A/N: I now realize that most of you (if there are any of you out there) are quite shocked that I killed off one of the babies. I, for one, am just exuberant that you've been paying attention! I know I can go off in a bit of a tangent, but little Sarah Jane Melody Smith's death is really a big part of the plot. I don't want to give anything away! Least of all the epilogue, which I think will bring with it a hearty surprise.
Chapter 39 - Skies
The Master would have been lying if he said he wasn't an old romantic – that was always more his mate's thing, but he had his moments too.
"You suit each other; you're both raving mad." he said brightly, still following the trail as the two came up beside him, "that's part of what attracted me to the Doctor."
"I was wondering why you two got together." Donna said, "So it wasn't for his nice bum, then?"
"It's merely a perk of our relationship, but I think you won that bet with Jack."
"What d'ya mean?" Jack asked, looking like a slapped fish.
"He's talking about your tushy – it's so soft and squeezable!" Donna said, doing said squeezing.
"What's the matter, Jack, got more than you bargained for?" the Master said, noting a definite flush in Jack's face.
Jack shook his head and walked away from Donna's grasp, "Sorry ladies, but we have a job to do, do we not?"
They could smell the energy permeating their very nostrils now, though the Master now thought this may just be the pheromones flying through the air. Something bigger than anything he had sensed so far washed over him, and he shivered.
"What is it?" Donna asked, glad to not be feeling any stranger than she already did.
"I think… it felt like someone was walking over my grave. Does that make any sense?"
"You mean you felt a ghost passing through you?" Donna said, looking around them like a startled chicken.
"Don't be ridiculous! There's no such things as ghosts, there's no scientific theory on them that's been proven – there are certainly aliens who look allot like your Earth ghosts and aliens that are undead and appear to be quite ghostly, but ghosts are superstitious drivel."
"That's like what the Doctor said – before she got him!"
The Master looked at her blankly, "Who."
"Sky Sylvestri, you moron!"
The Master ran through a mental catalogue of memories he'd collected from the Doctor, and came upon only one that provided an explanation – 'Midnight'.
He passed through all the Doctor's pain and terror at Sky's mysterious assimilation and subsequent assimilating, wondering how these memories had passed under his radar – the Doctor couldn't move, couldn't feel, only sense and hear others and watch them betray him one by one. The young lady – the only one who'd been on his side all the way through his ordeal – the lazy lad Jethro (what kind of name is that?) who was bullied into it by his overbearing, brainless parents, the so-called 'Professor' who had been one of the first to be driven to insanity by the woman's repetition, and the stewardess who had sacrificed herself for the safety of the entire cabin, they'd never even learnt her name – all that swirled in with what felt like centuries of hurt in only a few hours of sheer madness.
"Do you think this thing could have returned with Sky's body to reek vengeance for itself?"
"It can't be that – Sky and the stewardess were destroyed by the extonic rays."
"Excuse me, what am I missing here?" Jack asked, looking between the two.
"That day he'd been so fragile… he wouldn't even talk to me when I was allowed to see him. If it is her, just in theory he'd be a broken man." Donna and the Master shared a knowing look, having both seen the Doctor's moods many times before but not on such a scale.
The Doctor had to admit that the weight that his babies had caused just disappeared after the birth, though he still had to think about getting rid of all the leftover flab.
The baby in his arms was so pale – he couldn't think of what she'd have been like had she been alive, either smiling or crying. A motley of chestnut hair on her head would never grow, and he'd never get to see what colour her eyes were; might they be the same as his, or the Master's? He could only assume they would have been bright with new life.
They had made it back to the TARDIS in record time, much to his joy, as he was starting to realize how grubby he was. He cooed at his boys, who were being helpfully held by Martha and Jenny.
Both boys instantly recognized their mother, holding their arms out to him and nearly crying when no transfer took place. Was the Master still angry with him, and would they recognize him too? They seemed to be the spit of both of them, and too curious for their own good – they figured out they could move around just as Martha started examining them, and fidgeted endlessly while she tried to check if there was anything wrong with them, and she explained, "It's like they've got ants in their pants; can't think who they get that from."
The Doctor had refused to hand over Sarah Jane even after they had got there.
"Nice of you to finally notice you've got other kids besides Amelia." Jenny said, nearly having to remove her sister by force, the Doctor finally relinquishing his hold when he realized a sad truth – he may be the Doctor but even he didn't have a 'magic touch', and certainly nothing that could bring a person back from the dead.
"Wonder where a terraforming device is where you need one." Jenny said, not expecting it to sink in while her father was still in a grief-stricken daze.
"Terraforming device…" He looked down at Sarah Jane as she was washed, quietly wishing for his ideas to make sense.
"If we got a terraforming device like the one Messaline had and opened it on Sarah, maybe…"
Jenny's head shot up at his words, "Dad, you can't even consider that! It carries risks of its own, and if her life wasn't meant to be then it just wasn't, what you're thinking goes against everything you've ever told me."
"It brought you back to me, didn't it? Who's to say it will work any differently for a baby?" for a moment he looked down and could imagine how lively his new daughter could be, "And when do I ever follow my own rules?"
The Doctor was contradicting himself on so many levels, but inside the perpetual anonymity of the TARDIS he could forget about Amelia for a while and focus on whatever he liked, which was currently the haunting face of his last born. In birth and in death, she was only his and his responsibility alone.
His hearts were still racing, as Martha had told him, and he should try to keep as calm as possible to lower his heart rate. His body sagged as he finally let go of some of the pain, and the back of his head met the sheets of the infirmary bed he was laying on. It would be so nice to go to sleep and let his sore limbs heal… but the threat to Amelia was still niggling at his mind, and so his eyes shot open as soon as they closed.
"You're not getting up off that bed except to go to the bathroom." Martha said, walking up to both of them.
"I really don't want to have to move, but… who's watching the boys?"
Martha turned back to the changing unit she had left them on – they were nowhere to be seen.
"Martha Jones, what have you done with my babies!"
"ME? They've got your bloody genes, they obviously saw something shiny and crawled after it!"
Both the Doctor and Martha were on the floor now, looking under everything in sight and battling for ground dominance.
The Doctor sighed inwardly, "This is getting us nowhere; the TARDIS will alert us if she finds them."
"That's a pretty big 'if', they could be anywhere by now." Martha said, still checking under every object she could find.
"They're here." they overheard Jenny saying, and she walked back in with the boys while they both got up off the floor, "They spotted something you'd normally see, dad." and jogging two surprisingly big premature babies in her arms, she held out the object of the babies' curiosities.
"Wires?" Martha said.
Jenny nodded, "Looks like they've been cut intentionally; I'd say we can't fly the TARDIS over long distances until we find a replacement."
"So we're stuck here." and with that, the Doctor sank to his knees.
"Possibly, but now you can do what everyone's been telling you to do and rest," Martha said, pulling him up on his feet and pushing him onto the bed, "No more arguments."
He was lactating, he noticed, "It's time for their feed anyway…"
One of the boys was placed into his arms and immediately latched on to his exposed breast, "They're naturals."
"Boys usually are." Martha agreed, "And they're underweight so they'll need all the milk they can get."
His arms lazed around both boys, and for a moment he was reminded of something, "We can fly short distances?"
"Yeah, probably." Jenny said, checking the on-board computer.
"What qualifies as a short distance with the TARDIS?" Martha asked.
"We could go to Diligo-Ortus through the time vortex." the Doctor said, "Drop these two off with the King and Queen while I fix the TARDIS' travel capabilities."
"Dad, I can fix them." Jenny said pleadingly, "You don't need to do anything – I can even trace the fault."
"I appreciate the offer, but–"
"We're all trying to help!" Martha said, "Why can't you just accept that and sit back? And you can cover up now…"
The Doctor had been so preoccupied with fighting his corner, he hardly noticed when his boys had stopped feeding, "If Amelia isn't in my arms as soon as she's found–"
Martha held up a hand to halt him, "She will be."
"Have you noticed anything strange about the outer atmosphere?"
"Like the fact that it says it's thirty degrees on the detector and we're all freezing cold?" Donna said, currently wrapped in on herself and shivering as she walked.
The Master pointed into the sky, "When we got here, it was sunny – I mean, the sky was clear and blue and everything. The closer we get to the anomaly, the sun is still there but the sky gets darker as we go along."
"So theoretically, our sun also acts as our moon?"
"Get a grip, Jack – he means whatever we're dealing with must be sapping the colour out of the sky as an alternative power source."
The sky was indeed pitch black by now, but a bright white sun still blazed regardless.
"If it had the ability to learn and adapt to its environment like this, maybe it can communicate with us on its' own terms."
"Oh, very good, you're starting to think just like your boyfriend – though a pity that you won't be seeing him again."
They all turned and saw nothing, none of them recognizing the deep male voice that her penetrated their earlobes, and then Donna got a strange look on her face like neither men had ever seen before.
"Not cold… dead." she croaked, feeling frozen in a different way entirely.
"Donna?" the Master asked, sensing he had watched this scenario before, and feeling such a chill at the thought of what it could be.
"What's wrong with her." Jack asked, scratching his head.
"Something has taken possession of her – something that took the Doctor a while back, if I'm not mistaken."
"Nothing gets past you." Donna was grinning darkly, but this face no longer belonged to her.
"I hope I'm speaking directly to the entity inside my friend, because I don't have all day. What have you done with Donna? Or might I ask, Sky Sylvestry?"
"Aren't you a charmer?" Donna said, slinking her way towards him, "I could almost regret snogging that handsome ex-time agent."
"I see we've found the being inhabiting Donna. Tell me, where is Donna?" the Master's eyes were sharp with focus, looking all around.
"Somewhere cowering in her own self-pity." the faux-Donna said, waving her hands about in boredom, "If we're lucky, we won't be seeing her again for a long time."
"You bring her back, you crazy bitch!" Jack shouted at her, then turning to the Master, "Do something!"
"I'm not the Doctor!" the Master yelled incredulously.
"You're close enough!"
"Silly boys, she will be back if I get my way."
The Master turned to her, stonefaced, "You never answered my question."
"You're close, but there is far more to this story than even you can fathom, Time Lord." she spat, suddenly appearing angry.
"I don't believe we've previously met." he held out his hand, "The Master, and yes, you've probably heard of me – once upon a time, I slaughtered a third of the human race."
"Well done." she said, her face taking on a wicked snarl.
"So you're a human or humanoid hating creature. If you hate them so much, why do you possess them? The Doctor I can understand, but you said yourself that Donna's no prize."
"Just a little bit more ammo in a gun primed to kill." you can almost see the shadow of a forked tongue poking out of her smirk, but it could have been a trick of the light.
"Another bait on the hook." the Master said quietly, nearly looking down at the floor.
"Mine was better." Donna said, smiling.
The Master's head shot up and his eyes sparked with a resumed fervour "Donna is hardly confident, which is what lead us to the conclusion that you're not her – but you already knew that, which is also why you possessed her, the woman in question being of a weak-willed disposition and the most likely to be taken hold of the quickest in a very situation as this."
"Do stop babbling; it doesn't suit you."
"Do you have any demands?" Jack now asked, his knuckles going white round a still-balled up fist.
"Only that you should follow, and if you should find yourselves encountering something that would most likely kill you given half a chance, I'd recommend getting killed early." 'Donna' said, for once solemn.
"Will you lead us to Amelia?"
"It depends on how my friends are feeling; we could be walking for weeks and not find them, but rest assured she is with them. All your devices, I'm afraid, do not work in their midst, but I suppose we'll know when they're around us."
"Why are you trying to help?" Jack asked, scrutinizing the woman in front of them.
"We mean you know harm – if fact, we would ask for your help, if we were more than mildly tethered to this existence."
"I'm sure there are better ways to make a cry for help than kidnapping my daughter!" the Master said, reaching around for in his rucksack for a certain something, "You talk about being tethered to an unknown world…" he held out a vial of what appeared to be bubbling water that he'd kept safely nestled in the deepest recesses of his provisions, "and guess who's been reverse-engineering a one-way key to the greatest unknown world in all the known universes?"
"Huon particles?" Jack said, eyes widening at the liquid.
"Part of my own very stable stash that I've been saving for a rainy day." he pointed up.
A great darkness, a gash in the sky had been opening up during their conversation, and now rain poured down from the heavens, so-to-speak.
The Master manipulated the vial as it glowed with new excitation, then grabbing onto Jack for god knows whatever reason crossed his mind, he left.
A/N: I'm evil, aren't I? And I'd said I would provide a Christmas special, probably in a vain hope that things wouldn't get on top of me like last year. I'll try to make the time for a New Years special at least, and hopefully I haven't given you all enough ammo to be mad at me for updating so late. My brain's been riding on annuals, Tintin and chocolate, so I haven't had much time to do anything except a few sparse doodles. I watched 'The Colour of Magic' (a big high five for any fellow Pratchett fans out there) earlier, which somehow spurred me on to finish this chapter. I got it on DVD for Christmas! Now I'm going to be watching a blooper reel of popular TV shows.
I was actually going to try and finish this chapter on Christmas Day (to at least keep some form of promise alive), but my new graphics tablet (which I also got for Christmas) refused and is still refusing to work with my netbook, which had ruined my mood quite a bit. But I'm back up! And my old tablet still works just as good as it can.