God give us grace, each in his place,
To keep from sin and sinning:
Our souls we sell for gifts from Hell,
That are not worth the winning
-0-0-
The moment I showed up in the TARDIS, I knew something was wrong.
I looked around and saw smoke billowing from the console (though there doesn't seem to be a fire) in an empty TARDIS. I felt my way through the smoke, pushing open the TARDIS doors coughing, and yelling into the now empty ship.
"Extrapolator fans, on!"
Surprisingly, a soft whirring began to sound from inside, and I nodded in satisfaction. I turned around to see the tenth Doctor giving me an amused look, and a woman with red hair standing next to him in a wedding dress. Her face pinched together.
"Who the hell is she? Was she in there the entire time?"
I snapped my fingers at Donna Noble, giving her a blinding smile. "Runaway bride?"
"Huh? Oi! I didn't run away, your stupid Martian friend kidnapped me!" Donna yelled, her face turning red.
The Doctor frowned. "I'm not Martian."
"Where did she come from?"
"Oh you know, I've been around," I teased. They both watched as I pushed past them to sit down at the building's ledge, and soon after the Doctor settled down next to me. "So, what have you got? Robot Santa?"
Donna sat down on his other side, giving me a strange look. "Have you really been in there the entire time?"
"Ah, your basic robo-scavenger," The Doctor answered, ignoring her. "The Father Christmas stuff is just a disguise. They're trying to blend in. I met them last Christmas."
"Why, what happened then?" Donna asked. The Doctor turned to her with a raised eyebrow.
"Great big spaceship hovering over London? You didn't notice?"
I snorted, knowing how Donna had a habit of missing the big things in life. "She had a hangover."
Donna reeled back so that she could look at me properly, her face twisted. For a second I thought she might have been offended at me interrupting her, but she just looked confused.
"How did you know that?" She demanded.
"The real question is, what do camouflaged robot mercenaries want with you? And how did you get inside the TARDIS? I don't know. What's your job?" The Doctor asked, once again ignoring her.
"Some evil corporation that are probably going to try and get us killed." The Doctor gave me a bewildered look, but I pushed him back so I could see Donna better. "I know a lot of things I shouldn't, it's a Martian thing. I could explain it, but honestly I don't really understand most of it myself."
Donna continued to stare at me, making me think I probably overshared a little, but the Doctor drew her attention. "Who do you work for?"
"HC Clements," Donna replied slowly, pulling her gaze away from me. "I'm a secretary. I don't know about evil, I mean, it was all a bit posh really. I thought I'd never fit in, but then I met Lance."
Her face softened, and she looked out into the distance as she began to talk about how she and Lance met. It took everything in me not to immediately tell her about who he really was, both because I didn't want to break her heart and also because I knew she would never believe me unless she saw it for herself. The Doctor listened attentively, squinting at me and whatever face I was making.
"When was this?" He asked.
"Six months ago," She replied, still slightly dreamy.
"Bit quick to get married," He pointed out. Donna twitched.
"Well, he insisted. And he nagged, and he nagged me." The Doctor gave me a look but I shook my head. "And he just wore me down. And then finally, I just gave in."
The Doctor nodded, totally unconvinced. "What does HC Clements do?"
"Oh, security systems. You know, entry codes, ID cards, that sort of thing. If you ask me, it's just a posh name for locksmiths."
"Keys," The Doctor hissed, looking over the rooftops as he thought over some things. Donna didn't notice.
"Anyway, enough of my CV. Come on, it's time to face the consequences. Oh, this is going to be so shaming," She looked over at the Doctor, "You can do the explaining, Martian boy."
He sent her a dirty look. "Yeah, I'm not from Mars."
-0-0-
The entire time it took to arrive at the venue, Donna was nervous about how she was going to explain her disappearance, but she turned livid when we finally arrived. Everyone was partying and dancing around as if nothing had happened.
I thought it was weird, how nobody seemed to care if Donna was okay. Even her own mother, who should have been worried sick, only looked surprised and not relieved when Donna walked in. The music stopped and everyone turned to look.
"You had the reception, without me?" She said, a mix of angry and disappointed at her closest family and friends.
"Donna, what happened to you?" Lance asked, suddenly looking worried.
"You had the reception, without me?" Donna repeated herself as if the implications of doing so weren't clear the first time around.
The Doctor looked around uncomfortable, leaning forward to introduce himself with a fake smile. I pulled him back and shook my head.
Not the moment.
Donna turned around to us and raised her hands. "They had the reception without me!"
"Yes, I gathered," The Doctor said, now looking sheepish.
"Well it was all paid for, why not?" Nerys said.
"Yes, thank you Nerys," Donna hissed, looking less than pleased to have found her friend dancing with her soon-to-be husband.
"Well, what were we supposed to do? I got your silly little message in the end. I'm on Earth? Very funny. What the hell happened? How did you do it?" Her mother asked, stepping forward.
All of a sudden everyone converged on her, demanding an explanation and Donna looked around in panic, not knowing what to do. And then she burst into tears. It was like a flip had been switched, and suddenly everyone was backing off and reassuring her. The Doctor looked uncomfortable until Donna turned to give us a wink, and we both smiled at her.
"Clever girl," He whispered to me, pulling me away as the party continued up.
We both found ourselves at the bar and I eyed the tree and the ornaments that it held. I had warned the Doctor before about the fact that the evil Santa's would still find Donna at the party and he assured me that he interrupted the connection before entering, but I was still a little unsure how safe it was. We needed Lance to come with us though, because I know Donna wouldn't believe me if I told her myself.
Seeing is believing, and all that.
The Doctor noticed my gaze. "They're inactive, don't worry."
"Yeah, I know," I nudged his shoulder and gestured towards a man on his phone just across the bar. "I know you're curious, feel free to do some research."
"You could just tell me yourself."
I narrowed my eyes suspiciously. "I could. Should I?"
He smirked and leaned over to ask the man if he could use his phone, typing in 'HC Clements'. He slapped on some fake glasses and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, looking around to make sure nobody was looking when 'H. C. CLEMENTS. Sole Prop. TORCHWOOD' showed up on the screen. With a frown, the Doctor returned the phone to the man he borrowed it from.
"Well, that's not good," He mentioned, leaning back against the bar nonchalantly. I could see the tension in his shoulders, but I didn't mention it.
"Yeah, I figured."
I watched him look out at the crowd in unease, and I found myself reaching out to hold his hand in reassurance. A blonde was being twirled around in the crowd, and as she passed us by, the Doctor pulled his hand away, patting my knee as he stood up.
"Come on," He told me, moving towards the cameraman that was filming the party. He stepped up confidently, saying something to the man as I approached.
"Oh, I taped the whole thing. They've all had a look." The cameraman turned the camera over and showed us the film. "They said sell it to You've Been Framed. I said, 'more like the News'."
On film, Donna was engulfed in a bright light as she literally evaporated in front of everyone, and I narrowed my eyes at the way she glowed a familiar golden color. The Doctor leaned in, shaking his head slightly.
"Can't be. Play it again?"
The cameraman obliged. "Clever, mind. Good trick, I'll give her that. I was clapping."
"Is it just me, or does that look kind of like what happens with me?" I whispered to the Doctor, but he just shook his head.
"That looks like Huon Particles," He told me, ignoring the camera man as he pulled me to the side. "You were right, that wouldn't be affected by the bio damper."
"Good thing I told you about the ornament bombs, huh?"
He grabbed my hand and began pulling me across the room. "Still, we should get going. I want to check out HC Clements, this is where it all started. Donna!"
We reached the red head and interrupted her dance, and at the serious look on our faces her smile dropped.
"Oh no, what happened?"
"Nothing happened," I assured her, just as a window at the other end of the room exploded.
We ducked as glass sprinkled the ground, and I jerked my head up to see the evil Santa's closing in on the reception, gun shaped weapons in their hands. People were screaming and running towards the exits.
"The Santa's. We have to stop them," I yell over the noise, pointing out the sound system to the Doctor. He nods, pulling me towards Donna and telling us both to get down just as another window explodes.
It took less than a minute for the Doctor to jam his sonic screwdriver into the speakers, a loud screeching noise filling the room and causing everybody to cover their ears in pain. The robots, who had entered the building, began to malfunction and spark before they hit the ground with a loud crash. For a second, everything is eerily quiet except the ringing in my ears.
The Doctor held up the machinery he found in the robot. "Look at that! Remote control from the decorations, but there's a second remote for the robots."
Donna shook her head at him, pointing out a man who had scratches along his arm. "Never mind all that, you're a Doctor. People have been hurt."
"Not enough time. There's still a signal," The Doctor brushed off.
He took off running, and after a moment of hesitation Donna followed. It took a lot longer for me to make my way through the glass covered floors and outside, where most of the people stood around still panicking and wondering what was going on.
I looked away from the mess and where the Doctor was sonicing the machinery, looking up at the sky. He glanced back at us. "Donna! Chloe! I've lost the signal, and we've got to get to HC Clements. I think that's where it all started. Lance! Is it Lance? Lance, can you give me a lift?"
He gestured for all of us to follow him again, and I hesitated. Even though nobody had been seriously injured, somebody had still called an ambulance and I was sure the police were on their way. The Doctor was right about there being more important things to worry about, but it still felt wrong to just leave everyone when this mess was our fault to begin with.
No, not our fault. My fault.
Even so, Donna was in more danger right now than anyone else at the venue and the least I could do was try to help her. She was going to need support after finding out about Lance. Reluctantly, I followed.
-0-0-
The moment we arrived in front of HC Clements, the Doctor took off running. Lance and Donna followed quickly behind him, but I took my time, my foot still aching. I arrived just as the Doctor was explaining the Huon particles to Donna.
"I'm a pencil inside a mug?"
"Yes, you are," The Doctor said, spinning the mug around. "4H. Sums you up. Lance? What was HC Clements working on? Anything top secret? Special operations? Do not enter?"
"I don't know. I'm in charge of personnel, I wasn't project manager. Why am I even explaining myself? What the hell are we talking about?"
"They make keys, that's the point. And look at this," He said, pulling up the schematics of the building. He got up when he noticed the extra floor and led us all to the lifts, grabbing my hand as he passed.
I blinked at him in surprise, and then at Donna who gave me a wink. The Doctor pressed the button to the lift, pulling me in with him as the doors opened.
"Underneath reception, there's a basement, yes?" He pointed to the buttons. "Then how come when you look on the lift, there's a button marked lower basement? There's a whole floor which doesn't exist on the official plans. So, what's down there?"
"Are you telling me that this building's got a secret floor?" Lance asked. The Doctor shook his head.
"No, I'm showing you this building's got a secret floor," he stated as if it was obvious.
"It needs a key," Donna pointed out. The Doctor soniced the button.
"I don't." The button clicked, and he put the sonic screwdriver back into his pocket. "Well then, thanks you two."
Donna pushed her way into the elevator with a scoff. "No chance, Martian. You're the man who keeps saving my life. I ain't letting you out of my sight"
"Going down," The Doctor said, shooting me an amused look.
Donna motioned for her fiancé to get in. "Lance, come on."
"Maybe I should go to the police?" He said, motioning back to the exit. Donna frowned.
"Inside!"
He obeyed reluctantly, sulking against the wall of the lift as the doors closed.
"To honor and obey," The Doctor muttered.
Lance shook his head. "Tell me about it, mate."
"Oi!"
The ride down was mostly filled with awkward silence, although I did catch Donna trying to tell me something as her eyes widened and then narrowed dramatically. I had no idea what that was about. The lift doors opened into a dimly lit, slightly green, underground tunnel. Donna and the Doctor looked around curiously, Lance following behind with a bit more abrasion.
"Where are we? Well, what goes on down here?" Donna asked.
"Let's find out," The Doctor pushed past her, turning down one corridor.
"Do you think Mister Clements knows about this place?"
"The mysterious HC Clements? I think he's part of it," The Doctor replied, looking back around and spotting something. "Oh, look. Transport."
There were only three scooters, and at first, Donna wanted to ride with Lance only to discover that her dress doesn't give much room for anybody else. The Doctor and Lance both grabbed the other two, so I jumped onto the one the Doctor was using so I wouldn't be stuck with Lance.
We took off down the corridor, and everyone was quiet and serious until Donna started laughing. The Doctor sent her an amused look, laughing himself after a few seconds. Lance just stared at them like they were crazy. I spent most of the ride with my face resting against the Doctor's back, the constant adrenaline and lack of sleep starting to catch up with me.
The group finally stopped next to a bulkhead door, where the Doctor jumped off and opened it up to reveal a ladder. He grabbed the metal bars and began to climb.
"Wait here, just need to get my bearings," He said. I reached out to grab his jacket to stop him.
"We're under the Thames flood barrier," I told him. He blinked, then raised his eyebrows.
Donna frowned. "What, like there's a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?"
The Doctor looked on in amusement, jumping down from the ladder. "Oh, I know. Unheard of."
He continued down the corridor, over to another door that thankfully didn't have a ladder behind it. Instead, we found ourselves walking into a lab. It was full of machines that I didn't recognize. The Doctor looked around in awe.
"Ooh, look at this. Stunning!"
Donna followed, confused. "What does it do?"
"Particle extrusion. Hold on," The Doctor said, walking over to a particularly large tube, continuing excitedly, "Brilliant! They've been manufacturing Huon particles. Course, my people got rid of Huons. They unravel the atomic structure."
"Your people?" Lance asked, "Who are they? What company do you represent?"
My lips twitched at the thought of the Doctor working for someone else. He'd be horrible in an office (then again, he did pretty well at Craig's job). The Doctor seemed to have the same line of thought because he grimaced.
"Oh, we're freelancer," He said, giving me a look, "But this lot are rebuilding them. They've been using the river. Extruding them through a flat hydrogen base so they've got the end result."
"Huon particles in liquid form," I said, tapping one of the tubes. The Doctor nodded, but Donna looked horrified.
"That's what's inside of me?" She asked. The Doctor confirmed it by twisting the top of a container he grabbed from one of the tubes.
She began to glow.
"Oh, my God!" Donna exclaimed. The Doctor turned the knob again to turn her back to normal. "Genius. Because the particles are inert, they need something living to catalyze inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then. Ha!"
I rolled my eyes as he began to ramble, Donna getting more annoyed as he continued. She finally had enough, slapping him across the face to get him to stop. He turned to her, holding his cheek, confused.
"What did I do this time?" He asked.
"Are you enjoying this?!" He had the decency to look ashamed. "Right, just tell me. These particles … are they dangerous? Am I safe?"
"Yes," He said.
"No," I told her, and she turned to me in panic. The Doctor sent me a look. "Oh, yeah. If we lie to her she'll be fine."
It hit me at the same moment the Doctor smiled at me that I had just unknowingly quoted a line from his future self. Or at least, what he would have said if I hadn't saved Amy.
Donna continued to panic. "What's going to happen to me?" She asked, looking at Lance for support. He just shrugged.
The Doctor grabbed her shoulder, making her face him again. "I'll sort it out, Donna. Whatever's been done to you, I'll reverse it. I am not about to lose someone else."
"Oh, she is long since lost," A voice hissed over the intercom, making everyone stop to look around.
The wall next to us began to rise, revealing the hole that descended into the earth. I grimaced, imagining all the baby spiders crawling out of there.
"I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!" She continued, and Lance turned to run away.
Robots on scaffolds and walkways along the walls turned to point guns at us, but the Doctor seemed a lot more attracted to the giant hole in the floor.
"Someone's been digging," he mused, getting a closer look, "Oh, very Torchwood. Drilled by laser. How far down does it go?"
"Down and down, all the way to the center of the Earth!"
"Really?" He asked, looking around in confusion. "Seriously? What for?"
"Dinosaurs!" Donna said, stepping forward. She looked so convinced, I had to stifle a laugh.
"More like spiders," I corrected, keeping away from the hole. The two turned to look at me in confusion.
"Spiders?" The Doctor asked. Donna shivered.
"Oh, that's …" She couldn't continue her thought, shaking off imaginary spiders. I nodded sympathetically.
The Doctor frowned, "Spiders? In the center of the Earth? Well, then again, better than dinosaurs."
Donna hit his arm. "Oi!"
"Such a sweet couple," The voice continued. The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, you don't want to make me mad. Where are you?" He asked. I pointed upwards, and he nodded in understanding.
"High in the sky. Floating so high on Christmas night."
"I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom. Come on, let's have a look at you!" He yelled at the ceiling. It was then that he noticed the web, and the Doctor grimaced.
"Who are you with such command?" The spider lady asked.
The Doctor was much more serious now, as he shoved his hands into his pockets. "I'm the Doctor."
"Prepare your best medicines, doctor man, for you will be sick at heart."
Donna jumped backward at the sight of the giant spider as she teleported in, and the Doctor looked at me in understanding. The Spider lady was red and fanged, eight eyes resting on her huge scaly face.
"Racnoss," The Doctor said, looking back at the spider lady in confusion, "But that's impossible. You're one of the Racnoss?"
"Empress of the Racnoss," The Empress corrected.
"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss?" something in his head clicked. "Or are you the only one?"
"Such a sharp mind," She hissed.
Donna turned to the Doctor in confusion, and he began to explain that the Racnoss came from billions of years ago, and how they used to eat entire planets. I shivered to think of a spider big enough to eat planets, and suddenly decided my fear of spiders wasn't such a stupid fear anymore.
"They eat people?" Donna asked, horrified. The Doctor grimaced.
"HC Clements, did he wear those … those er, black and white shoes?"
Donna nodded with a laugh, "Oh yeah, we'd laugh. We'd call him the fat cat in spats."
The Doctor pointed out the shoes we had noticed earlier to her, and she gasped.
"Oh, my God!"
"Mmmm, my Christmas dinner," The empress cackled. I wrinkled my nose, hoping I could get away from the giant spider as quickly as possible.
"You shouldn't even exist," The Doctor said, "Way back in history, the fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss. They were wiped out."
"Except for me," The Empress pointed out. Lance made his way onto the balcony, and Donna grabbed the empress' attention quickly.
"But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing," She said. The Empress began to turn, so Donna shouted, "Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking. Where do I fit in? How come I get all stacked up with these Huon particles? Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me."
I glared at Lance as he snuck up on the Empress, who just cackled at Donna's words.
"The Bride is so feisty," The Empress hissed.
"Yes, I am!" Donna shot back, "And I don't know what you are, your big thing, but a spider's just a spider and an ax is an ax!"
The Lance had gotten close enough by this point to raise his ax. Donna urged him on, but he only paused halfway. The Empress turned and hissed, and Lance started to laugh. When the Empress joined in, Donna could only stare at them in confusion.
"That was a good one. Your face," Lance joked.
"Lance is funny," The Empress said. Donna blinked.
"What?"
The Doctor, who already figured it out by now, turned to her with a serious face. "I'm sorry."
"Sorry for what?" Donna turned to the pair on the balcony. "Lance, don't be stupid! Get her!"
"God she's thick," Lance began, but I cut him off.
"And you're an asshole!" I yelled.
"I don't understand."
"How did you meet him?" The Doctor asked softly, face sympathetic.
Donna frowned, not yet getting it. "In the office."
"He made you coffee, Donna," I pointed out, and placed a comforting hand on her arm, "The Huon particles had to be introduced in liquid form for a while, and he did it by putting it in your coffee."
"He was poisoning me," Donna realized.
The Doctor scowled. "It was all there in the job title. Head of Human Resources."
"This time, its personnel," Lance joked, but only the Empress laughed (hissed? It all sounded the same).
Donna shook her head. "But we were getting married?"
"Well, I couldn't risk you running off," Lance explained, scoffing, "And I was stuck with a woman who thinks the most exciting thing is a new flavored Pringle! I had to sit there and listen to you yap on, and on. Oh, Brad and Angelina. Is Posh pregnant?"
Donna looked down in shame, and I quickly wrapped my arms around her.
"X-Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me," he continued, "Dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia. I deserve a medal."
"Is that what she's offered you? The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you, her consort?" The Doctor asked.
"It's better than a night with her," he shot back.
Donna blinked back tears. "But I love you."
"That's what made it easy."
I rolled my eyes and took a step back away from Donna, making my way around to the Doctor's side. "You know, I've had enough of this shit. All you've done is bring her down, but Donna is ten times more important than you could ever hope to be."
The Doctor looked down in confusion as I reached into his pockets. I handed him the bottle of particles he had grabbed before, and his eyes lit up in understanding.
"Donna's the most important woman in the universe," I finished nonchalantly, and the Empress frowned when she spotted the bottle.
"What are you doing?" She growled.
I grinned, turning back to the doctor with a raised brow. "You want to explain it or should I?"
He winked.
"You see, if you really think about it, the particles in here," he gestured to the bottle, "activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So reverse it, and the spaceship comes to her."
The Empress suddenly realized what we were doing too late, ordering her robots to shoot just as the TARDIS materialized around us. The Doctor was quick to run off to the console while Donna looked around bewildered.
"Oh, do you know what I said before, about time machines? Well, I lied. And now, we're going to use it," The Doctor said, not noticing how Donna sat down pitifully and tried to hold back her tears. "We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet's core, it must've been there- What?"
I gave him a look, sitting down next to Donna. He finally noticed that she wasn't in the best of moods, and went quiet.
"Are you okay?" He asked. I shook my head.
"Of course she's not okay, she just found out her fiancé has been lying to her. He betrayed her. She needs a minute," I told him, wiping away tears from Donna's cheeks.
She sobbed into my shirt as the Doctor finished taking us to wherever he needed to go. He looked uncomfortable and fiddled with some controls as Donna wiped away her tears.
"We've arrived," He pointed out, watching us from around the console. "Want to see?"
"I suppose," Donna said, giving a little sniffle.
I smiled encouragingly as she stood up, and led her over to the screen the Doctor presented. He wrinkled his nose at the quality, deciding it wasn't good enough.
"Yeah, no. Bit small. Maybe your way's best," He said, turning off the screen before we could see.
The Doctor walked over to the doors of the TARDIS, pausing next to them. Donna stared back with sad eyes.
"Come on," he encouraged, "No human's ever seen this. You two will be the first."
Donna walked over a bit reluctantly. "The only thing I want to see is my bed."
I followed a bit behind, realizing there wasn't exactly much room for two people at the doors. The Doctor seemed to read my mind, moving away so that I could stand in front of the doors. He reached over my head (which wasn't a hard feat for him) and pushed the doors open.
And for the second time since meeting the Doctor, I was left in awe.
"Donna Noble, Chloe, welcome to the creation of the Earth."
It wasn't as color popping as you would think, with the colors muted and dull in comparison to what you would see in photos (The Doctor would later explain that it has something to do with human eyes and their capabilities of seeing different wavelengths). But even taking that into account didn't make the sight any less breathtaking.
No words could describe what I felt in that moment, and suddenly traveling the universe didn't seem like such a curse.
Donna looked out in wonder.
"We've gone back four point six billion years. There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas. That's the Sun, over there," The Doctor pointed out, "Brand new. Just beginning to burn."
"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked.
"All around us, in the dust," The Doctor pointed out.
"Hasn't formed yet," I added. Donna looked at us with wide eyes.
"Puts the wedding in perspective," She said, looking down with a frown, "We're just, tiny."
"No, but that's what you do," The Doctor reassured, "The human race makes sense of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars."
He looked out at space with a smile on his face. "The process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."
"So I came out of all this?"
"Donna Noble, you are literally made out of stardust," I told her, giving her a nudge. "All the possibilities of atoms, people you could've been, and the world made you. You are ..."
"Brilliant," The Doctor finished, shooting me a smile.
A relatively larger rock than the others drifted past the doors, and Donna pointed it out with a laugh. "I think that's the Isle of Wight."
The Doctor laughed, and even though I had no idea what the Isle of Wight is, I laughed too. The Doctor settled down enough to begin to explain the process of the creation of the earth.
"Eventually, gravity takes hold. Say, one big rock, heavier than the others. It starts to pull rocks, dust, and gas, everything piling in until you get-"
"The Earth," Donna interrupted. The Doctor nodded.
"Yes. But the question is, what was that first rock?" He wondered.
I pointed out the Racnoss ship coming out of the dust. "The Racnoss. They became the center of the Earth."
And the Doctor's eyes widened as he suddenly realized why they had drilled the hole. "Oh, now that's-"
He never finished his sentence as the TARDIS began to shake violently, and the scene before us began to disappear. Donna looked around with wide eyes.
"What was that?"
"Trouble," The Doctor replied, shutting the doors closed. He quickly ran to the console and tried to keep us from getting pulled back, but wasn't very successful.
Donna and I held on tightly as he was thrown to the ground. "What the hell's it doing?"
"Remember that little trick of mine, particles pulling particles?" Donna nodded. "Well, it works in reverse. They're pulling us back"
"Well, can't stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake?" Donna shouted in panic.
"No, it doesn't. But it does have an extrapolator," I said, giving the Doctor a pointed look. He looked up in realization.
"Oh, of course!" He yelled, pulling it out from under the console. "It can't stop us, but it should give us a good bump!"
He tilted his head as the TARDIS began to land, suddenly banging a giant mallet against the board with a shout. The TARDIS jolted one last time before landing, but the Doctor was already running out when it did.
"We're about two hundred yards to the right," He said, reaching out to grab my hand.. "Come on!"
"Oh, hate the running," I said, trying not to fall. The Doctor rolled his eyes, but slowed down nonetheless.
Donna caught up in a panic. "But what do we do?"
"I don't know," The Doctor said, "I make it up as I go along. But trust me, I've got a history."
"Yeah, he really does," I confirmed.
We stopped next to a large door with the Torchwood insignia on it, and the Doctor pulled out a stethoscope and started to listen to the other side. Donna glanced at me.
"But why am I full of particles? What's that for?"
"How am I supposed to know?" I said.
Donna made a frustrated noise, throwing her hands into the air. "You're the one who knows everything!"
"There's a Racnoss web at the center of the Earth," The Doctor interrupted, glancing back at us, "but my people unraveled their power source. The Huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss were stuck. They've just taken hibernation for billions of years. Frozen, dead, kaput. So you're the new key-"
I jerked as a hand (robo hands) suddenly clamped over my mouth, an arm pulling me back and away from the Doctor. I struggled to get away, but unfortunately, the metal is too strong to pull away and doesn't seem to have a weak spot like human flesh does. I'm thrown into the lab just in time to watch Donna (using some very colorful language) get pulled up onto the ceiling next to Lance.
"Donna!" I shouted, and she turned to me in relief.
"Ah, the mystery woman has arrived," The Empress hisses, and I looked up at her in confusion.
"No offense, but what the hell do you need me for? You have Donna," I said, nodding up to the bride in question. Once she's secured to the top, she begins to glare at Lance.
"My wonderful key has a counterpart," The Empress said, pointing a hand (leg?) towards me. "An energy so strong within. When the time comes, you shall make a great meal to the children."
I shuddered to think what would happen if I came face to face with those things. My stomach rolled as suddenly I was placed in the middle of danger, and I felt sick. It was terrible, not knowing.
Not knowing what could happen to me.
I was terrified.
"Leave her alone, you have me!" Donna yelled down, giving me a worried look. She should be a lot more worried for herself.
The Empress cackled. "Indeed I do. My golden couple, together at last. Your awful wedded life. Tell me, do you want to be released?"
"Yes!" They shout together. I grimaced.
Be careful what you wish for.
"You're supposed to say, I do," The Empress grumbled.
"Huh, No chance," Lane grumbled. Donna gave him a look, which he turned away to ignore. The Empress glared.
"Say it!" She ordered. Lance turned back to Donna reluctantly.
"I do," He spat out. Donna repeated the sentiment, and the Empress cackled.
"I don't. Activate the particles. Purge every last one." She said.
Lance and Donna began to glow, and when the Empress ordered for the release they shot down into the hole like dust falling from a crack in the wall.
And unexpectedly, I felt a pull in my chest and bent over in surprise. For a second I thought that maybe I would get pulled to another point in the Doctor's timeline, but the warmth turned to burning and I knew something was wrong.
"Chloe!"
The arms holding me suddenly dropped, and I almost fell to the floor before I pulled myself together, looking up. The Empress was busy celebrating the revival of her children, making it easy for me to climb my way up to where the Doctor stood on a balcony waving me over.
"My babies will be hungry. They need sustenance," The Empress gushed, only to hiss violently when she realized I was gone. "What is this treachery?"
She turned on her spot and hissed when she spotted me. The Doctor dropped his hood with a grin, giving me a cheeky wink as I joined him on the balcony.
"Clever little Doctor Man," The Empress hissed, and the Doctor narrowed his eyes.
"Yeah, funny how this works," he said, holding up his sonic screwdriver. "Good for many things. Donna, I've got you!"
He then pointed his screwdriver at the web, and the Empress waved her arms at the robots.
"Perish the web!" She howled, and Donna panicked.
"I'm going to fall!"
"You're going to swing! I've got you!" The Doctor corrected, and she let out a scream as she started to swing. The Doctor held out his arms to catch her, but he miscalculated by just a bit.
Donna hit the wall underneath us at the same time that Lance began to slip.
"No! No, no, no!" Lance yelled, and the Doctor turned to him in surprise.
"Oh, that's not good," he said, pointing his sonic screwdriver at Lance. He was too late, and Lance fell with a scream.
I turned away in horror, and Donna gasped from below. The Doctor slowly lowered his sonic screwdriver, eyes filled with regret. Lance wasn't a good person, but that doesn't mean he deserved to die. I reached out to hold his hand as the Empress cackled.
"The Doctor Man amuses me. You have only saved your friends to die painful deaths," She said, looking out to a robot. "Harvest the humans! Reduce them to meat."
"Doctor," I whispered, thinking about all the people who were being attacked. The Doctor's gaze turned harsh and he addressed the Empress firmly.
"Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you and your children a place in the universe to coexist. Take that offer and end this now," he said.
The Empress didn't seem frightened. "These men are so funny."
"What's your answer?" He pressed.
"Oh, I'm afraid I have to decline."
The Doctor tightened his hold on my hand, giving one firm squeeze before he let go and stuck his hands into his pockets. Donna looked okay, although a bit shaken up from Lance's death.
"What happens next is your own doing," He said. The Empress narrowed her eyes.
"I'll show you what happens next. At arms!" The Robots around us moved to point their guns at us. "Take Aim! And-"
"Relax," The Doctor breathed out calmly.
Donna blinked, looking at me in confusion. "What happened? What'd he do?"
"Pockets," I said, and she tilted her head. The Doctor looked down at her.
"Guess what I've got, Donna?" He pulled the control out of his pocket, and Donna suddenly looked at me in understanding.
"Pockets," She breathed out with a laugh. But then she frowned. "How did that fit in there?"
"Bigger on the inside," he stated, but his face is still stone cold.
I realized that the Doctor wasn't joking around as he normally would and that he was still serious. I felt the need to grab his hand again, but at the same time, I felt that maybe he needed his space.
I took a step backward.
"Roboforms are not necessary. My children may feast on Martian flesh," The Empress dismissed, still not looking worried.
"Oh, but I'm not for Mars," The Doctor corrected. The Empress looked confused.
"Then where?"
"My home planet is far away and long since gone. But its name lives on," he said, sounding haunted. "Gallifrey."
The Empress recoiled in horror, hissing pitifully. "They murdered the Racnoss!"
"I warned you. You did this," The Doctor said, pulling out the unused ornament bombs from the party.
I turned away as he threw them into the air, exploding them in various places. Water began to flood the place, and I could hear the screams of the spider children. The Empress screamed and cried for her lost children and Donna could only watch in horror.
"Doctor!" he turned down to look at her, and suddenly he seemed to really notice what was going on.
He was quick to move into action.
"Come on," He yelled, holding out a hand to Donna that she's quick to grab onto. "It's time I got you two out of here."
The Doctor grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs, guiding Donna over to the ladder that would lead us out of the lab and away from the water slowly filling the room up. The fires were being put out, but the feeling in my chest didn't go away.
Even when we reached the surface, the sound of screaming was still ringing in my ears.
-0-0-
Dropping Donna off at her home and having to say goodbye even as she was still mourning was one of the hardest moments of the entire adventure, but the silence that followed when it was just me and the Doctor in the TARDIS was pretty close.
He leaned against one of the railing and watched me. "Are you okay?"
"Are you?" I asked back, reaching over to brush back his hair. "I mean, back there-"
"I'm fine," He assured me.
He didn't look fine. But he also didn't look like he wanted to talk about it, so I didn't push. Instead I slumped onto the railings next to him as a wave of exhaustion rolled over me.
I rested my head against his shoulder. "You know, it's been a while since I've gotten to sleep. What do you say we both get some rest?" The Doctor was silent for a moment, and I turned to him with a frown. "Doctor?"
He shook his head. "Nothing, it's nothing."
"You sure?"
"Yeah," He gave me a forced smile. "Can't talk to you about your future."
He pulled away, and I watched as he reached over to press his hands against a bundle of fabric. I bit my lip, understanding immediately what he was talking about. I stepped closer.
"This is about what happened with Rose, isn't it."
"Like I said, your future." He murmured, giving me a warning look. "We can't talk about it."
"Why not?"
If he was acting this way, it probably meant that I had somehow failed to keep Rose from getting trapped. But maybe if he told me what went wrong, I could change it. I still had a chance to fix things.
He pointed a finger at me. "Stop that. You know I can't tell you about your future anymore that you can tell me mine. It's dangerous."
I sighed loudly. "Time travel is so stupid."
"Go to bed, Chloe," He said softly, giving me a more genuine smile this time.
Being a little dramatic about it, I made a show of pushing myself away from the console and walking slowly over to the hallways, pausing halfway to glance back at him with a tired smile. "Goodnight Doctor."
He wasn't looking at me when he replied. I walked away a little disappointed.
Time travel really did suck.
-0-0-
False smiles that lure but to betray,
False gold some demon flashes,
False hopes that lead from Heaven astray,
False fruit that turns to ashes
- Moral by Lady Jane Wilde