Martha's voice suddenly sounded through the vault. "All of you, stop it! You, Davros!" she said as she lifted the Osterhagen Key into view once again. "It's the Crucible or the Earth."
Davros merely looked across there room to one of the Daleks standing by a console. At the sudden look, the Dalek exclaimed, "TRANS-MAT EN-GAGED!"
"No!" Martha screamed as she was suddenly teleported away from wherever she had previously been on Earth.
On the other screen, Jack, Mickey, Sarah, and Jackie all disappeared as well and the warp star fell to the ground. Seconds later, all five of my friends appeared inside the vault. Martha stumbled and fell to her knees, and Jack immediately ran to her side to help her up. The others had fallen as well and were struggling to their feet, Sarah having the most difficult time since she had fallen a little harder than the others. I instinctively lunged forward to try and help her, but the barrier around me pushed me back before I had moved more than a few inches.
"Don't move, all of you!" the Doctor ordered. "Stay still!"
"Sarah!" I exclaimed. "Jack, all of you. Are you okay? Is everyone okay?"
"Silence!" Davros ordered as he advanced on the group. "On your knees, all of you! Surrender!"
"Do as he says," the Doctor instructed. "Don't fight him. Just do as he says."
Slowly and begrudgingly, each of my friends lowered themselves to their knees and placed their hands behind their heads. Jackie was first, kneeling beside her daughter as Sarah and Martha followed her example. Jack and Mickey were the last ones to go to their knees in surrender, although the expressions on their faces told me that they'd be ambushing each and every Dalek in the vault if they could.
Davros began laughing again, a proud and pleased smile on his face as he turned back to the Doctor. "The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor, the Wolf, and their children, all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek, the time has come. Now, detonate the Reality bomb!"
The two screens that hung overhead were still there, except one was void of anything except black and white static while the other showed an image of the red Dalek. "AC-TI-VATE PLAN-ET-ARY A-LIGN-MENT FIELD! U-NI-VER-SAL RE-AL-I-TY DE-TON-A-TION IN TWO HUN-DRED RELS!" it ordered.
"You can't!" the Doctor shouted. "Davros, listen to me! Stop, just stop!"
Davros laughed maniacally as he shook his head. "Nothing can stop the detonation. Nothing and no one!"
All of a sudden, the beautiful sound of the TARDIS materializing began to echo throughout the vault. Across the room the ship began to materialize, making everyone both Dalek and human alike turn towards it.
The Doctor's mouth fell open. "But that's-."
"Impossible," Davros said in astonishment.
As soon as the ship finished materializing, the doors opened and another Doctor appeared in the open doorway. He stood there for a minute as the bright light from inside the TARDIS faded, allowing me to see him better, until he suddenly burst out of the ship. The other Doctor ran from the TARDIS towards Davros, some sort of device clutched in his hands and aimed at the Dalek creator.
"No, don't!" the Doctor shouted to his counterpart.
Davros lifted his hand and pointed at the metacrisis Doctor, a bolt of electricity firing from his finger and hitting the Doctor right in the middle of the chest. I cried out and tried to run to his side, but the barrier around me pushed me back once more and left me completely unable to help. The other Doctor stumbled back a few steps before he finally fell to the floor, the device falling out of his hands.
"Activate holding cell!" Davros ordered.
The other Doctor was immediately surrounded by a beam of light identical to the ones Rose, myself, and the Doctor were trapped by. Just then, Donna and Naya stepped out of the TARDIS. Naya bolted across the room and skidded to a halt seconds later as she bent over to pick up the device the metacrisis Doctor had dropped. She looked over it for a second and then suddenly aimed it at Davros, who raised his hand again to shoot her with electricity.
"Naya, no!" I screamed.
Donna suddenly ran up behind Naya and pushed my daughter to the side and out of the way of Davros' energy blast. As a result, she was hit in the chest with the electricity and her body was thrown through the air from the force of the blast.
"Donna!" Naya and I shouted in unison.
Donna had been thrown back against some kind of console near the TARDIS and seemed to be unconscious. Naya had dropped the device after Donna pushed her aside and, after looking worriedly at Donna for a moment, she suddenly picked the device back up and aimed it at Davros. Davros, however, wasn't phased by her threat and pointed his hand at the Doctor instead.
"Choose wisely, girl. Lower your weapon or the Time Lord dies."
"You wouldn't," Naya said.
"Drop your weapon or your father dies! Drop it!"
Naya looked at the Doctor and her eyes asked a silent question. We all knew that if she did nothing the entire universe would be destroyed, but Naya didn't seem able to let the Doctor be killed because of her. A moment later, she dropped the device and stepped back.
"Naya, no!" the Doctor shouted.
"Destroy the weapon," Davros ordered. A Dalek standing beside him immediately followed the order and Davros looked to the Doctor afterwards with a smile. "I was wrong about your warriors, Doctor. They are pathetic."
"Wait a minute, Doctor," Rose interjected, "how come there are two of you?"
The Doctor looked to his counterpart. "Human biological metacrisis," he said. "But it doesn't matter. We've got no way of stopping the reality bomb now."
"DE-TON-A-TION IN TWEN-TY RELS!" one of the Daleks shouted.
"Stand witness, Time Lord," Davros said as he pushed a button on his console, making one of the screens flare to life with an image of the planets all glowing. "Stand witness, humans. Your strategies have failed, your weapons are useless, and- Oh. The end of the universe has come."
"NINE, EIGHT, SE-VEN, SIX, FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, ONE!"
However, when the countdown finished, an alarm began to sound in the vault and the screen vanished.
"Mmm, closing all Z-neutrino relay loops using an internalized synchronous back-feed reversal loop," Donna said from her spot behind the console, a grin on her face. Everyone turned to her in surprise while she just smiled. She pointed to a spot on the console and laughed. "That button there."
"SYS-TEM IN SHUT-DOWN!" one Dalek exclaimed.
"DE-TON-A-TION NEG-A-TIVE," another said.
"EX-PLAIN! EX-PLAIN! EX-PLAIN!"
"Donna, you can't even change a plug," the Doctor said in surprise.
Donna grinned. "Do you want to bet, Time Boy?"
"You will suffer for this!" Davros exclaimed, raising his hand to electrocute Donna again.
Immediately, Donna flipped a lever on the console and the electricity in Davros' hand short circuited and electrocuted himself instead. "Oh, bio-electric dampening field with a retrograde field arc inversion," Donna explained casually.
"Exterminate her!" Davros ordered to the other Daleks.
"No!" Naya exclaimed. "Donna, run!"
Donna's hands were flying across the console as a group of Daleks closed in on her, shouting their battlecry. The Daleks suddenly stopped and fell silent as Donna flipped her hair over her shoulder with a flourish.
"WEA-PONS NON-FUNC-TION-AL!"
Donna smirked. "Macrotransmission of a K-filter wavelength blocking Dalek weaponry in a self-replicating energy blindfold matrix," she said quickly as she winked at me.
The Doctor shook his head in confusion. "How did you work that out?"
"She's part Time Lord," the metacrisis Doctor said.
"Part human," Donna finished. "Oh, yes. That was a two-way biological metacrisis. Half Doctor, half Donna."
"Just like the Ood said," the Doctor breathed in realization. "They saw it coming. The Doctor Donna."
"Holding cells deactivated," Donna announced as she continued working at the console. The light barriers around the Doctor, Rose, myself, and the new Doctor all dropped. "And… seal the Vault!"
The two Doctors were frozen, staring open mouthed at Donna as she worked the controls. Donna looked up and raised her eyebrows expectantly at the two Time Lords. "Well, don't just stand there, you skinny boys in suits. Get to work!"
"Stop them!" Davros cried as the two Doctors ran over to the console. "Get them away from the controls!"
"And spin," Donna said as she flipped another switch that made the Daleks all start turning in place. Jack, who had come up behind me after the barrier dropped and put an arm around my shoulders, was laughing. Donna smirked and flipped the same switch again. "And the other way."
"What did you do?" the other Doctor asked.
Donna smirked and raised her eyebrow at the Time Lord as she explained what she had done. "Trip switch circuit-breaker in the psychokinetic threshold manipulator," she said.
The other Doctor grinned. "But that's brilliant!"
"Why did we never think of that?" the Doctor asked.
"Because you two were just Time Lords, you dumbos!" Donna laughed. "Lacking that little bit of human. That gut instinct that comes hand in hand with Planet Earth. I can think of ideas you two couldn't dream of in a million years. Oh, the universe has been waiting for me."
Naya wandered over to the console then, staring in wonder at Donna as the red haired woman spoke excitedly. She stood in between the two Doctors and watched with a smile as Donna kept on talking, still excited and grinning wildly.
"Now, let's send that trip switch all over the ship." Donna smiled and pointed proudly at herself. "Did I ever tell you, best temp in Chiswick? Hundred words per minute," she said with a wiggle of her fingers.
"Oh, Donna Noble, you are fantastic!" the other Doctor exclaimed.
Jack suddenly patted my shoulder, drawing my attention away from the Doctors, Donna, and Naya. "You, with me," he said.
"What?"
"TARDIS!" he urged.
Jack turned and started running towards the ship and I immediately followed after him. He pushed the doors open and rushed over to the console just as I stepped in. He had picked up two of the three guns that had been left behind when we were forced to leave the ship.
"Grab one and come on!" he shouted before bolting past me.
I ran over to the console and grabbed the third gun, then hurried back into the Dalek vault. Mickey was aiming a gun at Davros while Jack was standing protectively in front of Sarah Jane and Martha with another. I still didn't know how to properly handle a gun, let alone one as large as the one I was carrying, so I called Rose's name as I ran over to her.
"Here," I said. "You know how to use it better than I do."
Rose nodded seriously and took the gun, pulling the strap over her shoulder. She cocked the gun and aimed it at the closest Dalek. "Right then," she said. "Don't move and we don't have a problem."
Meanwhile, Jackie and Sarah Jane were pushing a single Dalek out of the way, and Martha kicked one aside with a frustrated grunt. Seeing that Rose, Mickey, and Jack had the situation under control, I walked over to the console where Donna stood beside the two Doctors and Naya.
"Off you go, Clom!" the Doctor said with a grin.
"Back home, Adipose Three," the other Doctor said as he flipped a lever.
Donna glanced at me and, after winking at me a second time, began flipping a series of different levers. "Shallacatop, Pyrovillia and the Lost Moon of Poosh," she said before hitting another lever with her foot. "Sorted. Ha!"
"We need more power!" the Doctor suddenly exclaimed.
"Is anyone going to tell us what's going on?" Rose asked, walking up to the console with her mother, Sarah Jane, and Jack right beside her.
Donna and the Doctor stepped away from the console, while Naya and the metacrisis Doctor stayed back. The Doctor had taken out his sonic screwdriver and was pointing it at a mess of wires he had gathered in his hand. Donna gestured to the Time Lord beside her as she explained. "He poured all his regeneration energy into his spare hand. I touched the hand and he," she said as she pointed at the metacrisis Doctor, "grew out of that, but that fed back into me. But it just stayed dormant in my head till the synapses got that little extra spark, kicking them into life. Thank you, Davros!"
The Doctor somehow managed to flash a grin around the sonic now clutched in his mouth while he continued working on the wires in his hands. Donna smiled at the rest of us as she continued her explanation. "Part human, part Time Lord. And I got the best bit of the Doctor," the redhead said. "I got his mind."
"So there's three of you?" Sarah Jane asked.
"Three Doctors?" Rose continued.
Jack made an odd noise in the back of his throat and shifted a little uncomfortably. "I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now," he muttered. "I don't suppose the three of you and Diana would be up for-"
"No!" myself and the Doctors interjected. A second later, however, Donna shrugged and smiled at Jack. "Well…," she trailed off.
"Hey," I said as I pointed a finger at Donna. "No."
"How about just you and me, then?" she suggested.
"Are you flirting with me?" I asked incredulously.
Donna smiled. "Well, I am part Doctor," she reasoned.
"And you're also part Donna," the Doctor reminded her.
"Yes, and we're moving on," Sarah Jane urged with a sigh.
The Doctor looked at Donna again. "You're so unique the timelines were converging on you," he said. "Human being with a Time Lord brain. That's why it all focused on you."
Davros suddenly spoke up, addressing the crazed Dalek he had trusted. "But you promised me, Dalek Caan. Why did you not foresee this?" he questioned.
The Doctor stopped his work and looked up at Davros. "Oh, I think he did. Something's been manipulating the timelines for ages, getting Donna Noble to the right place at the right time."
"This would always have happened," Caan said. "I only helped, Doctor."
"You betrayed the Daleks!" Davros snapped angrily.
"I saw the Daleks. What we have done, throughout time and space, I saw the truth of us, Creator," Caan responded, "and I decreed, no more!"
Caan's last words echoed in my mind as I recalled the Doctor as he was during the Time War, and how those words were the banner that he waded through the War with. Jack's voice splitting through Caan's deranged laughter startled me enough to bring me out of my thoughts, however.
"Heads up!" the captain shouted as he aimed his gun at something across the room.
Rolling into the vault was the red Dalek. "DAV-ROS, YOU HAVE BE-TRAYED US!' the Dalek exclaimed.
"It was Dalek Caan!" Davros countered.
"THE VAULT WILL BE PURGED! YOU WILL ALL BE EX-TER-MIN-AT-ED!" the red Dalek shouted before firing at the console where Naya and the metacrisis Doctor were working.
"Like I was saying, feel this!" Jack shouted before blasting the Dalek.
Meanwhile, the console had short circuited and was sparking uncontrollably, as well as smoking. The Doctor ran over to the console with a shout, checking on Naya first before turning towards the controls to check them as well.
"We've lost the magnetron! And there's only one planet left," he said as he checked a tiny screen on the console. "And guess which one. But we can use the TARDIS. Naya, with me!"
The Doctor and Naya dodged across the room and ran inside the TARDIS, while the metacrisis Doctor stayed back with Donna and they continued working at the controls there.
"Holding Earth stability and maintaining atmospheric shell," the other Doctor said to Donna.
Caan suddenly spoke up admit the chaos. "The prophecy must complete!" he cackled.
"Don't listen to him," Davros said.
"I have seen the end of everything Dalek," Caan continued, "and you must make it happen, Doctor."
I looked to the metacrisis Doctor and saw his face harden. "He's right. With or without a reality bomb, this Dalek Empire's dangerous enough to slaughter all of creation," he muttered. "I have to stop them."
"Wait," Donna said firmly. "Just- just wait for the Doctor."
"I am the Doctor." The metacrisis Doctor was suddenly working at the controls again. "Maximizing Dalekanium power feeds and blasting them back!"
The Crucible suddenly shook as the defenseless Daleks scattered throughout the Vault began to explode. From inside the TARDIS, the Doctor cried out and ran to the open doorway of the ship. He watched in shock as the remaining Daleks all exploded.
"What have you done?" the Doctor exclaimed.
The metacrisis looked right at his other self, his eyes almost daring the other Time Lord to challenge him. "Fulfilling the prophecy," he said.
"Do you know what you've done?"
"I had to!" the metacrisis Doctor countered.
Ignoring his other self, the Doctor looked to myself and the others. "All of you, inside the TARDIS! Run!"
The metacrisis Doctor grabbed my hand and ran for the ship, practically dragging me behind him. Once we were inside, the Doctor let go of my hand and began ushering the others inside, calling their names as they ran through the doors and past the metacrisis Doctor and I.
"Sarah Jane! Rose! Jackie! Jack! Mickey!"
The Doctor had stayed just outside the ship to make sure everyone went in safely. I moved to the open doorway and held out my hand to the Time Lord. "Doctor!" I called over the explosions erupting all over the vault. "Come on!"
The Doctor glanced at me for a moment before looking at Davros, who was stuck behind a large piece of metal that had fallen from the ceiling. "Davros!" he shouted. "Come with me! I promise I can save you!"
I knew Davros would never allow his greatest enemy to save him and I tried to urge the Doctor inside once more. "Theta, please!"
"Never forget, Doctor!" Davros screamed. "You did this! I name you! Forever, you are the Destroyer of the Worlds!"
A wall of flames suddenly erupted in front of the TARDIS, blocking the Doctor from getting to Davros. I reached out and grabbed him by his jacket so I could pull him inside the ship. He started to stumble in when Caan, who was somehow still alive, shouted one more prophecy.
"One will still die!" the deranged Dalek cried before dissolving into laughter.
The Doctor finally went inside the TARDIS, closing the doors behind him as he raced over to the console. The metacrisis Doctor and all of the others had already gathered around the console as they waited for the Doctor. I ran over to the console and moved to stand between the metacrisis Doctor and Sarah Jane while the Doctor began working at the controls. The ship suddenly lurched to one side from the effect of an explosion and everyone grabbed hold of the console to steady themselves.
"But what about the Earth?" Sarah asked as the ship began to dematerialize. "It's stuck in the wrong part of space!"
"I'm on it," the Doctor said. He pressed a few buttons and then flipped a switch before addressing the screen positioned above the controls. "Torchwood Hub, this is the Doctor. Are you receiving me?"
"Loud and clear," I heard Gwen say. "Is Jack there? And who the hell are you?"
"Oh, I can't get rid of him. And I'm still the Doctor, by the way. Just changed my face. Thanks for noticing." The Doctor suddenly looked up from the screen and glanced at Jack in confusion. "Jack, what's her name?"
Jack smiled. "Gwen Cooper."
The Doctor smiled and looked back at the screen as Rose leaned in to look at it as well. "Tell me, Gwen Cooper, are you from an old Cardiff family?"
"Yes, all the way back to the eighteen hundreds. Why?"
"Spatial genetic multiplicity," the Doctor muttered. "Let's just say that I may have met one of your ancestors a long time ago. It's a funny old world. Now, Torchwood, I want you to open up that Rift Manipulator. Send all the power to me."
"Doing it now, sir," I heard Ianto answer.
"What's that for?" Rose asked.
"It's a tow rope. Now then. Sarah, what was your son's name?"
"Luke. He's called Luke. And the computer's called Mister Smith!" she added quickly.
After rapidly pressing a series of button on the console, the Doctor addressed the screen again. "Calling Luke and Mister Smith. This is the Doctor. Come on, Luke. Shake a leg!"
"Is Mum there?" Luke asked, his voice sounding throughout the console room.
"Oh, she's fantastic," the Doctor replied with a grin. Sarah smiled and sighed in relief once she knew her son was alright. "Now, Mister Smith, I want you to harness the rift power and loop it around the TARDIS. You got that?"
The computer answered, "I regret I will need remote access to TARDIS base code numerals."
The Doctor groaned. "Oh, blimey, that's going to take a while," he grumbled.
"No, no, let me!" Sarah exclaimed as she raced around the console, squeezing in between Rose and the Doctor. "K-9, out you come!"
"Affirmative, Mistress!" the robot dog answered, bringing a smile to my face.
"Oh, fantastic!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Oh, good dog! K-9, give Mister Smith the base code."
"Master. TARDIS base code now being transferred. The process is simple," K-9 answered.
"Now then, you lot," the Doctor said as he backed away fro the console, guiding Sarah Jane back to her spot between Mickey and I. He pointed to a lever and said, "Sarah, hold that down."
I smiled then, knowing exactly what the Doctor was doing. The TARDIS had rarely ever been properly flown before while in the Doctor's possession and finally the old girl was going to be piloted the way it was supposed to.
"Mickey, you hold that," the Time Lord said as he began walking around the console. "Because you know why the TARDIS is always rattling about the place? Rose? That right there, if you please," he instructed as he pointed to another lever. "It's designed to have six pilots and I have to do it single handed. And if I'm very lucky, Diana's able to help me- Martha, keep that level. But even with two pilots, it's still difficult. But not any more. Jack, there you go. Steady that. Now we can fly this ship-."
The Doctor stopped when he saw Jackie Tyler looking expectantly at him. "No, Jackie. No, not you," he stammered awkwardly. "Don't touch anything. Just stand back." Clearing his throat, the Doctor stepped past Jackie and circled round the console so he was standing beside myself and his counterpart.
"Like I was saying, now we can fly this ship like she's meant to be flown. We've got the Torchwood Rift looped around the TARDIS by Mister Smith and we're going to fly Planet Earth back home. Donna, you do the honors."
Donna stepped up to the console and put her hands on it with a smile. She gazed happily at the console for a moment before she flipped the dematerialization lever. The TARDIS let out a wheeze and began to fly my planet back home. The ship lurched slightly as it took on the weight of the planet, but once it began pulling Earth back home the flight was incredibly smooth.
Suddenly, a beautiful song began to flood through the TARDIS. It was a song that I knew and recognized from back home, a song that was so incredibly and breathtakingly beautiful that it brought tears to my eyes. An image came to mind that accompanied the music: it was the Ood, all gathered in a circle with their hands joined as they sang.
"What is that?" Martha asked. "That music. Where's it coming from?"
"The Ood," I said as I opened my eyes. "It's the song of freedom. And they're singing it for us."
Across the console room, a projection of Ood Sigma appeared. He bowed to everyone before finally speaking. "This is our gift to you, Children of Time. This is our song."
Ood Sigma disappeared a moment later, but the song continued. The Doctor and Donna began walking around the console, checking on everyone and instructing them if they needed to do something differently. Naya had taken Donna's place at the console standing between Rose and Martha hime she worked on her section of the controls. I was still standing by the console, but was fine with letting the others pilot the ship together. The metacrisis Doctor suddenly turned to me and grinned, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the console.
"Doctor, what-"
"Dance with me," he said as he pulled me against him.
As the music crescendoed and swelled, the Doctor began dancing with me as if we were at a ball. He had one hand on my waist and held my hand in his other one as we slowly danced in circles. I took that time to get a good look at the new Doctor, noticing then that his outfit matched mine. When I had jumped to the parallel world, I was wearing the leather jacket Missy had given me along with a pair of dark jeans and a dark blue colored v-neck. The metacrisis Doctor was wearing a replica of his battered leather jacket that matched the shade of mine and a jumper the same color and cut as my shirt.
"Diana?" he breathed.
I looked up from his chest to see his eyes staring seriously into mine. "Yes?"
The Doctor smiled and leaned forward to kiss me, pausing just as our lips brushed. "I love you," he whispered before finally claiming the kiss.
We pulled apart unwillingly when the TARDIS groaned and suddenly jerked. Everyone who was stationed around the console looked to the Doctor, who grinned and confirmed that the Earth was back home. All at once, everyone burst into laughter and applause. The metacrisis Doctor and I were still standing apart from the rest of the group and watching happily as companions began hugging one another.
Donna, Naya, and the Doctor hugged, while Rose and Martha embraced just behind them. Jackie and Mickey were holding onto each other and laughing while Sarah Jane and Jack shared a hug as well. The metacrisis Doctor turned to me again and gently held my chin between his thumb and forefinger as he leaned down to kiss me again. Once we pulled away, Naya came bounding across the console room and threw her arms around my waist. The Doctor looked down at our daughter and smiled before drawing both of us into a hug.
The Doctor opened the TARDIS doors and stepped outside, looking around as Sarah Jane and I stepped out after him. The metacrisis Doctor had decided to stay inside the ship instead of saying goodbye to Sarah and the others. As the doors slid shut behind us, the Doctor moved so he was standing just in front of the ship and watched as Sarah and I looked around at our surroundings. We had landed in some kind of park where children were playing and people were walking their dogs or riding bikes.
Sarah smiled as she took in a deep breath, then suddenly spun around to face the Doctor and I. "You know," she began, "you act like such a lonely man. But look at you! You've got the biggest family on Earth!"
The three of us laughed and Sarah opened her arms wide, gesturing for the Doctor to give her a hug. They embraced and as soon as they parted, Sarah turned to me and pulled me into a hug as well. As Sarah pulled away, she kissed me lightly on the cheek.
"Oh!" she suddenly gasped, clapping her hands together. "Got to go! Luke's only fourteen. It's a long story. And thank you!"
The Doctor smiled and waved at Sarah as she returned the gesture before turning and walking off. I leaned my head against the Doctor's shoulder and sighed as I watched Sarah leave, wondering when I would next see the journalist.
"You okay?" the Doctor asked after a minute.
I nodded. "Yeah. Just thinking."
"I spotted you and big ears point two canoodling earlier."
"You do realize that you're making fun of yourself, right?"
Smiling, the Doctor shrugged and sighed, "Well…"
The TARDIS doors opened again and this time, Martha and Jack stepped out. I pushed off of the Doctor's shoulder and smiled at the two, already sad to see them leave. Jack reached out and pulled me into what was at least my tenth hug that day. He gently kissed the crown of my head before releasing me and stepping back. Martha opened her arms and smiled as we both moved forward for another hug.
"You take care of yourself, alright?"
I nodded seriously. "Yes, ma'am."
Martha pulled away and laughed. "Good. And look after him," she added with a nod in the Doctor's direction. "If he can change his face like that, then God only knows what else he'll get up to when you're not looking."
"Tell me about it," Jack added with a grin.
The Doctor reached out suddenly and grabbed Jack's wrist, pulling his sonic screwdriver out of his coat pocket with his other hand. "I told you," he said as he started sonicing the device,"no teleport. And Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing. We don't need another weapon of mass destruction on this planet."
Martha nodded and smiled fondly at the Doctor. "Consider it done."
The Doctor dropped Jack's wrist, the vortex manipulator officially out of service once more. Jack sighed and looked a little sadly at his manipulator for a moment or two. Then he suddenly stood to attention and saluted the Doctor while Martha followed suite. The Doctor nodded awkwardly at the pair and saluted them back with two fingers, signaling for them to stop.
Reaching out for Martha's hand, Jack turned around and began walking down the same path that Sarah Jane had taken. "You know, I'm not sure about UNIT these days," I heard Jack say to Martha. "Maybe there's something else you could be doing?"
The TARDIS door creaked open again and Mickey came bounding out, merely waving at the Doctor and I. The Doctor, however, wasn't going to let Mickey off so easily. "Oi, where are you going?" the Time Lord asked.
Mickey stopped and turned towards us. "Well, I'm not stupid. I can work out what happens next," he said as he shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. "And hey, I had a good time in that parallel world, but my gran passed away. Nice and peaceful. She spent her last years living in a mansion. There's nothing there for me now, certainly not Rose."
"What will you do?" the Doctor asked.
"Anything. Brand new life. Just you watch." Finally looking at me, Mickey smiled. "See you around, Di. Stay out of trouble, yeah?"
I nodded and gave Mickey a reassuring smile. "I will. And take care of yourself, Mickey."
"Absolutely." Mickey glanced back at the Doctor and the two bumped fists. "See you, boss," he said before turning and running off after jack and Martha. "Hey, you two!"
The Doctor put an arm around my shoulder turned us both around so we were facing the TARDIS. "After you," he said softly, gesturing towards the doors.
Sparing Martha, Jack, and Mickey one final glance, I opened the doors and stepped inside. Rose and Jackie were speaking softly to one another on the ramp, while the metacrisis Doctor and Donna were talking with Naya by the console. I noticed that the other Doctor had a very sad expression on his face and I immediately rushed across the console room to check on him.
"Hey," I whispered as I gently touched his arm. "You okay?"
The Doctor paused for a moment before nodding and giving me an unconvincing smile. "Fantastic," he said weakly.
I shook my head. "No. What is it? What's wrong?" I looked at Naya and Donna then, hoping they would know what had happened to upset him so much. "What happened?"
"I don't know," Naya said. "They won't tell me."
"Now then!" the Doctor exclaimed as he began walking around the console. "Time for one last trip."
The metacrisis Doctor suddenly pulled away from me and walked over to stand beside his counterpart at the console. "Dårlig Ulv Stranden," the metacrisis Doctor said as he flipped a few controls. "Better known as-"
"Bad Wolf Bay," Rose said.
"Oh, fat lot of good this is," Jackie grumbled as she stepped out of the TARDIS, the metacrisis Doctor, Rose, and I right behind her. "Back of beyond. Bloody Norway?" She turned to Rose and pointed at her daughter. "I'm going to have to phone your father. He's on the nursery run. I was pregnant, do you remember?" she asked as she turned towards the metacrisis Doctor. "Had a baby boy."
"What did you call him?" he asked.
"Doctor."
"What, really?"
Jackie smiled and shook her head. "No, you plum. He's called Tony."
"So we're back in the parallel universe, right?" Rose interjected.
The Doctor nodded. "You're back home," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.
"And the walls of the world are closing again now that the reality bomb never happened. It's dimensional retroclosure," Donna explained, making Naya smile proudly. "See, I really get that stuff now."
Rose shook her head. "No, but I spent all that time trying to find you both. I'm not going back now!"
"You've got to," the Doctor said. "Because we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him." From his place beside me, the metacrisis Doctor bristled slightly. "He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own."
"I am you," the metacrisis Doctor said. "You made me."
"Exactly. You were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge. Remind you of someone?" the Doctor asked, his eyes flickering to me. "That's me when we first met, Rose. Fresh from the loss of my home, of what I thought was my wife's death. And then I met you and you made me better. Now you can do the same for him."
"Wait," I said, looking at the Doctor in confusion. "Doctor, what do you mean?"
"I'm staying," the metacrisis Doctor said.
I whirled around on the other Doctor and looked up at him. "What? No you're not, you're coming back. With us."
He shook his head seriously. "I'm not."
"Of course you are."
"Diana," he sighed, "I can't."
"Why not?"
"Because I won't let you ruin your life for me. If I go back, you'll never leave me. I know you. You'll want to stay with me, look after me, make sure I don't feel abandoned."
"Of course I will. You're… You're my boyfriend, my husband at some point. Why wouldn't I want to stay with you?" I asked.
"Diana, I'm not going back. That's my decision to make, not yours. I know the consequences-"
"No," I snapped. "No, you're not staying here."
"Diana-"
"No! Doctor, if you stay here, you'll never see me again! You'll never see Naya or our daughters ever again! Is that what you want?"
The metacrisis Doctor shook his head. "No, of course it's not. But I can't stay in our universe, not without ruining everything. There can't be two Doctors."
"Of course there can. Don't be stupid."
"Diana, please. Just listen to me. I've made my choice and I'm staying here. Please, let me do this. For you."
"How is this for me?" I questioned angrily.
"If I stay with you, then you'll never properly be with the Doctor. With him. You'll always come back to me out of guilt, out of love, out of worry. You'll always feel like it's your fault. So I'm taking that away from you so you don't get hurt."
I scoffed. "You don't think that this hurts me? Theta, I'm not leaving this beach unless you're with me."
The metacrisis Doctor sighed and lowered his head. "Diana, please-"
"I love you," I breathed, stepping closer to him and forcing him to look at me. "Please don't do this. Come back with us. We'll find a way to make it work, I promise. Just please don't stay here… I-I can't loose you."
"Diana-"
In a desperate attempt to convince him, I grabbed the lapels of his leather jacket and pulled the metacrisis Doctor down to my height for a wild, desperate kiss. The Doctor was frozen in shock for a moment before he realized what was happening. Then he suddenly pulled me against him and returned the kiss, one of his hands tangling in my hair as his other arm wrapped around my waist.
Don't stay. Don't stay. Don't stay, I repeated in my mind. Please, God, don't stay. I love you. Don't stay.
The Doctor pulled away first, although he didn't move his arm from around my waist or his hand from my hair. He merely gazed down at me in silence, his eyes frantically searching mine. I looked up at him, hardly daring to breathe as he decided whether he would leave with me or stay.
"Please," I whispered.
Closing his eyes, the Doctor bowed his head low enough for his forehead to rest against mine. "Okay," he said. "I'll go."
Relief flooded through me and I gave the metacrisis Doctor another kiss to show how thrilled I was. He gently cupped my face in his hands before pulling away and flashing me a smile. I grabbed one of his hands as he lowered his arms and intertwined our fingers.
"So you're just going to leave me here? Again?" Rose asked.
"We have to," the Doctor said, glancing at me and his other self.
"But I want to travel with you! You and Diana, you two were my best friends. I love you both. I don't want to loose that. No again."
"Rose," Naya said, finally speaking up after staying silent through the entire conversation, "do you think you could leave your family behind?"
Rose furrowed her brows in confusion. "What?"
"We can never come back to this dimension. Not ever. No dimension canon can bring you back to your mum and dad, to your little brother. You'll never see them again."
"But the dimension canon still works, doesn't it? There's nothing wrong with it. Mine's in the TARDIS, we could-"
"It won't work. The connections between dimensions are sealing off for good. Once we leave, we can never come back. You'll never see them again."
Rose shook her head. "But I can't just leave them."
"You have to choose," Donna spoke up. "I'm sorry, but you have to. It's this universe or the other."
Rose looked back at her mother, obviously conflicted with her choice. The metacrisis Doctor suddenly tugged on my hand, which made me glance up at him expectantly. He offered me a half smile and lightly ran the pad of his thumb across my hand. Then he looked past me at Rose and cleared his throat.
"Rose?"
The blonde turned around to face us. "Yes, Doctor?"
"Come with us. Rose Tyler, the Doctor, and Diana in the TARDIS. Just as it should be. With a few additions, of course," he said as he glanced at Donna and Naya.
"Really?"
He nodded and then turned his eyes back to me. "I've got it," he said. "We grab Rose's dimension canon, she uses it so she can say goodbye to her father, and then we're off!"
"Do you really mean that?" Rose asked.
The metacrisis Doctor looked at his other self and they nodded at each other silently. The Doctor looked at Rose then and smiled. "Say your goodbyes to Jackie now," he suggested. "Then a visit to dear old Dad before we go."
Rose turned back to her mother and the two embraced tearfully. The Doctor started for the TARDIS, telling Rose that he would wait for her inside the ship. The metacrisis Doctor tightened his grip on my hand and we walked towards the ship together, a smile beaming on my face. I knew that we were rewriting time by letting Rose and the new Doctor join the TARDIS crew, but there was no way I was leaving the Doctor behind. I would face Davros and his Daleks all over again if I had to, so long as he wasn't alone and abandoned without his family.
As soon as I stepped inside the ship, however, the metacrisis Doctor suddenly shoved me forward. I lost my balance and stumbled forward a few paces as the doors slammed shut behind me. I grabbed onto the railing along the edge of the ramp to steady myself and immediately raced for the doors, grabbing the handles and trying to pull them open.
"No," I gasped. "No! Doctor! Doctor!"
The doors were sealed shut and refused to budge even when I used every ounce of my strength to try and open them. Screaming in anger, I pounded my fists against the doors.
"Doctor! Don't you dare! Don't you dare!" I whirled around and stared at the Doctor; he was standing at the console with his back to me. Naya was standing next to him and speaking frantically to him in another language. "Open the doors!"
"Diana," Donna said as she took a step towards me, "please-"
"You knew," I hissed. "You knew he was going to trick me."
"It was the only way-"
"Doctor, open the doors now!" I demanded.
"I can't," he whispered, his voice cracking as his shoulders began to shake.
The TARDIS let out a wheeze and began to dematerialize. I cried out in protest again and turned back to the doors, trying twice as hard as before to get them to open. "No, no! Take me back! Take me back! I'm not leaving him! Doctor!" I screamed. "Doctor!"
"Stop it," the Doctor begged.
"No, take me back! I can't just leave him!"
"Diana, stop it, please." The Doctor took a deep, shuddering breath. "He made his choice. There's nothing you can do."
"Like hell there isn't."
My dimension canon was still hanging around my neck, having been forgotten as soon as we were threatened with a Dalek attack and the end of creation. But as soon as I reached for it, the Doctor appeared and yanked it out of my hands, his strength great enough to snap the chain from around my neck. He immediately threw it on the floor and smashed it with the heel of his foot, pulling me away from the device as it glowed with white light before vanishing altogether.
The moment the dimension canon disappeared, the Doctor released me and walked back to the console, ignoring me completely. I stared at the spot the canon had disappeared from in shock. Rage began to bubble up inside me as tears formed in my eyes. Because of him, I would never see that Doctor again and he would be trapped in a parallel world without me or his children.
My rage was so blinding that when I turned to stalk towards the Doctor, I didn't notice the fact that everything around me was fading fast. All I could think and feel was hurt and betrayal because of the fact that I'd been tricked into leaving the man I loved behind. My hand balled into a fist at my side as the console room suddenly spun around me, orange and coral colors swirling together and then pulling apart to form a new console room bathed in dark blue and silver and black. But the changes barely even registered with me as I continued forward towards the man leaning against the console with his back to me.
The man suddenly turned around and revealed the Doctor, older and silver-haired, looking uneasily at me. "Diana?" he asked hesitantly.
A split second later, my fist slammed into the Time Lord's face and he fell back against the console with a shout. "You bastard," I snarled, leaning over the Doctor as he cradled his face in his hand. "How dare you."
A/N: Please, I am begging you, review! I am dying to know what you think!