My Ghosts Come Back

by AuthorA97

Donna Blipping Noble. She can feel something coming. Bigger than any of them. The Doctor is more worried about the Time Lady than ever. There's River Song, and Jenny, and so many other people that when Rose shows up Terra isn't even surprised. (Part 5 of Fallen Star Series!)

20. Stolen Earth

Though it had been a while since I lived here full time, there was a definite thing I knew.

On a good day, the Doctor would be 'cool as a cucumber'. On the bad days, he was angry. Today was one of those 'end of the world and it's kinda sorta my fault' days. Those were days he panicked. Those're the ones they showed on TV. These were the ones I secretly hated.

The Doctor ran out of the TARDIS in a mad dash. It would've been funny if I wasn't panicking. But he's panicking too, and at least he looked funny when he panicked.

"It's fine." The Doctor breathed out, wasn't sure to believe it. "Everything's fine. Nothing's wrong, all fine." He looked over at the street. "Excuse me. What day is it?"

The milkman tilted his head in confusion. "Saturday." He answered.

"Saturday. Good. Good, I like Saturdays." The Doctor mumbled. He was obviously panicking on the inside.

"So, I just met Rose Tyler?" Donna asked.

"Pretty sure, yeah." I answered.

"But she's locked away in a parallel world." She recalled.

"Exactly." The Doctor turned to us, though he was looking over our heads to watch the other streets. "If she can cross from her parallel world to your parallel world, then that means the walls of the universe are breaking down, which puts everything in danger. Everything." He huffed. "But how?"

He ran back into the TARDIS. Donna and I followed.

He immediately went to pulling levers on the console, twisting knobs, and typing on the computer. It was a bit like vertigo, going through all of this after being away for ten years. I looked up at the green light of the console, wondering what the TARDIS was thinking about for today.

"The thing is, Doctor, no matter what's happening, and I'm sure it's bad, I get that but." Donna began. The Doctor was only half listening, in such a rush. "Rose is coming back. Isn't that good?"

The Time Lord was still rushing about.

I put my hand on his shoulder. He jumped back, looking down at me in confusion.

"She's back." I reminded him.

He was staring at me with big brown eyes. They were wider now, a light in them I don't think I've seen since...since Rose was here. His expression had been sternly set since then. The grief of loss came heavy with his every gaze. When I mentioned Rose, it melted away. The crinkles shifted from pain to delight.

"Yeah." He cheered under his breath in awe. His giddy smile grew on his face. One that brought back memories of apple grass and bets and looking at her smile.

I copied his smile, not really feeling it inside. My smile brought back feelings of dread, of the waiting that came before the beat drops. Of forcing glee and joy for the sake of others. Nobody liked when I spoiled the ending. The Doctor liked it least of all.

Inside, I felt disconnected. My body and my mind were of two different entities. An outer shell of cotton candy and balloons, carefully constructed to make the people around me happier with me. The inside was full of bubbling grief and unwelcome agony. My hands kept wanting to shake from stress, complete their compulsion to grab my hair and comb through every strand. It took effort to force it to relax, to keep from gripping tight to the Doctor's shoulder. The free hand clenched tightly, the nails too short to cause any broken skin.

The TARDIS gave a hard shake. It shook hard enough that my body hadn't prepared for it. This is what I get for being eight years out of practice.

I fell elbow first on the ground. It scratched my sleeve. Not enough to tear it, just get it dirty. Underneath it, my elbow was sure to get a bruise. If I were human, that is. The facade I maintained kept me from screaming out the pain. The immediate reaction made my smile tighten, stretching out wider to show off more teeth. A wince, if you didn't notice the upward curls of my lips.

"What the hell was that?" Donna screeched once we settled enough to find balance. She's much better at natural reactions than I am.

The Doctor helped me to my feet. He'd manage to stay standing at the hard shake. "Don't know. It came from outside." He waited until I was properly upright before going to the door. He pulled it open.

Space.

Empty, wide open space. Stars twinkled in the distance. No birds, no sky, nothing.

Donna walked around me. I stood still, staring out the door.

"But we're in space. How did that happen?" Donna turned to the Doctor, glaring. "What did you do?"

The Doctor rushed back from the door. He sidestepped around me to reach the console. I joined him, before quickly remembering I couldn't drive the magnificent blue box.

He pulled the computer around. I stood beside him, staring at the screen. Circles surrounded an image of the space outside. Circles that, yes, I could not read.

"What's it say?" I whispered.

"We haven't moved." The Doctor realized.

I stood up on my tiptoes, talking to Donna. "We haven't moved! Hold on, we haven't moved?"

"No. We're fixed." The Doctor tapped the computer screen. "It can't have. No." He ran from the computer back to the door. "The TARDIS is still in the same place, but the Earth has gone. The entire planet. It's gone."

Ah. Yes. That's shit.

==MGCB==

Back on Earth, things were indeed going to shit. Martha Jones, transferred to New York, worked with UNIT on the classified Project Indigo. Earth's movement set the entire plan into a tailspin. Martha looked out a window. For the second time in her life, Martha Jones saw stars outside of her workplace.

In a beautiful home in Ealing, London, two women shifted through fallen books. Sarah Jane Smith checked over her son, Luke Smith. Luke, being a clone, handled it with all the grace of someone new to being alive while also being inhumanly smart. 'Felt like cross-dimensional spatial transference', he said. Elle Patterson countered that. 'No, I know cross-dimensional transference. This was different.' And the three looked outside, and saw the shocking truth for themselves.

At Torchwood, the Torchwood Team tried to figure out if their usual antics caused the issue. Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Chloe Johnson, Toshiko Sato, and Owen Harper checked themselves for injuries. Captain Jack Harkness rushed outside, trying to see if the damage was visible. Instead he saw a sky full of stars and very close up planets.

Wilfred Mott also noted the change to his planet. Given the man's experience with aliens, Wilf knew exactly who was to blame and exactly who was gonna fix it. Sylvia Noble just fretted about it, like all her neighbors.

On a random street in London, a lone milkman stared up at the dark sky. A loud bang and flashing lights went off behind him. He turned to look. A blonde woman walked up. With a confident smile, she looked up at the sky and told him it was going to get worse.

Most importantly to this story came from a warehouse. A warehouse that, if searched for online or in person, people would be annoyed to find it didn't exist. Darcy Anderson- Gamora, for the purposes of this team- marched in. Her favorite blade in her hand, twisting between her fingers.

"Who fucked up?!" She yelled.

Freddie Rose- Rocket- pointed at Groot. The tree person pointed back at Freddie. At his desk, Drax pointed at Gamora.

She threw a knife at him. Drax tilted to the side, barely blinking up from his computer. A second knife bonked him on the head.

"Hey!"

"Shut the fuck up!" Gamora waved an arm to the windows of the warehouse. The previous beams of light were replaced with midnight levels of darkness. "Who murdered the sun? I hate it as much as the next guy, but we agreed the vampire killer needed to stay!"

Drax sat up, rubbing the mark on his head. Groot rolled their eyes.

"Did you forget what today was?" Groot deadpanned.

"I'll make you forget being born!"

"It's Stolen Earth day." Groot tapped on a desk calendar. "See? It's on the thing."

Gamora checked the calendar. A simple 'word of the day' calendar. Today's word was 'Daleks'. As in, 'Today, the Daleks take over Planet Earth.' "So my sister fucked up."

"She didn't make them do it." Groot reminded her.

"She did fuck all to stop it, that means she fucked up." Gamora countered. Groot didn't wanna argue the logic behind that. If Gamora wanted to be angry at Terra, then Groot would leave her be. "We got any orders? Please say I can kill Daleks."

"Nope." Drax beamed. "You get to hide."

"Fuck that!"

"Anyone you meet out there remembers you." Drax warned her. Gamora grit her teeth. "Logan's not out there, we've got nobody to save, and everybody that we could meet today remembers us from the Year."

"Really? All of them?" Gamora countered.

"Jack and Martha would tell the rest." Groot reminded her. Gamora groaned, rolling her head back. "They're real buzzkills. Who wouldn't wanna fuck up her family? They were assholes."

"Exactly! I'm not that bad." Gamora flopped down onto her office chair. "Everyone's killed Jack."

"Yeah!" Groot gave her a thumb's up. "It's fun."

"See? Groot gets it!"

Drax looked between the two of them. Then he turned to Freddie. The young man texted away on his phone. "Okay, but has anybody tortured Jack for six months?"

Without missing a beat, Gamora said "the Three Families did for a lot longer than six months."

Groot clicked their fingers, pointing at Gamora.

Drax shook his head. "Don't help." Groot smirked. "You go out there, you get killed. No resurrections. Not even the boss' powers can bring you back here. We don't have the resources."

Freddie raised his arm, staying focused on his phone. "I can't die, though."

"Useless brother finally useful!" Gamora joked.

Freddie perked up. "Demented sister finally funny!" Gamora narrowed her eyes.

Drax shook his head. "When Gamora dies, Terra tears apart a planet. I don't wanna find out what happens when her brother dies."

"He's already half dead, he's fine." Gamora dismissed. She stood up, standing by Drax. Her arm went over his shoulder. She grinned at Freddie. "So, Deaddie, go fly around outside. Get a read on the place. Tell me about it so I can kill a Dalek."

Freddie looked down at his hands. Little red sparks danced between his fingers. He closed his fists. An eyebrow curled up, and he stared at her with curious amber eyes. "Dude. Can my lightning powers kill a Dalek?" He said, sounding excited to test it out.

Drax sighed. He turned to Groot. The tree person was practically hopping in their chair, beaming excitedly between the siblings. Drax bemoaned his existences at dealing with these people. They were like murder hobos with no DM to corral them.

Gamora grinned. "Go test it out."

"No." Drax ordered.

"You're not his boss."

"I am, actually." Drax replied. "With orders. We hide from everybody today. From Torchwood, from Martha, from Bannerman Road, and from Rose and the Nobles. We can't afford to be seen."

"Sarah Jane's never even met us!" Gamora said. Groot typed on their computer. "Neither have the Nobles. Those two never even talk on the call. Why can't we just watch over their houses?"

Drax clenched and unclenched his jaw.

Groot gasped. Gamora turned. "What?"

Groot pointed at their screen. "Because today, Sarah Jane and her clone son aren't the only people in that house."

That got Gamora and Freddie's attention. They walked over to the computer. The thing they saw instantly made their faces fall.

"Is that-"

"Holy shit, no fucking way."

==MGCB==

The Doctor typed away on the computer.

Donna went to my side. "But if the Earth's been moved, they've lost the Sun. What about my Mum? And Granddad?" I smiled at her, again squeezing her arm to provide reassurances. "They're dead, aren't they? Are they dead?"

"Or, and this is me spitballing, we assume that whatever took Earth wants all the people on it alive." I told her.

"And do they?" Donna asked.

I opened my mouth, then closed it. The only proof I had was what I'd seen with my own eyes. At this moment I have no proof of anything. "We've seen them in the future?" I offered. "Or, um...uh..."

"That's my family. My whole world." Donna stressed.

I know, Donna, I know. Your heart is thumping and thumping painfully inside of you. You can't even breathe through the pain of it, of the fear in your body, in your blood. You're shaking beneath the skin. Fight or flight instincts are activating, and your's were always primed to fight. I hear you, Donna Noble, and I see you.

I wish I could comfort you like you needed me to

"There's no readings. Nothing. Not a trace. Not even a whisper." The Doctor reported. None of that helped Donna in the slightest. "Oh, that is fearsome technology."

"So what do we do?" Donna asked.

The Doctor flipped a switch. "We've got to get help."

"From where?" Donna asked.

The Doctor looked at me. He seemed vaguely excited, but was aware it's the wrong "Terra, Donna, I'm taking you to the Shadow Proclamation. Hold tight."

I grabbed the railings around the console, bracing myself on the floor. The TARDIS veered in flight.

==MGCB==

The comedy news shows delivered another punchline. Ianto and Owen burst out laughing.

"Team!" Jack called out. "Time and a place."

The three adults jumped. They quickly scurried about, completing the jobs they'd actually been assigned.

"He is funny, though." Ianto told Jack. "You thought so last night."

The immortal hid a smirk. Ianto went back to work, ignoring the heavy stare at his ass.

"Gwen! Chloe!" Jack shouted. "Come and see."

Gwen finished her conversation with Rhys. Her now-husband got instructions on handling her mother and a well wish of love. Chloe put the phone down, stopping a tense conversation with her sister and sister-in-law. They only kept insisting that Leah was safe.

They joined their boss.

"Someone's established an artificial atmospheric shell, keeping the air and holding in the heat." Jack pointed out.

"They want us alive." Chloe said. "Not filling me with good feelings, that."

"I think it's a plus." Ianto shrugged.

"Yeah, a plus in their slave force." Owen added.

Tosh tilted her computer to all of the team. "Our scans show 27 planets, including Earth."

Gwen pointed at the screen. A single glowing dot appeared on screen. "No, but what's that? That's not a planet."

==MGCB==

"But it's not a planet, so what is it?" Elle asked again.

"The reading seems to be artificial in construction." Mr Smith reported.

"Some sort of space station sitting at the heart of the web." Sarah Jane reasoned.

"So it's alien. But which alien?" Elle asked. "Mr Smith, can you tell?"

Luke rushed back in. He walked to his mother's side. Elle focused on the analysis from Mr Smith. "They're fine. Maria and her dad, they're still in Cornwall. I told them to stay indoors. And Clyde's all right. He's with his mum."

The image moved on screen. The tiny red dot became dozens of bright red spaceships.

"Whoa." Elle leaned back.

"Sarah Jane, Elle, I have detected movement. Observe."

"Spaceships." Luke cheered, grinning widely.

Elle grinned with him. God she missed spaceships. Even if it's a hostile takeover, or invasion, or the humans would start fighting for their lives, but she still missed it.

Her human world never got invaded by aliens. She wanted more excitement on her planet. If it took visiting other worlds to get that, Elle would choose that every time.

==MGCB==

The phone kept ringing. A busy tone. Martha never heard the busy tone from this line before. The call stopped, pulling up the exact same voicemail.

"Aloha! This is Terra. Why did you call? This could've been a text."

Martha tried calling again. She worried that the Time Lords were on another bizarre adventure, risking their lives in such a way that Terra couldn't answer her phone. She feared for the planet if that were the case.

"Aloha! This is Terra. Why did you call? This-"

Her commanding officer, Sanchez, stormed into the room. "Tracking two hundred objects. Earthbound trajectory. Geneva is calling a Code Red. Everyone to battle positions." He narrowed his eyes on her. "Doctor Jones, if you're not too busy."

"I'm trying to phone the Doctor and his companions, sir." Martha reported.

"Aloha! This is-"

Sanchez nodded. He might've yelled at any other soldier for being on a personal line. He was aware his latest transfer came with a special connection that couldn't be bought. The Doctor was infamous in military circles. A sort of not-secret secret. "And?"

"There's no signal." Martha walked up to their display screens. She focused on the images of floating planets, and of the approaching ships. "This number calls anywhere in the universe. It never breaks down. They must be blocking it, whoever they are."

"We're about to find out." Sanchez also looked up at the screen. "They're coming into orbit."

==MGCB==

Groot nodded. "Delilah Patterson."

"Yeah." Drax nodded. "Still don't know who that is."

The three others turned to him. A man that, until this point, was the smartest of the bunch.

"She's the former Queen of the Reality Travelers." Gamora stated. Drax blinked, then gawked. "Yeah."

"But- but wait. Hold it." He walked around, pointing at the computer screen. A photograph of Delilah Patterson walking into Sarah Jane's house covered the page. "Don't the rules of their powers say she can't get here? That's why we're so pissed about Logan."

"Logan broke in here. Terra let us in." Groot confirmed.

"Yeah! Chamberlin did too. But this Delilah person...is she even the type to violate Terra like this?" Drax asked.

Groot blinked. They looked to Gamora, hoping the woman could explain.

Gamora did. "Hey, remember Elle from that Hearth's Warming story? With the Windigos?"

Drax scrunched up his face. "The griffon? What's she got to do with-"

Gamora pointed at Drax. More specifically, his hands. Drax stared at his hands for a long, long time.

"Oh. Griffons had hands." Drax nodded. "They didn't know about people."

"Delilah and Terra were always connected." Gamora patted his hand. "Terra found her diary in Equestria. I could get out the whole list of other times we've found Delilah in our places, but there's not enough time for that. Deaddie, is there- fuck Fred's gone."

==MGCB==

Freddie continued to fly. He was invisible to the panicked world around him. He had only one destination in mind.

==MGCB==

"Three thousand miles and closing. But who are they?" Gwen asked.

Jack's phone rang. He quickly pulled it out. Instead of seeing Terra's name, he saw another familiar doctor. "Martha Jones, voice of a nightingale." He greeted her with none of his normal charm. He looked at the approaching ships again. "Tell me you put something in my drink."

"No such luck. Have you heard from the Doctor or Terra?"

"Not a word. Where are you?" Jack asked.

"New York." Martha answered.

Jack raised his eyebrows, then around his basement lair. "Ooo, nice for some."

"I've been promoted. Medical Director on Project Indigo." Martha reported.

Jack tensed. "Did you get that thing working?"

"Indigo's top secret. No one's supposed to know about it." Martha scolded him.

"I met a soldier in a bar." Ianto quickly turned his head to Jack. "Long story."

"When was that?" Ianto asked.

"Strictly professional." Jack assured.

"Does that story always work?"

"Leah doesn't tell me everything she finds." Jack excused, meaning it. Leah tended to keep it to herself, if she found any human project beyond their understanding. If she silently tampered with the project to improve it, or to dismantle it, Jack never asked and Leah never confessed.

"Jack, we're at 1500 miles." Tosh warned. "And accelerating. They're almost here."

Jack tensed. He leaned forward, lowering his phone to his shoulder.

Tosh pressed buttons on the keyboard. "Hold on. They're sending a transmission."

A message suddenly came through the speakers.

"Exterminate."

==MGCB==

"I'm receiving a communication from the earthbound ships. They have a message for the human race." Mr Smith reported.

Sarah Jane nodded. "Put it through, let's hear it."

"Exterminate."

Elle wanted things to suddenly become very, very boring.

"Exterminate. Exterminate."

==MGCB==

Jack stared at their speakers. "No."

"Exterminate. Exterminate."

"Oh, no." He shook his head.

"What is it?" Gwen asked.

Memories from long ago came back. His very first death, that awful fucking day. Thinking they killed Terra and Rose, watching them kill every human between them and the Doctor. The things that invaded the Earth just a few years ago, being the reason Rose was lost forever.

"Who are they?"

Not the Daleks

Anything but the Daleks, please

We need the Doctor and Terra

Terra- she would know about this. She has to know. Why isn't she here?

"Do you know them, Jack?"

Jack grabbed Ianto's face. He pulled the man in for a kiss. Then, he turned and kissed the others on their heads.

The message kept playing. Or, maybe the Daleks kept saying it. "Exterminate. Exterminate."

==MGCB==

Sarah Jane reached for her hand. Elle squeezed it, using it to keep herself from falling down. Sarah Jane was already crying. Elle found it hard to breathe.

"Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate."

Sarah Jane shook her head. "No."

Luke looked at the two of them, confused and getting scared.

==MGCB==

"Exterminate."

"There's nothing I can do." Jack apologized.

Terra could hack into a Dalek

She can save them

Terra can fix this

Jack needed her to fix this- to save him- to do now what she couldn't then

"Exterminate."

But she's not here. And it might already be too late.

Jack hugged his people tight. "I'm sorry. We're dead."

==MGCB==

Sarah Jane let go of Elle's hand. The American woman sank down to her seat. Daleks. The goddamn Daleks were back.

"Exterminate. Exterminate."

"Oh God, you're so young." Sarah Jane held Luke's face in her hands.

For a brief single second, Elle wished she had someone like Sarah Jane did. But then she remembered they'd be in danger from the Daleks. Yeah. Elle's grateful she never had kids.

==MGCB==

"Exterminate."

Freddie paused in his flight. The Dalek message broadcasted on any device he passed. Loud TVs shouted out the phrase.

He flew faster.

"Exterminate. Exterminate."

He needed to reach her. He needed- he needed to see. Delilah Patterson, in the flesh? It's too good an opportunity to pass up.

==MGCB==

The building shook. Martha grabbed a nearby table, bracing herself.

"Battle stations!" Sanchez shouted. "Geneva declaring Ultimate Code Red. Ladies and gentlemen, we are at war."

Martha rushed to a window. For the second time in her life, Martha saw Daleks in New York City. Unlike last time, the Daleks didn't confine themselves to a single building. Hundreds of spaceships flew through New York. They shot lasers down on the city, smoke rising up to the sky.

==MGCB==

The TARDIS kept on shaking. My feet barely managed to keep balanced. It's like driving a jeep on a bumpy road.

"So go on then, what is the Shadow Proclamation anyway?" Donna asked.

The Doctor flipped more dials and switches. He couldn't reach one. "Posh name for police. Outer space police. Terra, that one there-" I pushed it. "Ta. Here we go."

The TARDIS tilted again. The 'blue boringers' called out to me. Just to spite River, I ignored them. I'll ignore them for however long I can. When the box landed, we tilted back to normal. The Doctor walked to the door first. Donna looked to me, for some sort of understanding.

I nodded at her, hoping to reassure her.

The Doctor stepped out. He raised his hands up, calm as could be. I joined him, copying. Donna followed along.

The Judoon aimed their weapons up at us. The leader of the group marched ahead, his helmet gone to show off his rhino head. Donna briefly started at that.

"Sco bo tro no flo jo ko fo to to." He barked.

"No bo ho sho ko ro to so." The Doctor replied. The TARDIS didn't translate the words. They sounded the same as the lines from the episode, so I didn't fret about any changes. "Bokodozogobofopojo."

The Judoon straightened up.

"Moho." The Doctor acknowledged the actions.

The Judoon began walking us away. The head of the group guided us towards the Shadow Proclamation Architect.

Donna leaned towards me as she lowered her arms. "Rhinos?" She asked in a low voice.

"Yeah." I whispered back. "Space rhinos."

Donna hummed. The two of us followed the Doctor. "Oh yeah, totally. Space rhino space police."

I giggled. Donna snorted, shaking her head.

It wasn't a long walk to the Architect. Or, maybe it didn't feel like a long walk. The Judoon reported everything to the Architect. They took the information in, eyeing the Doctor and I in disbelief.

"Time Lords are the stuff of legend." The Architect stared, walking around their desk. "They belong in the myths and whispers of the Higher Species. Neither of you can possibly exist."

"Yeah. More to the point, we've got a missing planet." The Doctor stated.

The Architect did not verbally scoff. The look in their reddish eyes said they wanted to. "Then you're not as wise as the stories would say. The picture is far bigger than you imagine. The whole universe is in outrage, Doctor. Twenty-four worlds have been taken from the sky."

"How many?" The Doctor brought out his nerd specks, proving them on his nose. He walked around the Architect's desk for their computer.

I joined him, skipping happily. An image of Pinkie Pie hopping everywhere popped in my head. She'd love this version of me, I just know it. "If you had three more, there'd be twenty-seven."

The Architect scrunched up their pale eyebrows. "Is the number significant?"

I shrugged. "No. I just like it. Are these the lost planets?"

The Architect observed me. I allowed it. "Yes."

"Cool." I grinned, taking their desk chair. "Show me more."

The Architect pressed a few simple buttons. The screen shifted. A long list of planets appeared, listing their locations and other unnecessary details. Necessary for their records, unnecessary for their absence.

"Locations range far and wide, but all disappeared at the exact same moment, leaving no trace." The Architect reported.

The Doctor leaned over my shoulder. "Callufrax Minorr. Jahoo. Shallacatop. Woman Wept. Clom. Clom's gone? Who'd want Clom?"

"Raxicoricophalpatorius, maybe." I shrugged again. "It's their twin planet. Twins have a history..."

My old shoulder wound twinged. Her laugh echoed in my ears. I gazed at Clom's picture. My sister told me about that episode. She apparently killed Victor ages before LINDA met the alien. The team stayed happy and healthy. She did that. I didn't tell her to do it, but she did. One of her acts of kindness to the galaxy.

She was a bitch, but so was I. Darcy was particular in how she showed her kindness.

I miss it so Author-damn much.

The Architect filled up the silence. "All different sizes. Some populated, some not. But all unconnected."

"What about Pyrovillia?" Donna spoke up, still across the room.

The Architect shifted their attention to her. Disgust visible in their tone. "Who is the female?"

Donna narrowed her eyes right back. Her chin jutted out, relaxing to prepare for the vitriol Donna would spit out. "Donna. I'm a human being. Maybe not the stuff of legend but every bit as important as Time Lords, thank you."

I beamed at her. My hearts soared in joy. If I were a different person, I might even cry with pride.

"Way back, when we were in Pompeii, Lucius said Pyrovillia had gone missing." Donna told us.

The Judoon leader stepped forward. "Pyrovillia is cold case. Not relevant."

"How do you mean, cold case?" Donna asked. Haha, I get it, cause everything was on fire. Haha, Donna's so funny without even trying.

"The planet Pyrovillia cannot be part of this. It disappeared over two thousand years ago." The Architect reminded Donna. From their perspective, Donna brought up a random older than old case. To Donna, it happened only months prior.

"Yes, yes, hang on." Donna carried on without paying them any mind. "But there's the Adipose breeding planet, too. Miss Foster said that was lost, but that must've been a long time ago."

I typed on the computer. The new planets were included. "Okay. Adding Pyrovillia, and the Adipose breeding planet. Oh! Oh! And adding the Lost Moon of Poosh."

"Why?" The Doctor asked.

"Cause it's not the Found Moon of Poosh." I sent Donna an over dramatic eye roll, pointing up at the Doctor as if to say 'I can't with this guy'.

The Doctor grinned. "Donna, Terra, brilliant. Planets are being taken out of time as well as space!" He tried to take control of the computer.

I elbowed him back. "Now then. Let's make it bigger!"

The twenty-seven planets began appearing in holograms above us. The Architect watched us work, red eyes wide in shock. Maybe awe. Time Lords and humans working even better than the legends foretold.

Darcy hated that about me too. That I tended to live up to my own hype. A superhero with perfectionism, not a fun combo.

The Poosh moon loaded last. The sphere floated for barely a blink before all the planets shifted around. The worst world mobile in the universe, twisting about to that perfect pattern the Daleks sought out.

"What did you do?" The Architect asked.

I held up my fingers, wiggling them. "Not a thing! They did it to themselves!"

The Doctor walked over to them. He stood in the middle of the new planet form. "The planets rearranged themselves into the optimum pattern. Oh, look at that." He beamed at the display. Myself, personally, focused on Earth's location in it all. Practically in the middle, oh weren't they always? "Twenty seven planets in perfect balance. Come on, that is gorgeous."

"Oi, don't get all spaceman." Donna scolded. She leaned over, looking around the Doctor to me. "Terra. What's he mean?"

"We dumped out a puzzle box on the floor." I popped up, leaping over the desk without missing a step. Hell yeah, go me! "The puzzle pieces put themselves together to make the picture on the box."

"And what's the picture?"

The only answers were bad answers. Instead of answering, I gave her a big smile.

Donna narrowed her eyes. "What."

"I know I'm usually the one to say it's a nice thing but...It's probably not something nice this time." I admitted, in a low apologetic whisper.

The Doctor stepped over to my side. "It's like an engine. A powerhouse of, well, power. Definitely nothing good comes from something like this."

"Who could design such a thing?" The Architect asked, dismayed at the speed of our genius and the fact that we discovered a possible plot to it all.

The Doctor tilted his head, staring off into the distant past. "Someone tried to move the Earth once before. Long time ago. Can't be."

I braced myself. 'Doctor? Do we have to deal with another person that tried to kill you in the past?'

The Doctor took a deep breath, shaking off the foreboding air like an old coat. 'No. It's not possible.'

'Look at me and say that again.'

'Terra, I mean it this time. It's impossible. Beyond impossible. A lone Dalek, underground? Unlikely but possible. Cybermen in another world? Unlikely but possible. Daleks hiding in the void? Unlikely but possible.'

'Rose Tyler coming back. Unlikely but possible.'

He paused. He frowned again, nervous and something frightened in his brown eyes.

'Another Time Lord- TWO Time Lords. Possible but unlikely.' I reminded him. 'Running back into Donna Noble- Unlikely but possible. Nothing's impossible, Doctor, everything is just a bit unlikely.'

Voices in the mind often struggled to convey tone like spoken words. Instead we shared emotions and feelings. Sometimes words come with memories, explaining the personal meaning of the word. If I said someone was a bitch, it would be a compliment and I would make sure the Doctor knew that. The Doctor shared similar re-defined words with me. It's a happenstance of the mind. You associate words with memories.

Colors too. Bright, blasting red in our rages and more engaged moods. Yellow or orange for unbridled joy. Pink often came with us giggling amongst ourselves, or when teasing each other about love interests. Blues came alongside an image of TARDIS, missing the desire to run back to her console room and breathe in the coppery tang of her false gravity. Our fights exploded in color; orange and red and green and purple and blue, mixing together as our feelings did. Colors meant lots of different things.

Every so often, we didn't share bright colors with our thoughts. Happy memories didn't come with words. The Doctor spoke to me in my mind again as he gazed away from me, again focusing on the display of planets around us. This time focusing especially on the Earth.

'Terra, I would encourage thinking like that any other day. But please, today, let it be impossible.'

==MGCB==

Daleks continued to invade the Earth. They killed haphazardly. Anyone that remembered the Battle of Canary Wharf could compare it to this. The Cybermen- for all their horror- at least came orderly in their killings. Daleks shoot anything at the end of their eyestalk. Humans suffered the consequences. Children heard the screams.

Freddie heard the screams. Sitting invisibly on top of a roof, he pulled up a video of it on his phone. Someone caught footage of the Valiant going down. He held no love for that ship. He was only ever on it because of orders.

Boss' orders. Terra wanted them on the Valiant, monitoring the Jones family. To keep the Master from focusing on them, and to see if Logan could be located. Freddie hounded Tish for six months.

Freddie begged for another mission later. Something to cool him down. Future Terra assigned him to the Messaline, and the rest just fell together.

Tuck needed him to be a better father. A father that was brave and kind, encouraging, that knew what they were doing.

So, as Freddie sat on the roof, he thought about it. About what it meant to be a good parent, of the kind of parent he needed to be.

He knew the kind of father he was raised with. He was born in a lab, and raised to be a killer. His son was the same. Vlad raised Freddie to be a different person than what he was. Freddie failed to meet those expectations. He grew up under Vlad's hatred of failure. What hope for change can Freddie provide to his son? All his changes came from another person.

He could try being like Terra. The kind of parent she was to Lilac, technically even to Darcy. He spent his entire childhood trying to be like Terra was the problem. There's not a wide gap between him and Terra, but it's there. It's obvious. Freddie tried and failed once to be like her. If he failed again with Tuck, what kind of damage would he give his son? Freddie didn't want his kid to be fucked up like him.

But he needed to know. He needed to see.

That's why he watched Delilah Patterson in Sarah Jane's house. A person that, from Freddie's perspective, was the only person that could teach him.

==MGCB==

In New York, Martha was giving clearance for the secret Project Indigo and the Osterhagen Key. Jack yelled in her ear about accepting both. Indigo was an unsafe, untested thing. To Jack's knowledge, Leah left it alone on the sheer fact that nobody would try something that stupid unless the world was ending. And even then, the Doctor would show up before things got that bad.

Daleks invaded the New York UNIT. Martha became one of those desperate souls. Sanchez ordered her to take both. For the same reason, he said, she got to keep her personal phone on.

Jack pleaded again and again.

He heard the Daleks shouting.

He begged her not to do it.

Martha ignored him.

Daleks killed everyone inside the building. They were too late to reach Martha. She activated Indigo.

Jack screamed. He kept waiting to hear Terra on the line. To hear her laughing and joking with Martha while saving her life.

Come on, TJ, save her.

Save Martha Jones.

If you've ever loved her at all- really- save her.

But her voice never came. He told his team that Martha was down. He heard his next thought, and hated himself for it.

Was her death part of your plan? Like I was? Another sacrifice of yours, Miss 'Reality Jumper'? Fuck you.

==MGCB==

They are coming!

The three-fold man, the three-fold woman. Them who dance in lonely places. The Doctor and Terra Stardust are coming!

==MGCB==

I needed more time to adjust to this. My younger self was so stupid, leaving when she did. She should've left a week earlier. A week would've given me time to remember what being a Time Lord was like. It's not just grabbing tight to the TARDIS, or talking in memories and colors to a man that must never see my truth.

She could've given me a chance to adjust to time. It danced around my mind, whirling around like- like a whirlpool. See? If I had more time, that would've been a better metaphor. I'm not in the eye of a hurricane. There is no peace here. Just an endless void to fall into until I break my back on the water below. If I'm lucky, that is. If not then I drown among the fish.

Drowning.

Drowning.

Drowning. We drowned. The Doctor and I drowned. Donna stood above, staring curiously at the sonic and my bag.

Donna needed water.

My body shifted into a sort of autopilot. Maybe it's being a mom that changed me, or maybe because I've always taken care of others instead of me. Getting Donna water suddenly became the most important thing in the universe.

The most important thing for the most important woman.

She's important.

She's important.

She- She's-

Thump-thump

Thump-thump

Cold water hit my hand. I blinked back to myself, already blankly staring at my hand. The water overflowed on my hand. Pouring excess out into the tray, I walked over to Donna.

She sat alone on a staircase. The Doctor was with the Architect, going over possible locations for the new planets.

She stared off, blue eyes not focused on anything.

I held out the cup. When it entered her sight, Donna jumped.

"Sorry!" I squeaked, pulling the water back in case she knocked it. Donna looked up at me. "I thought you'd like water."

Donna was panting. The slight shock was enough to startle air from her lungs. Air- air- I need air- fuck damn spiders gimme AIR- She accepted the water. "Thanks."

I sat beside her. Donna said nothing.

"Do you remember anything from the dream?" I asked her.

Donna paused the cup on her lips. "No."

Ah. A very good lie.

"I'd wanna forget too." I said. Forget. Forget. Author, let me forget. Let me go into this blind. I don't want to know what's coming. Let the grief come with a shock. Don't leave me in this state of dread, of endless waiting for the end.

I don't want Donna to die, but I also don't want to watch it happen in this pathetic slow motion.

I wanna go home. I want my daughter back.

"No you don't." Donna replied. "You hate forgetting things."

No laugh. No snort. No joy. It's only more and more grief coming together all at once. All my friends that died in this same slow motion, all the ones that got hurt. That I watched get hurt, and did nothing. 'Did fuck all' as Darcy often said.

Said. Huh, I'm still so used to talking about her in the past tense. She was my closest friend for forty years, and I've given up on seeing her again after barely three.

Will I ever do this for L-

"Forgetting is easier, isn't it?" I asked her. Her future was in front of me. Even though I tried, even though River warned me, it's still there. Looming. Waiting. The warnings I heard way back in those years reminded me that there's a chance she dies. Even for all I try, failure is always an option. "Remembering hurts, Donna. Be lucky you've forgotten already before it could stick. I'm jealous."

You get to forget me

You get to run before being around me kills you

Donna snorted. She sipped her water. "Stop it."

"I mean it." I said. "I'm jealous of you. You get to forget something terrible. I can never seem to forget it. Ever. It's always stuck inside my head. That, or you're just carrying on like it didn't change you at all. In which case, double jealous."

"Exactly. I'm the same old forgetful me." Donna gestured to herself. "Just a temp. Shorthand, filing, hundred words per minute." She glanced at the Doctor, then me. "I'm no use to either of you."

I am going to kill Sylvia Noble. Then write an apology letter to Wilf about it. Then kill her again. I will especially do so if Donna forgets me today. In which case, Wilf can't blame me or else Donna dies too. It's the perfect crime.

My hand reached for her empty one. The cold water was still there, making my hand damp. She raised a confused eyebrow. As she looked up at my face, the expression changed. No longer confused, but worried. A new crease between her eyebrows. Fear that she said too much? Fear I would confirm?

Or maybe I'm projecting fear onto her face because it's all I can see. Fear. Fear everywhere. Fear in every corner and every speck of dust around us.

Please, Donna, please.

Please don't die

I caused Rose to fall

I made Martha a warrior

I killed Darcy

Please don't let me hurt you too

"Terra?" Donna asked. She sat up, moving to sit closer to me. She set the empty cup aside to take both my hands into her's. "What's wrong?"

"Today-" The word croaked out of my throat. I swallowed, forcing my mind to work. To cope. Criers get slapped. Criers get slapped. I cannot lose focus today. River warned because she knew I'd get emotional about this. Donna needs me at my best. I'm useless if I'm not at my best. "Today is gonna get worse before it gets better."

"Why do you say that?" Donna asked. "Terra, come on, talk to me. What's wrong?"

My hand curled. Donna's hand on mine? No, mine apparently holding even tighter to her's. I held my sister this tightly before-

"Terra?"

I watched the industrial size fan tear my sister apart

"Terra? You're-"

Donna is the only other person that remembers Darcy like I do. Fondly. Nicely. Like they want to see her again. Jack wouldn't, after what Darcy did on the Valiant, and the Doctor never liked her. I need somebody to remember her with me.

I made myself switch. I forced it down again, aside, away. It needed to be quiet, the memory, the emotions and colors needed to stop.

A smile graced my face. The classic 'American Girl doll' smile that I perfected as Terra Three. My eyes stung, so I did my best to speed up the creation of serotonin in my brain. Smiling can trick the brain into thinking it's happy. I can pretend. I'm very good at it.

Freaks can do amazing things, can't they?

"Donna. Tell me about the bees." I asked in a polite, innocently sweet voice that I, again, practiced to perfection for Terra Three. The voice and smile came back so much easier than anything else today.

Donna blinked, confusion and worry still on her face. "Bees?"

"Donna!" The Doctor came over from the table. "Donna, come on, think!" The feelings flickered on her face. I pulled my hands out of hers, placing them delicately in my lap. Turning on the stairs, I focused on the Doctor. He paid me no attention. Why should he? As far as he knows, I've been by his side for years. "There must've been some sort of warning. Was anything happening back in your day, like electrical storms, freak weather, patterns in the sky?"

"Well, how should I know?" Cause you knew about ATMOS when not even we did? Come on, Donna, you're only making it easier to kill Sylvia. She wiped at her cheeks, apparently overcome by some foreign feeling I certainly have never experienced before. Why are you asking? "Er, no. I don't think so- except. Wait."

"What?" The Doctor prompted.

"The bees." Donna checked with me. I tilted my head, spreading my smile wider. My eyes even glowed brighter with joy.

It's coming in now. My brain always needs a little kickstart for that feeling.

"The bees were disappearing?" Donna offered, sounding unsure herself about the importance of it.

The Doctor agreed. He stared flatly at us. The 'screwdrivers work in the dark' stare. "The bees disappearing."

"It's weird cause they can't fly." I nodded, sagely sharing wisdom sent from the ancestors. Thinking about Bee Movie is making me giggle. Like did that universe ever have it's own Bee Movie, except 'inspired by true events' so they got to use bee actors on screen with human actors? Did they invent bee sized mics? Is Barry played by Bee Tom Hanks?

All these questions and more, tonight on Bee Larry King.

"It's very-" I snorted, trying to contain them too. "-sad." My hand covered my mouth. It locked the giggles inside.

"The bees disappearing." The Doctor repeated, more thoughtful. His eyes went wide. "The bees disappearing!"

"How is that significant?" The Architect asked.

The Doctor ran back to the computer. I jumped down the four large steps, rushing to the desk to join him.

Donna walked down. Like a human that wasn't thinking about Barry walking on the Bee Red Carpet. "On Earth we had these insects. Some people said it was pollution or mobile phone signals." When safely on the ground, she rushed to my side.

"Or, they were going back home." The Doctor said, cryptically.

"Back home where?" Donna asked. To her, bees lived on Earth. So going back home made very little sense.

"Planet Melissa Majoria."

Donna stared at him for a moment. "Are you saying bees are aliens?"

"That's why they can fly, cause they're all Superman?!" I gasped. They definitely have a Bee Superman movie in the Bee Movie world.

The Doctor scoffed. "Don't be so daft." He rolled his eyes at me and Donna, before becoming serious again. "Not all of them. But if the migrant bees felt something coming, some sort of danger, and escaped? Tandocca."

The Architect dropped their jaw. "The Tandocca Scale."

"The Tandocca Scale. Yes. We all know this." I nodded at them both.

"The Tandocca Scale is the series of wavelengths used as a carrier signals by migrant bees. Infinitely small." The Doctor typed rapidly on the computer. "No wonder we didn't see it. It's like looking for a speck of cinnamon in the Sahara, but look, there it is."

An image appeared on the screen. A large view of a segment of space. Along it, glowing faintly under the computer program, a trail of dust in the stars.

"The Tandocca trail. The transmat that moved the planets was using the same wavelength, we can follow the path." He shouted.

Donna and I were already running to the TARDIS. "And find the Earth? Well, stop talking and do it!"

The Doctor chased us. "I am!"

Who needs to think about Bee Movie? These two are comedy kings.

The Doctor grabbed the console computer. "We're a bit late. The signal's scattered, but it's a start." He pointed at a button. "Keep it there, Terra, we can't lose it!"

"Button pushing is fun!" He ran to the door.

Donna turned to me with a thankful smile. "Thanks for reminding me about the bees. Can't believe I forgot that."

"You already remembered them, Donna." I grinned, giggling. I met her eyes, staring straight into them and not even blinking. "You'll never forget it. I'll make sure you don't."

Donna twisted the smile. That worried crease returned to her eyebrows, and her smile actually became a frown. Ah, my fault again. I made Donna sad.

"I've got a blip. It's just a blip, But it's definitely a blip." The Doctor shouted to the Architect.

"Then according to the Strictures of the Shadow Proclamation, I will have to seize your transport and your technology." The Architect announced.

The Doctor stepped deeper into the box. I noticed his hands curling on the parts of the door he touched. "Oh, really? What for?"

"The planets were stolen with hostile intent. We are declaring war, Doctor, right across the universe, and you will lead us into battle." The Architect decreed.

"Right. Yes. Course I will. I'll just go and get you the key." He stepped inside. The door closed and locked itself behind him. He ran to my side, flipping the brake switch.

==MGCB==

Daleks landed on the street over. Freddie watched, trying to think of a solution. The Daleks commanded people to leave their homes, group up. A few resisted. The Daleks killed them before Freddie could stand.

He ground his teeth. The- the fuck- what the fuck-

Daleks were fucking bastards.

A window opened. Freddie snapped over to it.

Elle leaned out a window. She tried to tilt herself in a way that she could see what was happening. Her face twisted into rage and disgust, sneering in the direction of the Daleks. Even from a street wide distance the expressions were obvious.

She went back inside. The window slammed shut.

Freddie wanted to believe he saw her eyes glow. It might've been a trick of the light.

==MGCB==

The TARDIS slowed to a halt.

I stepped back from the console. My foot bonked on his cut off hand.

The Doctor leaned back. "It's stopped."

"What do you mean? Is that good or bad? Where are we?" Donna asked. She tried to get a peek on the computer. It only showed Gallifreyan circles.

"The Medusa Cascade." He stepped back, watching the screen. "I came here when I was just a kid, ninety years old. It was the centre of a rift in time and space."

I made an appropriate noise of interest. "Wow. What a fun field trip." At ninety, I was fighting demons with the Halliwell sisters. Gonna say my thing we cooler

He hummed.

"What happened to the trail?" I asked. "To the planets? Where'd they go?"

"I don't know." The Doctor said, so I didn't have to. "The Tandocca Trail stops dead. End of the line."

"So what do we do?" Donna asked.

I sat down on the pilot chair. The Doctor never looked away from the computer.

"Doctor, what do we do? Terra, what do we do?" Donna became more desperate for answers the longer we stayed silent. "Now don't do this to me. No, don't. Don't do this to me. Not now."

I can't give you any good words, Donna

We need to wait

We just need to wait, I swear

"Tell me, what are we going to do?" Donna pleaded. "You lot never give up. Please."

This isn't giving up. I know giving up. I remember the bitter taste and how it slimed its way down my throat. The way it sunk my stomach. The way it drifted through my blood. This isn't giving up, Donna, this is waiting. This is hoping.

And it's so much worse.

==MGCB==

Planet Earth surrendered. Freddie cared very little about it. He flew closer to the window, poking his head through. He could watch Elle and Sarah Jane without them noticing.

His phone buzzed. Freddie ignored it. Drax and Darcy would need to drag him out of here personally.

Elle watched Mr Smith, a thoughtful look on her face. What's going on behind her eyes, Freddie wondered. Her face crinkled up in a different way than Terra's. Terra's face always widened and got big, like she needed it to soak in as much information as possible. Elle closed it up, sucked it all in like a locked door.

As Sarah Jane and Luke clung to each other, a mother and son trying to stay strong under all the turmoil, Elle looked so cut off from them. It's not in the sense of distancing herself from feelings (like Terra did) or thinking she was better (like Vlad did). To Freddie, it reminded him more of being ready to defend them from any struggle that tried to hurt them. A queen standing vigil over her subjects.

"Humans selected for testing will follow Dalek instructions. The Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks. You will obey Dalek instructions without question. You will obey your Dalek ma-"

Mr Smith began to beep.

"Can anyone hear me? The Subwave Network is open. You should be able to hear my voice. Is there anyone there?"

"Who's that?" Luke asked.

Elle typed on the keyboard. "I can't tell. The image is too blurred."

"It's some poor soul calling for help." Sarah Jane reasoned.

"Can anyone hear me?"

Sarah Jane shook her head. "There's nothing we can do."

"Alright, Sarah, you do what you feel like." Elle nodded her head to the screen. "I'm gonna save people."

"I don't mean it like that. But Elle, it's the Daleks." Sarah Jane said. "We've seen what happens when they attack planets like this."

Elle clenched her jaw. Now that's an expression Freddie saw before. Terra and Darcy did it all the time. That's the exact way they did it. The clench of utter frustration. Of shutting up just so you just up. "Mr Smith disagrees."

"Processing incoming Subwave."

==MGCB==

Gwen and Chloe sat on the couch. Clearly, both were very distressed. Neither of them heard about their loved ones outside of the Hub. When all the governments publicly declare surrender, it's hard to hold faith. Neither of them even knew if their people were the ones kidnapped by Daleks.

Owen and Tosh were at her desk. Owen held her shoulder. Tosh held his hand. Both of them trying to get comfort for the other without a sound. Ianto sat by the stairs, not even making any tea for anyone. All of them did their best to avoid looking at the empty desk among the lot.

"This message is of the utmost importance. We haven't much time. Can anyone hear me?"

Tosh sat up. "Someone's trying to get in touch." She worked on connecting back to them.

Jack, leaning against the medical pit stairs, shook his head. "The whole world's crying out. Just leave it." He only wanted to hear one voice from any tech ever again. And he's not sure if he'd be grateful or spewing hate at her. But he didn't want to hear the dying screams of humans again.

"Captain Jack Harkness, shame on you. Now stand to attention, sir."

Jack shot up to his feet. He rushed to Tosh and Owen. "What? Who is that?"

The computer image was gray and staticy. As he watched and Tosh typed, the image became clearer. Color and shape became easier. A familiar looking woman sat at a computer, staring back at them.

She held up an ID. "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister."

Jack nodded, because yeah sure. Harriet Jones was calling Torchwood directly. That's always gone well. "Yeah, I know who you are."

==MGCB==

"Sarah Jane Smith, Elle Patterson, 13 Bannerman Road. Are you there?" Harriet Jones asked.

"Yes, we are." Elle answered, standing up. "Sarah?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm here." Sarah rushed to stand beside Elle. "We both are. It's us."

Freddie beamed. That's actually super badass.

His phone buzzed again.

"Good. Now. Let's see if we can talk to each other."

The image on screen zoomed out. Five blocks of static appeared, Harriet herself in the middle with four static filled squares around her.

Freddie blinked. That's not how it was supposed to look. Rose and the Noble household didn't have a webcam. Terra definitely wouldn't have added one on any of her visits.

His phone buzzed again. He huffed, annoyed. He pulled himself out of the wall, resting on their roof. He answered the call, furious, but now staring through the attic window.

Freddie hummed. "Come and get me yourselves, you lazy ass-"

"-as the fourth and fifth contact seem to be having some trouble getting through."

"Fifth?" Freddie snorted. "That's cool. Maybe then they'll-"

The image on screen showed not just static. No, it showed a familiar shine of light. Freddie looked at the house, then at his phone. The light reflecting from the light of Sarah Jane's attic.

He accepted a facetime call. Four boxes of static greeted him, and one full of Harriet Jones.

"Oh no, it's me." He fucked up. He's not even sure how. His sisters were gonna kill him, melt his body into goo, and adopt Tuck as their own. Tuck would get a better parent after all. And to be honest, Terra has probably be Planning for it.

"Hello. Harriet Jones, former prime minister." The older woman nodded on screen, again flashing her badge. Freddie gawked at his phone. "Who is this?"

"I know who you are." Freddie said, 'cause he couldn't think of anything else. "And what do you mean, who is this? You called me."

"You?!" Came Jack's voice, and even more stern face.

Freddie quickly flew away from the roof. He needed new light. Any new light. Oh, oh the nearby empty houses! He could hide in one. The network was supposed to hide him, after all.

"Hi Jack! Like the new hair?" He propped the phone up on the family's counter. It showed off him, and very little else. His powers gave his body a soft glow in the dark of night, making him stand out more on the screen against the blackness. The glow from the phone screen helped too. He was in his ghost form too. It came with a red jumpsuit, stitched with black threadings and a big R on the chest. His hair was a matching bright red, different from Terra's orange but actually closer to Donna's hair. "Seriously, how did you get this number? It doesn't exist."

Harriet ignored him. Freddie expected that. "I'll just boost the signal."

"Hello?"

Jack broke out into a wide grin, laughing in shock. He's definitely still pissed about Freddie but momentarily forgot the half ghost's presence. "Ha, ha! Martha Jones."

Freddie, being from a large family of Little Shits, reminded him. He waved at the screen, beaming like Jack. "Martha! Hi!"

The doctor did appear on the last box of static on the phone screen. She sat in a family dining room, plants and tupperware sets stored behind her. She dropped her jaw when hearing their voices. "Fred?!" Martha gasped. "Is that you?"

"It's me!" Freddie confirmed. Jack tightened his smile, glaring at the screen.

"What happened to your hair?"

Freddie shrugged. "Science." It's not a lie.

"I thought you and Tuck were on Messaline!" Martha said.

"I thought you were scattered into atoms! Happy to see I was wrong." Freddie cheered. "Tuck's fine, chilling back at the Haven. Where are you?"

Martha widened her eyes. "You knew about Project Indigo? Did Terra tell you?"

"I mean, she might have." Freddie scratched his neck, suddenly embarrassed. If Terra made a whole calendar that warned about alien invasions, then she definitely threw in ways of telling the Guardians stuff. Probably Drax first. "But I always forget to read her emails. I just keep track of humans with alien tech and who uses what. Where did it take you?"

"I guess Project Indigo was more clever than we thought." Martha explained. "One second I was in Manhattan, next second. Maybe Indigo tapped into my mind, because I ended up in the one place that I wanted to be."

Francine walked into frame. Freddie blanched. He checked at his screen, seeing he had bright red hair, not unlike Terra's current look. Was Francine gonna recognize him? He hoped not. "You came home. At the end of the world, you came back to me."

Martha smiled at her mother. Freddie would have studied that family too if not for the fact that all the other Jones' hated him. The two women turned to the computer. Francine gasped.

"You!" She hissed.

Yep. Changing his hair did nothing to disguise him. Freddie hoped being a ghost might've changed that, but apparently not.

"Hi Francine." He greeted, monotone and defeated. "How are you?" He said in the same monotone.

"Mum, you know him?"

"He and his team tortured people on the Valiant for six months." Jack revealed to the group.

Everyone stared at him. The Torchwood team were out of frame, but Freddie heard the gasps and growls of disgust. Elle Patterson widened her light brown eyes, stepping ahead of the Smith family to try and block them from sight, like Freddie could jump through the screens. Martha gawked the biggest at him. She'd met his son, and knew who he was.

"Fred?" Martha prompted.

Freddie tried to smile, but it failed. He wanted to excuse himself. To give Martha excuses, to give Elle excuses too. None of them would matter. The time on the Valiant sucked major ass. He hurt her family. Not physically, never physically, but emotionally. That's arguably worse. Any time he slacked, that Quill person whispered in his ears.

Just thinking about it made him shudder. He didn't like the person he was during that mission. It reminded him too much of what Vlad Masters wanted him to be. It's a person he tried so hard to avoid, to change himself from it. He understood why the Doctor hated him.

After hearing what Quill Crowley said, Freddie hated them too. He yelled at Drax for hours after that. All his excuses were fucking useless. So what if Quill Crowley found Garfield Logan more often than they did? Quill made a fucking point of keeping everyone on the Guardians the worst version of themselves.

Martha took his silence as an answer. "Does Terra know?"

"No." The version of Terra that would come today had no clue. She'd find out someday, to give the Guardians the order to go. Maybe even this day she'd be told. She knew Darcy went, but didn't know anybody else was with her. Maybe suspected, but didn't know for certain. Freddie dreaded that day. "Not about what I did. The Doctor-"

"They should!" Francine hissed. "Her and the Doctor should know, then they can take you down like they did that Saxon!"

Freddie winced. He looked at Jack. "The Doctor tried. Stopping me, I mean, but Terra didn't let him. And Martha saved my son, so thanks again for that."

"Why the hell not?" Jack snapped.

"Cause he's Terra's clone!" Martha revealed.

Now it was Jack's turn to be shocked and horrified. Francine and the Bannerman Road house too.

Freddie doesn't know why Jack is surprised. He met Darcy. Terra has a history of forgiving terrible siblings. "We prefer 'brother'. Sometimes we say we're twins to freak people out." And to make Darcy jealous, it's hilarious. The sudden anger that comes from Darcy brings a smile to their faces. "Like how y'all are right now. Freaking out. Cause we're all on the same phone call and I still don't know why. Did I mention this phone doesn't exist? I feel like that was mentioned."

"That was me." Harriet Jones said. "Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister."

"Yes, I know who you are." Martha blinked, shaking her head.

"I thought it was about time we all met given the current crisis. I even remotely activated the Jones family computer. Torchwood, this is Sarah Jane Smith and Delilah Patterson." Harriet explained.

"It's Elle." Elle corrected.

"I've been following your work. Nice job with the Slitheen." Jack said.

"You did a good job last week. Was it the bombs in Cardiff?" Elle asked.

Jack nodded. He glanced around his team, proud. "That was us, yes."

"Yeah, well, I've been staying away from you lot. Too many guns." Sarah Jane nodded her head at her son.

Jack smirked. "All the same, might I say looking good, ladies?"

The two women immediately became flustered.

"Really? Ooo."

"Huh. Um. Uh-"

"Not now, Captain. And Martha Jones, former companion to the Doctor and Terra Johnson." Harriet explained. "And as explained, Freddie, Terra Johnson's clone and brother."

"But how did you find us?" Freddie asked again. "Cause that should be...well not impossible but really, really hard."

"This, ladies and gentlemen, this is the Subwave Network." Harriet informed them. "A sentient piece of software programmed to seek out anyone and everyone who can help to contact the Doctor."

"Oh!" Freddie sat up, excited and animated. "Okay, yeah! 'Cause my phone is from Terra. She gave it a ton of upgrades with her sonic, which came from the TARDIS, so duh my phone would connect to this."

Did Terra make it that way on purpose?

Did she know I'd leave the base, and so she made sure I could be on this call?

I hate her so much

"What if the Daleks can hear us?" Martha asked.

Harriet shook her head. "No, that's the beauty of the Subwave. It's undetectable."

"And you made it?" Elle asked.

"I developed it alongside Mr Rattigan." Harriet answered. "It was created by the Mister Copper Foundation."

"Yeah, but what we need right now is a weapon." Jack stated. "Martha, back there at UNIT, what, what did they give you? What was that key thing?"

"The Osterhagen key." Martha answered.

Harriet hardened her face. "That key is not to be used, Doctor Jones. Not under any circumstances."

"But what is an Osterhagen key?" Jack asked.

"Forget about the key, and that's an order. All we need is the Doctor." Harriet insisted.

"And Terra." Jack reminded her. For the Daleks or handling Freddie, Freddie didn't know.

"Only, excuse me, Harriet, but. Well, the thing is, if you're looking for the Doctor and Terra, didn't they depose you?" Sarah Jane pointed out.

Harriet nodded, solemn. "They did. And I've wondered about that for a long time, whether I was wrong. But I stand by my actions to this day, because I knew, I knew that one day, the Earth would be in danger, and the Doctor would fail to appear. I told him so myself, and he didn't listen. Neither of them did."

"Because your plan was stupid then, and barely less stupid now." Freddie argued. He glared down at the camera on his phone. "They did listen to you, never for a second think they didn't. They just didn't care. What you did was so cruel and cowardly not even they would've done it. Their call that day was the right one."

It came with downsides, yeah. It gave the Master a clear path to conquering the planet. But at least the Master was an obvious threat. Harriet Jones was much quieter, and a lot more endearing in her ruthlessness. She came across as so nice about it, as so protective and docile, one would forget that she'd do anything. Shooting a retreating foe in the back wasn't something of protectiveness for her planet. It's an attack, plain and simple.

Terra only ever shot a retreating foe if she knew they were retreating for a weapon. Freddie's father would shoot a foe for anything; disobedience, stubbornness, being obnoxious, for breathing too loud, for being Jack Fenton, the list goes on. Vlad would have shot the Sycorax a million times.

"And the Doctor did try to stop me. Wanna know what stopped him? He saw that I regretted it." Freddie admitted. "I regretted what I did to Martha's family every day. Even while I was doing it, I hated it. But I never pushed blame. That family- Martha herself- has a right to take my head. Terra can show up and shoot me in the face about it right now, and I'd let her. You never regretted killing the Sycorax that day. You killed everyone on that ship because they killed two of your own, and those are the only people they killed that day. My team and I tortured the Jones family because if we didn't, the Master would have."

That made many on the video call wince. Jack and Francine especially. Francine curled on herself, rubbing her arms as if to warm herself. Jack clenched his jaw, rotating his shoulders and making himself stand taller.

"I have to live with it." Freddie stated. "All of us do. It's not gonna bring your family peace, and we can only say sorry for how far we went. But we saw what he did to Terra after eighteen months, and we wouldn't let him do it to anyone else. Even if it made us monsters too."

The Guardians tortured the Joneses for six months, which was only half the Year That Never Was. For six months, the Master had them all to himself. He spread his attention wide to everyone- the humans, the Doctor, Lucy, the Jones family, and Jack. It wasn't the worst, but it definitely wasn't an experience anybody wanted extended.

That's why Freddie accepted the mission in the first place. He witnessed first hand the scars his sister carried from that treatment. The way she shut down so completely all feelings and emotions, becoming that perfect blank slate. Spending six months sparing others from that? It's not an easy choice, but for Freddie there wasn't another choice.

It's his choice. Tuck deserved a dad that owned up to his mistakes. One that tried to be better than them, to do better and show others what being better looked like. He should teach his son how somebody made up for shitty choices.

"Even Quill?" Jack countered.

Freddie hissed. "We only had her to get Logan."

"Who's Logan?" Jack asked.

Freddie wanted to move on. "Oh gee. Why can't we reach the Doctor or Terra?" He put on a snarky tone, like a bratty teenager. "Did the Daleks knock a tower down, or turn off our service, or maybe they teleported the whole planet away!"

"I've got the same upgrades as you. Terra has her own phone on the TARDIS. Our phones should reach her." Martha reminded him.

"Because of the TARDIS! And the Daleks, who's biggest enemies are the Doctor and Terra with their TARDIS, would probably do something to keep the blue box away." Freddie argued back.

"That's what the Subwave is for, to bring us together." Harriet said.

"Which is why your plan isn't completely stupid." Freddie added. "Cause you got the only five people on this planet that have a chance of reaching them."

"But we haven't been able to."

"Come on, I boosted y'all up!" Freddie groaned. "We're Terra's Army, we have something! Tell me what you've got. I've got a phone number."

"Wait a minute. Boost." Jack realized. "That's it. We transmit that telephone number through Torchwood itself, using all the power of the Rift."

"And we've got Mister Smith. He can link up with every telephone exchange on the Earth." Luke Smith spoke up, letting the others fully notice him for the first time. "He can get the whole world to call the same number, all at the same time. Billions of phones, calling out all at once."

Jack grinned. "Brilliant. Who's the kid?"

Sarah Jane straightened back her shoulders. "That's my son."

"Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry. Hello. Toshiko Sato." Jack moved aside. Tosh stood up, taking the camera. "If we start transmitting, then this Subwave Network is going to become visible. I mean, to the Daleks."

"Yes, and they'll trace it back to me. But my life doesn't matter. Not if it saves the Earth." Harriet stated.

Jack saluted her. "Ma'am."

"Thank you, Captain, but there are people out there dying on the streets. Now, enough of words. Let's begin." Harriet stated.

Freddie smiled at all of them. The companions of the Doctor and Terra, even the unnoticable Rose Tyler. He wondered if his team was also on the call, a hidden box like Rose was.

Everyone started moving. Sarah Jane and Tosh Sato typed out code. The Torchwood team started darting about on screen. Freddie tapped a button on his phone. The screen covered in faces went away, leaving his phone screen.

"Rift power activated." Jack stated.

"All terminals coordinated." Gwen called out.

"National grid online." Tosh reported. "Giving you everything we've got."

"Connecting you to Mister Smith." Sarah Jane said.

"All the phone networks are combined." Elle Patterson added.

"Sending you the number now." Martha said.

"Same." Freddie hit the send button. "Better safe than sorry." Terra might have changed her phone number.

"Opening Subwave Network to maximum." Harriet said.

"Mister Smith, make that call." Sarah Jane ordered.

"Calling Terra Johnson."

"And sending." Jack called out.

Freddie gripped tight to his phone. He prayed that his sister could answer, and that it would bring her to them. He hoped Tuck would be proud.

==MGCB==

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out, answering. "Hello, you've reached Terra Johnson. I'm busy at the moment. Please send a text instead."

The Doctor paused. "Phone?"

"Sorry, probably a spam-"

"You're getting a phone call?" The Doctor stressed.

"...oh!" I tossed it to him. He caught it, holding it to his ear. "Yes! The phone! It's Martha calling me! Martha Jones actually called me!"

"It's a signal!" The Doctor got out his stethoscope.

Donna sat up, rushing to our side. "Can we follow it?" Donna asked.

He propped my phone on the console. "Oh, just watch me."

==MGCB==

Things around the Torchwood Hub were exploding. The computers could barely handle the strain. Even with all the upgrades given by Leah Luna-Johnson, this phone call took effort.

"I think we've got a fix." Jack shouted.

==MGCB==

"We better have! We're at 200%!" Elle reported.

Mr Smith started sending off sparks. Elle ducked to avoid them.

"Oh, come on, Doctor." Sarah Jane pleaded.

==MGCB==

Freddie squeezed his phone. Come on, sis, come and get us.

==MGCB==

The phone call locked on.

"That's it!" I cheered, pumping my fist in the air.

"Locking on!" The Doctor flipped switches and slammed on keyboard keys.

==MGCB==

"Harriet, a saucer's locked on to your location." Tosh warned. "They've found you."

Freddie squeezed the phone. He shut his eyes, focusing.

"I know."

Red sparks went up his arms. Freddie concentrated, shutting his eyes. More and more sparks traveled up his arms.

"I'm using the Network to mask your transmission. Keep going."

"Exterminate!"

His eyes snapped open.

==MGCB==

The TARDIS console exploded. The flames appeared beneath my hands. I jerked back, running around behind Donna and the Doctor.

"We're traveling through time." The Doctor realized. Sparks rained down from the ceiling. Donna and I flinched away from them. "One second in the future. The phone calls' pulling us through."

==MGCB==

Harriet ducked, avoiding the sparks going off from her window.

"Captain, I'm transferring the Subwave Network to Torchwood." Harriet told him. "You're in charge now. And tell the Doctor from me he chose his companions well. It's been an honor."

She stepped up from the computer. Daleks flew into her home. Three of them, imposing and focused completely on her. Harriet didn't fear this. Once, before, the Doctor said she feared her mother being left alone. There's no mother to leave behind this time.

She flashed her ID card. "Harriet Jones. Former Prime Minister."

"Yes, we know who you are."

"Oh, you know nothing of any human, and that will be your downfall." Harriet closed her eyes to the pain.

"Exterminate."

Shots were fired. Loud, thundering shots. Harriet braced herself. She heard screaming, and realized it wasn't her own.

"Who are you?!" A Dalek screamed.

Harriet squinted her eyes open. A boy stood in front of her, body glowing as red lightning shooting up and down his arms. His suit (also red) shone and glittered. Still, facing the Daleks away from Harriet.

"I'm another Time Lord." The boy stated. And Harriet gasped. She held her computer chair to balance herself. "Doing what Time Lords do best."

The lightning grew. Her living room brightened up with it. Pressure grew. Like something filling up the space worse than the Daleks. He held out his arms.

The red lightning shot out from his hands. Harriet squinted away from the light.

The Daleks shrieked.

More explosions went off. Great, big, thundering explosions. Harriet fell to her knees, cowering from them.

She stayed there until the lights finally faded away. She sat up to see her home destroyed. Everything was on fire, or already burnt to ashes. Her computer and television were long gone, sparking out their remains.

Harriet swallowed, pushing herself up. The boy stood before her. He faced the Dalek remains. His shoulders heaved, taking big shaking breaths.

She walked over to him. "Can all of...your people...do that?"

The boy continued to pant.

"Excuse me, Mr Johnson?" Harriet asked.

"Rose." He said.

Harriet froze. That girl with the Doctor? Harriet kept track as best she could, hearing that she died when the Cybermen invaded. "Pardon?"

"It's Rose, not Johnson." He swallowed. He turned around to her. When he faced her, he instantly sank down to his knees.

Harriet knelt down. "Oh, oh no! What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

The boy panted still. His body glowed again, but with a much softer light. It spread over his body to reveal- to Harriet, the boy looked exactly the same. His hair color changed, but that was basically it. He wore green baggy clothes, like he'd be sleeping rough.

"Mr J- Mr Rose?" Harriet prompted.

His head rolled to face her. Harriet watched his eyes- bright amber, as Terra Johnson's eyes. His hair, she realized, was the same shade of brown. Her clone indeed. Freddie grinned. A slow, stupid grin.

"Mr Rose, are you hurt?" Harriet checked his wrist, searching for a pulse.

"I killed Daleks." He giggled.

"Yes, you did." Harriet tried again for the pulse. She could hardly believe it either. The last invasion came as a slaughter. None of their weapons damaged it. This clone boy succeeded in a minute where the entire British army failed.

"It was fun." He mumbled. "What're ya doin'?"

Harriet frowned at his wrist, but quickly smiled to keep him calm. Tears began welling in her eyes. She held his hand. Her worn fingers squeezed tight to his small ones. She stared at his face. His young face. Looking as young as Terra did when Harriet first met the girl. "Oh, it's nothing. Nothing. Go on."

The boy hummed. "I saved you."

Harriet nodded. "You did, you brave boy. Why?" He spewed such hate at her before. All deserved, Harriet wasn't lost to that. But he still saved her.

Freddie blinked at her, seemingly just as confused as her.

"I was ready to go." Harriet said.

"No you weren't." Freddie countered. Harriet inhaled sharply. "Nobody ever is. Ever. Not even Time Lords- not even me, and I'm already dead."

Harriet shook her head. "No, no you're not."

"It's okay." Freddie lifted a hand. He patted their joined hands. "Time Lords are good at that too. But I'm better."

A cold sensation went up her arms. Harriet stared down at her hands to find them disappearing. Him too.

Freddie chuckled. And Harriet saw nothing else. "Let's get you someplace safe." ==MGCB==

The fire grew. I squeezed tighter to her console.

"Three, two, one.!" The Doctor flipped a final switch.

The TARDIS physically tilted back, like a car suddenly going from 60 to 200 in a second.

The three of us screamed. The Doctor and Donna in fear. Myself, excited and happy, loving fast cars and the feeling of driving that fast.

The TARDIS came to a stop, too soon for my liking. The fire went away. I made a loud noise of disappointment.

"That was fun." I cheered. "Can we do it again?"

"Later." The Doctor poked the computer screen. "Look."

Twenty seven planets. And there's the Earth. " Donna pointed at the planet. Just below us, according to the scanner. "But wh couldn't we see them?"

TThe entire Medusa Cascade has been put a second out of sync with the rest of the universe. " The Doctor explained. "erfect hiding place. Tiny little pocket of time. But we found them. "

The computer screen glitched. Static took over our view of the planets. I grinned, bouncing on my feet.

"oo, ooo, ooo, what's that? " The Doctor reached for nearby dials. "old on, hold on. Some sort of Subwave Network."

He patched us the rest of the way into the call.

The computer became filled with faces. Torchwood, with Jack taking up the whole screen. Martha and her mother, side by side at Francine's home. Sarah Jane, another woman, and Luke Smith at Bannerman Road. Another woman? I don't remember her being there.

Except, wait, no. I met her. Elle Patterson. That's- right. Yes. We met for the first time in School Reunion. We held hands, and my arm got all tingly. I suspect this was another attempt from Darcy, in the past, to get me to say I liked girls. People often say their bodies reacted oddly to meeting love interests. Maybe that's all it was.

She failed, sadly. I don't know if I am or not, or if Martha is an exception. Or if Reighley is. Or they both are.

But none of that matters. Because they're all here, and I love them all.

"Hello Planet Earth!" I cheered. "Martha, Jack, other people, hi!"

"Where the hell have you been?" He snapped. I missed that- missed Jack yelling at me. He's so good at it. "Terra, Doctor, it's the Daleks."

"Oh, he's a bit nice. I thought he'd be older."

"He's not that young."

"She's not bad." Owen added. Tosh whacked his arm. "Ow!"

"It's the Daleks. They're taking people to their spaceship." Sarah Jane called out.

"Whole blocks of people just gone!" Elle added.

"It's not just Dalek Caan."

"-surrendered."

Their voices all came in at once. All overlapping in excitement and fear of what was happening. Maybe it's because I watched it on TV, or my own Time Lord brain, but I could still make out all they were saying. This is so flipping cool.

The Doctor smiled at the screen. "Sarah Jane and Elle Patterson. Who's that boy? That must be Torchwood. Oh, they're brilliant."

"I told you they were." I bumped his shoulder. "Buttface wouldn't dare disappoint me."

"That he wouldn't." The Doctor laughed. "Look at you all, you clever people."

"Martha, you called me!" I cheered.

Martha smiled on screen. Her mother held her shoulders. "We all did."

"That's Martha." Donna leaned in. "And who's he?"

"That's Jack Harkness! He's cool." I explained.

"Don't. Just don't." The Doctor warned. Donna smirked, like she was interested before but now she was interested. (Darcy always assured me there was a difference.)

"That's the lady that tried dissecting Penelope!" I pointed at Toshiko.

She blinked. "What?"

"The space pig! From when they crashed into Big Ben- remember us?"

"That- what-"

"I was brunette, and he was bald!"

"I wasn't bald!"

"You were as good as!" The Doctor started to argue, but then burst out laughing. "Penelope is fine, by the way. She lives in a farm upstate with my talking dog!"

Tosh exchanged a look with Owen. He started laughing off screen.

"It's like an outer space Facebook." Donna mused.

"Everyone except Rose." The Doctor commented, inaccurately.

It doesn't have any of my people here. "Or-"

The screens cut off to static.

The Doctor blanched. "Oh."

Donna frowned. "We've lost them."

The Doctor grabbed at the computer. I stepped back, raising my hands to avoid getting swept up. My hearts pounded fast. In my mind, thoughts swirled and raged around. "No, no, no, no, no. There's another signal coming through. There's someone else out there. Hello?" He smacked the computer. He paused, eyes going wide. "Can you hear me? Rose?"

"Your voice is different, and yet its arrogance is unchanged."

As I said before, our shared thoughts came in colors and feelings, not just words. The Doctor sent no words over. Maybe his joy at Rose being out there made him forget to hide. Maybe he was too stunned to hide. Either way, his head drifted towards mine.

Darkness. Deep, never ending, darkness. A cold that came from death. Fear and purple and green that came like a bad cough. It came with memories of that voice. Not quite robotic, not quite human. A diseased rattle of a voice, even before. Always yelling in rage. The phantom pain memory of fire. Just so much intense, burning fire. It's not a fire from rage, it's fire from fear.

"Jesus Christ-"

"No. But he's dead."

"Welcome to my new Empire" The creature appeared on the TARDIS' viewscreen. I grimaced, recoiling in disgust. That's a terrible thing to show a lady. Darcy sent photos like that just to gross me out. "Doctor. It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, lord and creator of the Dalek race."

I poked his shoulder. "Doctor?" I lowered my voice to a hoarse whisper. "Can you turn down your radio?"

Donna glanced at me. "Terra!" She scolded.

"I can feel his feelings, Donna! I'm supposed to read his thoughts, not feel his feelings!" I hissed back. Her eyes widened.

"Have you nothing to say?"

My arms wrapped around one of his. His body shivered, slight and small for even a Time Lord to notice. I squeezed his arm, focusing on things that calmed my own heart. Lilac rested easier when my pulse was slower, and my breathing slowed. If she could ever read my mind, my thoughts should be calm too.

"I can't always control my radio either." I told him. "Donna and I got you, Doc. We won't let you go."

"We're in the TARDIS." Donna agreed. She met my eyes, before looking at the Doctor. "We're safe."

The Doctor finally breathed in. His thoughts focused, aligned, cleared. No longer a cacophony of fear and black. Words formed. And with words, his brain closed from mine. "But you were destroyed. In the very first year of the Time War, at the Gates of Elysium. I saw your command ship fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. I tried to save you."

I lowered my arms. The Doctor quickly reached for my arm, holding it tight.

"But it took one stronger than you. Dalek Caan himself."

His voice came first. The squiggly pale creature came next. "I flew into the wild and fire. I danced and died a thousand times."

"Emergency Temporal Shift took him back into the Time War itself." Davros revealed.

"But that's impossible. The entire War is time locked." The Doctor argued.

"And yet he succeeded." Davros boasted. More Daleks rolled up behind the horrible man. "Oh, it cost him his mind, but imagine. A single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?"

The Doctor grit his teeth, clenching his jaw as the rage grew. "And you made a new race of Daleks."

"I gave myself to them, quite literally. Each one grown from a cell of my own body." Davros opened up his shirt. I grimaced again. "New Daleks. True Daleks. I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now?"

I held his hand again. He squeezed back.

"After all this time, everything we saw, everything we lost, I have only one thing to say to you." He broke out into a smug grin. "Bye!" He used our combined hands to throw up a lever."

The TARDIS tilted again. The computer screen showed the regular computer screen. I smiled in relief. Because Davros wasn't in sight anymore, obviously, and not because the Doctor relaxed his grip.

==MGCB==

"And death is coming. Oh, I can see it. Everlasting death is coming for the most faithful companion."

==MGCB==

The Doctor disappeared from the call. More alarming to Jack, Freddie disappeared after Harriet in a glow of bright red.

"Was it Daleks?" Martha had asked.

"I thought the Network kept us safe." Gwen asked.

"If he's Terra's clone, that makes him a Time Lord. They would've been on alert for that." Jack reasoned.

He hated that he worried more about telling Terra that Martha died, instead of Terra's brother. In Jack's defense, her siblings were bad people. Bad in the same way Jack was, and Terra herself.

When Freddie's camera vanished, and they settled on that idea, Terra's face lit up his screen. Talking or even thinking about Freddie didn't matter.

The team had been checking channels for the Daleks or for the TARDIS. Barely a minute passed of that before the alarms began flaring.

Jack rushed away from Leah's desk. His Vortex manipulator being tied to his wrist.

"Everyone, Dalek saucer heading for the Bay." Owen warned. "They've found us."

"Martha, open that Indigo device." Jack instructed. "Now listen to me. Lift the central panel. There's a string of numbers that keep changing but the fourth number keeps oscillating between two different digits. Tell me what they are."

Martha checked the device. "It's a four and a nine. We could never work out what that was."

Jack quickly typed that onto his screen. "Yeah, that's the teleport base code. And that's all I need, to get this thing working again. Oscillating four and nine. Thank you, Martha Jones." He ended the call.

He sped around the Hub for his favorite coat. He swung it on, fond memories coming back of all his adventures with the Time Lords and this coat.

Chloe handed him a large gun. Jack strapped it on.

"I've got to go." Jack stared up at his team. His words spoke to every member of his team, yet his eyes locked on to Ianto. Ianto walked up to him, meeting his stare. "I've got to find Terra and the Doctor."

Ianto said nothing.

"I'll come back." Jack promised again. "I'm coming back."

"Don't worry about us. Just go." Gwen assured him.

"We'll be fine." Ianto reached up, straightening a lapel on Jack's coat.

Jack looked down at his lips, then his eyes. "You'd better be." Their leader vanished.

Gwen opened her mouth to give new orders. Before she could even take in breath, the Hub shook. Debris falling from above. Robotic voices echoing down.

"Exterminate. Exterminate."

Gwen blanched. "They're here."

==MGCB==

Mr Smith continued to give information. Elle paced the room, as Sarah Jane sat with Luke.

"TARDIS heading for vector seven. Grid reference six six five." Mr Smith reported.

That got Sarah Jane to move. She rushed over for her coat, throwing it on her shoulders. Elle joined her side at the door.

"But there are Daleks out there." Luke argued.

"I know. I'm sorry, but I have got to find the Doctor." Sarah Jane said. She reached for Elle. "Don't move. Don't leave the house. Don't do anything but what Ms Patterson says."

Mr Smith "We will protect the boy, Sarah Jane."

Elle gawked at her friend. "You can't think I'm letting you go alone!"

"Elle. Please. There's no one I trust more than you." Sarah Jane pleaded.

"I'm bad with kids, and comforting people." Elle reminded her friend.

Sarah Jane shot her a look, telling her what she thought of that.

Elle grit her teeth. "I really hate you sometimes, Smith."

"I love you. Remember that." She told them both, before running out the door.

"Give the Doctor a punch for me!" Elle called out.

Sarah Jane shouted back "Do it yourself!"

==MGCB==

Freddie waved off the former prime minister. Harriet disappeared into the halls of the HAVEN.

Freddie grinned, proud of himself.

Pain flared up his back.

He only grit his teeth. "Sis."

The knife twisted. Her voice came from his back. "You brought Harriet Jones here?"

Freddie grunted. "Saving her life. Removing her from the timeline. Ow. That actually hurts."

"Good! It's the only way you or her start paying attention." Gamora threatened. "You weren't supposed to leave!"

"It's Delilah Patterson!" Freddie excused.

"That's still not okay!" Gamora laughed, giggling madly. Freddie worried for her joyful rage. "They saw you. They all fucking saw you!"

"I know!" Freddie hissed.

"You fuckwit!"

"Fuck you too!"

"I said it first!"

"How'd you even know?" Freddie grunted again.

The knife got pulled out. Freddie fell to his knees. Gamora grabbed him, holding him up. He rested his fading weight on her. "Terra gave us our phones too."

She would've given them the same upgrades. They would've appeared, but all were too distant because they stayed in the HAVEN. Freddie left that safety, and was exposed to the Subwave.

==MGCB==

The TARDIS landed. I let go of the Doctor to reach the door first. The Earth was cold when I was out. Planets floated way above our heads. Cars were abandoned on the streets. Purses and bags scattered all over, and corpses too.

The Doctor and Donna came up behind me.

"Why did we miss again?!" I asked the Doctor.

The Doctor scanned the streets. "The navigation's always been off."

I groaned, frustrated.

"Like a ghost town." Donna commented.

"Sarah Jane said they were taking the people. What for?" The Doctor turned to Donna. "Think, Donna. When you met Rose in that parallel world, what did she say?"

Donna gazed away from us to think. "Just, the darkness is coming."

"Anything else?" The Doctor asked.

Donna looked off again. This time, something caught her eye. She smiled. "Why don't you ask her yourself?"

The Doctor and I turned away. Both of us saw the blonde walking down the road, purple jacket backlit by street lights and a great big gun strapped to her.

"ROSE!" I cheered loudly.

She looked at us.

We looked at her.

She looked at us.

And we looked at her.

Then we started to run. The three of us ran as fast as we could. We'd had a universe of distance before, yet now one street felt too far.

Which is why I saw the Dalek first. It aimed the gun at me.

"Exterminate." It shouted.

Hands grabbed my shoulders, spinning me away. He made sure to block as much of my body as he could.

The Dalek shot his back. The Doctor lit up bright blue. His body locked up in pain, sending him to the ground.

I think I screamed. Or maybe Rose did. Then again, the scream did sound like the word 'motherfucker' in Jumba Jookiba's language.

It took more effort to stop running. I moved to his side, checking his body for that specific golden glow.

You fucking idiot

Not for me, never for me

Jack appeared. He shot the Dalek with a rather large ray gun. It obliterated the Dalek.

A pity.

I wanted to do it

"There you go, there you go." I lowered him to the ground. He winced, wheezing through the intense pain.

Rose joined me, kneeling at his other side. "We've got you. It missed you. Look, it's me, Doctor."

The Doctor quickly went in a daze from the pain. "Rose."

Rose giggled, tears welling up. "Hi."

"Terra, it's Rose." The Doctor pointed out, nearly giggling with her.

"Hi Rose. Long time no see." I sniffled, trying to cover it as a giggle.

"Yeah. Been busy, you know." Rose shrugged, nonchalant. "Terra, you've got new hair."

"Thanks, made it myself." I replied.

The Doctor laughed, then wheezed.

"Nope. Nope. Nope." I shook my head. My arms wrapped around him, pulling him to his feet.

"Don't die." Rose stood up. She helped me to my feet, guiding us up. If I could carry him to the TARDIS once, I could do it again. "Oh, my God. Don't die. Oh my god, don't die."

Jack went for his other side. I walked faster. Jack got the message and ran towards the TARDIS. Donna joined too, helping us along. "Get him into the TARDIS, quick. Move."

I did. I never moved faster, even with the weight on my shoulders.

"God I forget how strong she is." Jack commented.

==MGCB==

Chloe handed out another gun. Gwen pulled the strap on her shoulder.

"But they don't work against Daleks." Ianto warned.

"It melted Suzie. It'll do something." Chloe argued. She reached for another gun. Any and all of the ones labeled 'too dangerous' by her niece.

"Yeah? Well, I'm going out fighting. How about you?" Gwen challenged.

"Exterminate."

Chloe held out another gun. Ianto accepted it. "Yes, ma'am."

"Think fangs can tear through that thing?" Owen asked. He let his claws grow from his hands, thick and ferocious. Tosh shuddered.

Chloe kept her gun raised. "Only one way to find out."

Owen grinned.

"Exterminate."

The ceiling caved.

==MGCB==

We hadn't closed the door behind us. I walked in, dragging a semi-conscious Doctor along.

He struggled on the way down. I managed to be gentle, somehow.

"What, what do we do? There must be some medicine or something." Donna pleaded.

I made myself stand. Jack put the large gun on the pilot seat.

"Just step back." Jack ordered. I grabbed Rose, hauling her to feet.

"Rose, we need to step away!" I warned her.

Rose tried to fight back.

"You remember what happened before!" I pleaded.

Donna stood up. She turned her head to me. Her eyes welled up in tears. "What do you mean? He can't-"

Rose cried. "Oh, no. I came all this way."

"What do you mean?" Donna asked. "What happened last before?"

The Doctor sat up. His hand glowed bright gold.

"It's starting."

==MGCB==

Sarah Jane drove off in her car. She considered it a miracle Elle said yes. Sarah Jane had something to kill Davros, she knew she did. Elle would keep Luke safe, even if it meant taking Luke away to Elle's world. Her son would be alive. Sarah Jane might not.

Two Daleks appeared in the street,

Sarah Jane slammed on her brakes.

"All human transport is forbidden." The Dalek shouted.

Sarah Jane held up her hands. "I surrender. I'm sorry!"

"Daleks do not accept apologies. You will be exterminated."

"Exterminate."

"Exterminate!"

==MGCB==

The Doctor stood up. I moved Rose further back. Donna stumbled back to join us.

"It's okay." I told him. "We'll be okay."

Jack nodded. "Here we go. Good luck, Doctor."

"Will someone please tell me what is going on?" Donna snapped.

"Remember when I said I changed, and that's why I'm ginger? Well it's happening to him now!" I told her.

Rose sniffled. "But you can't!"

The Doctor stared at us three, big brown eyes wide. "I'm sorry, it's too late. I'm regenerating."

He glowed, brighter and brighter.

==MGCB==

AN: I bet writing the Harriet Jones segment of the script was the highlight of Moffat's week. Maybe even his whole year. I hate this with all my spirit.

Also I was so caught up in the idea of Terra's angst that I forgot this was a world where Donna forgets the Doctor.

I haven't watched the Regeneration special yet but I can at least say I Am Not Okay. Some of it got spoiled and I'm gonna watch it now but I am not okay.

Check my tumblr for my reactions.

Thanks to TheImpossibleGirl22 and haruhishibuya for favoriting

Thanks to ShanGeek610, domoney246, haruhishibuya, and helloMyNameIsAli for following