run up to myself and... have a good argument."
"I'd like to see that!" Rose said with a laugh
" Activate loadstone." The Captain said just as a switch is flicked and the lights blink. The light on the top of the TARDIS is flashing in the background causing the other lights around Donna to flash.
"Good luck."
"I'm ready!" Donna said enthusiastically with a smile
"One minute past ten." Rose said again, one of her hands tucked away in her back pocket.
"Because I understand, now. You said I was going to die, but you mean this whole world is going to blink out of existence." Donna said with a tearful expression but being brave. But she misunderstood what Rose's face was telling her. She had got everything wrong. But that's not dying. Because a better world takes its place. The Doctor's world. And I'm still alive!" She said smiling courageously but confused by Rose's silence. "That's right, isn't it? I don't die? If I change things, I don't die? That's... that's right, isn't it?" She said with a smile, smiling at Rose expectantly, needing reassurance, but Rose couldn't lie to her.
" I'm sorry."
"But I can't die! I've got a future! With the Doctor - you told me!" Donna yelled her courage wavering.
"Activate!" But suddenly the lights reached such an intensity everyone had to look away, a strong wind bellowing around Donna, the beetle once again visible on her back, sparks flying from the TARDIS, the mirror the wires all shining with power before she disappeared into smoke.
The next thing Donna knew she had reappeared, on all fours on a pavement, still covered in wires and wreathing the thick green coat. Everything seemed so normal, a normal day, a man strolling past with a radio, an ice cream shop… Donna was looking around with her mouth hanging open as she got to her feet, hardly able to believe it. She looked around at her surroundings before she threw up her hands in the air, laughing with incredulity. The she takes in her surroundings properly.
"Hold on... but this is... I'm not... this is Sutton Court! I'm half a mile away!" She yelled, before holding her face into the sky "I'm half a mile away!" She shouted before she checked her wristwatch. It's 9:57
"Four minutes? Oh, my God..." She whispered in sick horror, she looked left and right again before she bolted from her spot and shoved her body forwards. Donna running and rushing as fast as she can, bolting down the road, panting for breath but nor daring to stop. But as she continued she couldn't breath. She paused by a lamp-post, half leaning, half collapsed for a second check of her watch. She rolled her eyes, took in a large breath and carried on running, hoping and praying she would get there in time. Sprinting down the road, gasping for breath. Donna could do nothing but stop running for a moment, gasping- she checked her watch which reads 9:59, her heart hammering in her chest as she continued to look down the road.
"I'm not going to get there." She said in terror before she stood a little, almost given up when she remembers… remembered the words of Rose.
"Your going to die"
Now Donna frowned, her breath still gasping through her mouth, her body finally relaxing, she seemed strangely resigned. She could see the blue lorry driving up the road; all she could do was gaze at the approaching lorry.
"Please." Donna said distance and distracted before she stepped right out in front of it. The driver slammed on the break but it was too late. A woman who was watching screamed causing the Donna and her mother sitting in the car to snap their heads in the direction of the scream.
"Can you hear that?" Sylvia asked with a frown watching as Donna and Sylvia observed how the traffic was building up to their right.
"The traffic's stopping.
"Something must have happened!"
However, the Donna who had saved the universe was lying motionless on the road. She opened her eyes blaringly and Rose came slowly into focus above her and knelt gently beside her.
"Tell him this: two words." Rose said to her, all Donna could do was look up at her before she knelt further down to her ear and whispered something into Donna's ear. Donna could do nothing but close her eyes and her head fell to the side limply.
"Well, that decides it. I'm not sitting in a traffic jam. I'm going left" She stated as she looked at the traffic building up with distate. With that she switches the indicator again and turns left.
Donna screams. The beetle on her back flails. The events she experienced in the alternate world rewind very quickly, images flashing through her head - UNIT, Rocco, the web-star, the Doctor wreathed in fire and water, the Doctor's sonic screwdriver flying back into his hand, the sky on fire, the words 'LEEDS' stamped across a document, the mushroom cloud, the Titanic falling from the sky, the thunder cloud over the hospital - the beetle falls off her onto its back. The Fortune Teller is cowering in the corner, staring at Donna, her eyes full of fear. Donna stands, looking at the beetle which twitches and clicks feebly before it dies on the floor.
"What the hell is that?" Donna shouted fearfully, her voice quivering as she spoke.
"You were so strong. What are you? What will you be?" The fortune teller whimpered, rocking on the floor before she scrambled for the exit, not wanting to be in Donna's presence any longer. Donna continued to look at the beetle as it give one last click and then it is still. But just at that moment The Doctor and his Wife Rose walked into the room, frowns of confusion pressed to their features, oblivious to the thing Donna had just been in (scrambles for the exit, whimpering) What will you be?
"Everything all right?" The Doctor asked mildly, his hands pressed into his pockets as Rose looked up at her husband and then towards Donna. Donna looked up at the Doctor with her mouth hanging open as she looked at him as if she hadn't seen him in year- which in a way, she hasn't.
"Oh, God...!" She voiced as she threw her arms around the pair of them, gasping with relief.
"What was that for?" Rose said with a small laugh, her eyebrows raised, her mouth hanging open as she pulled away from the pair, the Doctor smiling lovingly down at his wife as she smiled over at her friend who was over the moon about seeing the pair of them
"I don't know!" She said in a high pitched laugh before engulfing them in a hug once again.
The Doctor was sitting in front of Rose and Donna as he picked up the beetle and pressed it to it's back as he poked it with an incense stick. However Rose was sitting next to her friend, her hand pressed firmly in hers as she comforted Donna to tell them what has happened.
"I can't remember. It's slipping away. You know like when you try and think of a dream and it just sort of... goes." Donna said sadly as she looked over at Rose, shaking her head and shoulders in the process, Rose could do nothing but smile at her .
"It just got lucky, this thing. It's one of the Trickster's Brigade. Changes a life in tiny little ways." Rose voiced as she cocked her head towards the beetle in front of her husband
"Most times, the universe just compensates around it, but with you...Great big parallel world!" The Doctor finished almost proudly as he gave her a smile. Donna just gave him a smile before she lost it and her expression moved into a frown
"Hold on, you said parallel worlds are sealed off." Donna voiced with confusion as she looked over at the Doctor and then to Rose.
"They are. But you had one created around you." The Doctor informed gently, his voice low as he looked at Donna with his eyebrows raised his mouth hanging open showing his teeth "Funny thing is, it seems to be happening a lot. To you."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, The Library and then this..." Rose said, causing the pair of them to look over at her as she shook her head and then cocked it towards the beetle.
"Just... goes with the job. I suppose." The Doctor could do nothing but observe her, his brow furrowed his mouth hanging open as he looked at her.
"Doctor?" Rose warned as she looked at her husband, knowing the way his mind worked and the way he thinked. Tis confusion and worry being sent to her via their link that they shared, he just looked at her and then back to Donna.
"Sometimes I think there's way too much coincidence around you, Donna. I met you once. I met your grandfather. Then I met you again. In the whole wide universe, I met you for a second time." The Doctor said questioningly, his eyebrows now raised, his forehead wrinkled as he looked at her pensively "It's like something's binding us together."
"Don't be so daft. I'm nothing special." Donna said skeptically as she looked down at her hands
"Yes, you are, you're brilliant." The Doctor said as he leant closer to her fondly. Rose just smiling at her and then towards her husband. Donna could do nothing but smile at the pair on return before she remembered.
"He thought you were brilliant"
"She said that." Donna voiced, a frown pressed to her features.
"Who did?" Rose said as she looked back at her, her eyes soft and gently as she spoke to Donna.
"That woman." Donna said as she studied Rose as if she recognized her, Rose could do nothing but look at her, her hearts beating under the intensity of Donna's gaze "I can't remember."
"Well, she never existed now." The Doctor voiced, his head moving down a little towards her, but Donna couldn't let it go. Something inside her sensing the importance of this.
"No, but she looked like Rose, she said... the stars... she said the stars are going out." Donna stated. Rose having frozen in her spot as she understood what was going on. Her hearts beating in her chest, her breathing increasing as the fear started to swarm her body. The Doctor just looked at her with one of his eyebrows raised, Rose completely missing his concern as she stared off to space, so many thoughts and emotions swimming around her mind.
"Yeah, but that world's gone."
"No, but she said it was all worlds. Every world." She implored, as the details started coming back to her, just at the point the Doctor looked over at Rose who had lost her colour, making her look at him "She said the darkness is coming, even here." Rose got to her feet, the pair of them watching her as she did this, her hand pressed to her forehead as she understood the concept. Her nightmares were coming true, she was being tested and she was scared for her life as she understood what this meant.
"Rose" The Doctor voiced causing her too look down at him, her eyes showing how she was really feeling.
"It's happening" She explained before her body suddenly went limp, a force of an intense pressure pressed down on her shoulders, her head pounding with pain as the reality of everything came crashing down onto her. Feeling another presence in her head, the feeling of the other self pressed onto her consciousness. She could feel her body falling to the ground before the Doctor sucked in a large lungful of air and shoved his body over to her, catching her in his arms as she grabbed hold of him unable to carry her own weight and the weight of someone else. Her other self.
"Who was she Donna?" Rose forced out of her mouth, clinging onto the Doctor, her eyes squinting as she forced back the pain, having to know what was going on.
"I don't know."
"What did she look like?" The Doctor asked, a raised with suspicion already. The Doctor never keeping his eyes away from Rose.
"She was... " Donna started before she remembered Rose tucking a blonde hair behind her ear. "She looked just like Rose, but more exhausted, numb, broken"
"Donna what was her name?" The Doctor asked, insistently, his voice trembling as he understood the consequences of this.
"But she told me... to warn you. She said... two words."
"What two words? What were they?" Rose asked quietly, her voice slightly hollow
"What did she say?" The Doctor finished as Rose trailed off, suppressed urgency shining in his voice.
"Bad Wolf."
Rose was trembling, the force inside her head was beginning to bubble and without the help of the Doctor she was struggling to stand. She understood what was happening. She had a gallifreyan mind meaning she could pick up certain time lines, certain wavelengths and she was bound to pick up on her own. The pressure of having her own, the presence of BAD WOLF and the other Rose was starting to peak and she couldn't concentrate.
Flashes and images of what Rose had been through. Images of Donna from that parallel world of how she had helped her friend get back. Watching as she stroked the TARDIS like she did, but her heart was broken. She had been parted from the Doctor the same as she had, but unlike her she was separated from him via a parallel world. Images of herself with her husband, images of past adventures but then something really happened to her. Something she had never seen before.
Images of the BAD WOLF, another person the Doctor and herself had speculated about. Something that would crop up under extreme circumstances, remembered at times of huge understandings.
Her mind was fogged with the picture of the TARDIS surrounded in a bright white light. Both of the doors shooting inwards, the blazing white light emanating from the inside. The man who was her husband, cladded in leather, with big ears and large eyes shielded them from the intensity, but having to look awestruck.
"Rose…" the Doctor voiced but had to flinch back, drops to the floor as with an inrush of air, a figure rushes out of the TARDIS, in the air, a blur , then rapidly reassembling snapping into shape, some distance in front of the TARDIS
Rose was standing there. And something more. Shining white, her hair blowing ethereal, the face of an angel. The room filled with the hum of enormous power. The Doctor could do nothing more than look up at her.
"What did you do?" He panicked but she just looked around calmly and slowly, like a Goddess. London accent had vanished, voice full of reverb and infinite wisdom.
"I looked into the TARDIS. And the TARDIS looked into me" She voiced, her eyes whirling with the vortex
"YOU went deeper than that. You looked into the Time Vortex. Rose, no one's meant to see that-"
"This is an Abomination," The Dalek Emperor sounded
"EXTERMINATE!" The Doctor screamed out for her to look out, to get out of the way, but he could do nothing but watch as the bolt left the Dalek. Rose held up her hand, freezing the bolt, reverses it which slide back into his gun.
"Rose, you've got to stop this, you've got to stop this now!"
"I am the BAD WOLF. I create myself. I take the words…" She started before lifting her hands towards the words above their heads, lifting it off the wall and separating the letters that were gently dancing in the air " I scatter them, in time and space, a message to lead myself here"
But before she could even comprehend what she was seeing she could feel the Doctor shaking her from her vision.
"ROSE!" The Doctor shouted, his hand pressed to her cheek, making her look at him "Snap out of this, control it, press it out of your mind" The Doctor implored down at her, breathing panic ally as he took in her vacant expression but breathed a sigh of relief when she snapped her eyes up towards him.
"It's happening Doctor. The darkness is coming, the girl from my dreams is coming and there is nothing I can do to stop it!" Rose cried, clinging onto her husband for support, unable to control the shield around her mind. Watching as her husband's eyes were full of the intense pain from inside her head, he too could feel what she was feeling. His eyes widened, shaking finally understanding the situation they had fallen into.
"Well, what does it mean-?" Donna asked uncomprehend, unsure at why Rose had suddenly taken ill. But she watched as the two time beings looked at each other before the Doctor pulled Rose with him and they burst from the tent in one swift move, Donna rushing to keep up with them.
But everywhere they looked, there was posters, banners, flags, BAD WOLF, BAD WOLF, BAD WOLF, printed over and over again. The notice on the door of the TARDIS read only BAD WOLD, repeatedly, the glowing lights over the door also proclaiming these foreboding words.
But Rose was getting weaker and weaker, having three consciousness's imbedded in your mind was forcing her body to grow heavier and heavier. She reached out for her husband who could feel the pain in his wife's head, his own worry getting the better of him before he looked down at her, the hand pressed onto his arm was the last thing he felt before she collapsed to the ground, the Doctor having to catch her and scoop her up into his arms as she lay limply in her arms.
"ROSE!" Donna cried as she rushed over to her "What's happening?" Donna panicked as they rushed towards the TARDIS.
"She has a gallifreyan mind, meaning she can pick up on certain things. For the last 6 months Rose has been picking up dreams of herself, telling her that the 'Darkness is coming' her parallel self bleeding through the cracks of reality, forcing herself on Rose leaving her fighting to protect her own consciousness. She had hers as well as the other Rose's mind collapsing onto hers. But with the constant reminders of BAD WOLF, means a hidden part of herself is also crashing onto her mind" The Doctor bellowed worried about the state of his wife before he rushed into the TARDIS. His breathing heavy, his hearts beating rapidly as he flung himself into the TARDIS.
But his hearts shattered when he took in the flooded console room that was shining with red light. Donna slammed the door behind her and her mouth fell open when she looked at the ancient machine in front of her.
"Doctor, what is it? What's Bad Wolf?"
"It's the end of the Universe." The Doctor breathed heavily, before looking down at the unconscious form of his wife, pressing a hand to her cheek and then pulling her closer towards him.
To be continued
