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!)

18. Turn Left

A pretty busy day, as far as our days usually go. Yeah, going to the alien market Shan Shen was normal for us. We'd been to almost a dozen similar markets with Rose and Martha way back when. All for milk, because it goes bad so fast and the humans keep drinking it.

The Doctor decided to take us to the Shan Shen market after - well basically anywhere he wanted to go, we would have said yes. Markets such as Shan Shen didn't often come with milk. They did, however, come with other benefits.

Unfamiliar noises filled the console. The Doctor swung open the doors to give Donna a preview. She burst out laughing already. I stared up at Idris, at the walls and the green lit time rotor. To my favorite spot to recline- the spot where three and a half years ago, Jackie Tyler threatened to kill the Doctor.

Next came the pilot seat. Oh, that pilot seat. The many times the Doctor and Rose sat side by side, talking as the TARDIS coasted. Like when we first fell into Pete's World.

The railings. Rose hung her jacket there. Sometimes, Jack put his long coat there in between adventures. Sometimes, when he felt especially spunky (or drunk), he'd throw it at me and I'd let it hang from my shoulders like a cape. I might've been drunk too. Or high off joy.

The Doctor regenerated here. In front of me, and Rose. Those laughs as he warned me not to make jokes about his new self. Pity for him, that's all I ever did. Ever will do- someday, again, but only later. How much later? I cannot say.

Donna materialized in the TARDIS in the very spot I stood on. A mysterious, ginger bride, showing up to shout at everyone. Even in all of that day's horrors, Donna defended and protected me. Stood up for me. Time and time again, against any of them. All of them. She'd stand up for me against my parents back Home, if given the chance.

I never want to give her the chance. I never even give Darcy the chance. In Darcy's case, she'd kill them. She'd threatened it enough times. Donna? Donna would definitely do it.

"Oi, Terra, come on!" The Doctor called for me.

I smiled at her one more time. The TARDIS hummed in my mind. A soothing melody, a gentle push. A song of coming home, and of being welcomed back.

She didn't want me to go. She never wanted any of them to go. Because they always made him so happy.

I turned, skipping to the doors. The Doctor grinned, but he was confused.

"Slowpoke." He teased.

That made me raise an eyebrow. "Are you challenging me to a race?" One last time, for old time's sake?

Donna laughed. It burned at my hearts but a pain I would welcome again and again. "Well go on, old geezer. Beat her in a race."

"I'm not old!"

"900 years, you said?"

"That's not old! Not to us. I'm a young man!"

Donna laughed, holding her stomach. It made me laugh. Her joy- so brighter, so big, so all encompassing. It drew people in like a Racnoss ship did for Earth chunks.

I think I'll miss Donna most.

==MGCB==

The market of Shan Shen was loud. Crowded. Noisy. Smelly. Not bad smells, more just a billion smells at once. I hated and loved it in equal measure. No wonder the Doctor thought about coming to this place. The Time Reavers sounded quite terrible- more terrible than anything I'd ever seen before. If he wanted to be overwhelmed by sights and smells to remind himself they still existed, then I won't shame him for that.

I will shame him for sharing those tastes with me.

"I'm not drinking that."

"Bah! You're such a picky eater."

"I'm not! It smells weird."

"It's a good weird! Just try it." The Doctor held the large mug to me. "Donna is."

"No, I'm having a water." Donna replied.

"You are going to love it." he made sure both of us had a mug of steaming white- whatever. "One, two, three!"

It's your last thing with him.

Let him have it

So I chugged the drink down. Whoa, did it sit funny in my tummy. I coughed at the taste too..

The Doctor laughed, finishing off his. "See?"

"Lovely!" Donna said, clearly lying.

The Doctor took our empty drinks, after a few minutes. He tossed them in what must be the trash cans here. As he did, a stall caught his eye. He picked up a fruit from the stand- imagine a coconut and a porcupine could actually mate, and have a baby. That's this fruit. He smiled at a vendor, talking about it. He pointed and laughed and made fun.

He lived.

Happily, he lived.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. With a final parting look, I ducked away.

Markets this big were always good for an alleyway to hide.

I went one way. Donna the other. That's a problem for later. Maybe a few years, or decades from now, I'll come back to this moment to help her.

My phone had a single text from Darcy. She was in the market, looking for me. The text said this, and yet there is a suspicious lack of noise in this alleyway.

Duck.

Quick as a blink, I fell to my knees. A knife dug into the stone wall behind me. Her snickers (and the knife's trajectory angle) gave her location.

Darcy walked over to me. Her eyes shut, but she walked with the confidence of a person that could see. I stood back up, yanking the knife from the wall. "Let it hit you, just once."

"Throw better and I might." I replied.

She held up her arm. I hesitated, staring back.

"Look, I kept my eyes shut like you wanted. Okay? I'm not even asking questions about it."

With her eyes closed, we could've been mistaken for real twins. Back Home, anyway. My nose there matched her's. My cheeks. She'd shed her disguises that she liked wearing here, so all I could see was my own original face.

"I don't know why we're not already gone."

She's right. Stalling led to mistakes. Chances for failure. For the Doctor to stumble our way, ruin the whole escape plan. But I just wanted to look at my face, and remember that I was gonna go back to being her again.

"We don't need to talk to anyone, right?"

Just for a few minutes. Unless Mr or Mrs Spenc- no. Unless Mom or Dad wanted to talk to me about something. Maybe an hour. I wouldn't be her for long.

"Like we're not saying goodbye? Are you making faces at me, you bitch?"

I hope we look like sisters in Wolfland.

My arm looped with hers.

Darcy huffed. "Finally."

I let the universe around us fade. Fade. Fade...a different world came to my sight. Different clothes on my body. Different hair on my head.

==MGCB==

Our Earth

Mr- My dad was yelling. That was something normal, or hell even expected. My dad could get loud when the moment called for it. Or never called for it. He just liked being loud, sometimes.

Darcy was on alert instantly. A knife was already in her hand, out and ready for an attack. Too many years surrounded by yelling fathers taught her better.

I held her arm. Darcy kept her eyes on the door.

"No." I whispered.

Darcy clenched her jaw. "He's yelling at you. That's the tone of rage- he's not gonna listen."

As she talked, I climbed off my bed. My laptop still played Doctor Who, so I paused and then closed it.

Darcy jumped off the bed. She twirled the knife in her hand, ready to throw it. I rushed to the door, unlocking it. Dad pounded on it.

I opened it. Light shined in from the hallway, around my dad. It gave him a halo around him, but cast him in shadow.

"Yeah Dad?"

"Come to my room. Right now." Mr Spencer ordered.

No. No I- I need to go. I need to go to Wolfland. Please, let me leave again. Let me go.

Darcy snuck over to my side. I knocked her hand away.

Rule 22: never let Darcy be seen when parents are home.

I'll be back soon, sis. Be here for me, okay? Be there like you always are.

I left the safety of the room. Darcy stayed behind, as she knew was expected. Dad let me into his room which doubled as an office. It always led to the same mix of being called to the principal's office and being punished by your dad.

He dropped my math notebook in front of him. Wait- had I missed a lesson? That wasn't good. Wait no...I made a point of getting it right...that way he couldn't yell at me for not doing a good job.

Was...was he gonna...was he gonna say-

"Be honest. Did you steal the answers?"

-yeah I should've expected that.

My jaw dropped all the same. "No."

Mr Spencer pointed at the math notebook. "You don't even show your work."

"Cause it's obvious what the answer is!"

"You still are required to show it!"

"It wasn't even-" We're a month in on algebra 1. Those lessons are pathetically easy. Why should I show my work for how I answered an equation as easy as 1 plus 1?

But I stopped myself. The words in my throat hardened, sticking in my throat like a disease.

Heh, funny. I could argue circles around murderous wasps and Daleks, but against the man that raised me I crumble. The Daleks called me predator yet I would face them over my math teacher any day.

Mr Spencer- Dad, he's my Dad I need to call him Dad- handed me the notebook. "You're getting a zero." My eyes widened. "For this, and the other lessons."

I flipped the pages. He hadn't even marked them.

"If you cheated on one, you cheated for them all." He said. "Next week, I expect better. Understand?"

Mute, I nodded.

"Understand?" He repeated, his voice a low warning.

I gulped. Despite the pain it brought, I forced words out. They scraped at my throat, at my tongue, probably leaving chips in my teeth. "Yes sir."

My dad nodded. "Go to your room. You're lucky I don't take away your TV for a month again."

My heart- singular, always singular, always alone- thumped. Then again. "Thank you, sir."

"That's right. Go." He ordered.

By his leave, I left his office. My bedroom door was cracked open. Darcy poked around it, peering at me. In a horror film this would be the perfect time for a jumpscare. It could cut away and back to the door to find her gone. That would be nice. Familiar. Gone but always waiting.

Mrs S- Mom- came up the stairs. "Oh, hey!"

I paused on my retreat. Wolves howled for me, universes away. Could I not be left in peace?

"Did you want to talk about something?" Mom asked me.

Earlier. When I needed you

After years without you

Of thinking I caused your murders

Yeah I wanted to talk

But you never have time, Mom

"I'm good now." I told her, slinking away to safety. "Goodnight."

Darcy held my door open. I barely made it inside before she slammed it shut. I let myself sink onto my bed. Darcy locked the door. Under my eye, she grabbed a TV dinner tray table to tuck it under the doorknob. The angle would keep it from opening. My parents had a spare key, after all.

She glared at the door.

I opened my Bag. The book sat at the top of it, just where I needed it.

"So. Werewolf land." I whispered.

The door slamming sometimes got on Mom's nerves. A sign of disrespect. After Dad's scolding, she might see fit to come in here for Round 2. Or maybe Dad would. Maybe both at once. In my room. With my baby sister, who must never be seen.

Darcy kept her eyes on the door.

"We'll go over notes when we land." I explained, clearing my throat. It burned still. Work through the pain in my throat and chest, something greater would be coming for me soon. "We did a lot of- of- it last- last night. Or whenever. We'd need to make adjustments on landing anyway."

Darcy nodded. She held out her hand, still facing the door.

I grabbed it.

We repeated the same sequence not even ten minutes prior. As I faded, I slowly realized her hand wasn't in mine in this new world. It made me scared of it.

==MGCB==

Meanwhile...Doctor Who

Donna kept wandering off down the alley. The Doctor told her off for it countless times, yeah, but it makes him a hypocrite. He wanders all over too. Him and Terra. Donna could wander all she liked.

Besides, it's not like Donna went looking for trouble. It usually found her. Or the Doctor and Terra. Donna just wanted to explore. To see new things, and new people. All of it filled her up with wonders. Even after all these months, the universe never failed in giving her new. Weird, yeah, but she'd gotten better at taking in the weird.

She thought it best to walk away by herself. If she got confused, there were a lot of signs around the place. She could hardly read them now but Terra said it took the TARDIS a minute to catch up with the written word. Donna remembered the signs around the TARDIS well enough.

The Doctor and Terra needed a few minutes to themselves. Maybe a chance for Terra to connect with him, make sure he was alright. Donna endlessly worried about the tall thin idiot. He constantly got these ideas in his head that he never could shake. Donna did her best to shake it out of him, but a lot of them stuck. Terra had it too, but she was a lot quieter with it. It came as a surprise every time- it really shouldn't, but it did.

Donna loved them anyway. They were her best friends. All the grief they put her through was worth it and more. The planets they visited, the wonders they introduced her to, she wouldn't trade these memories for anything. If sometimes the Doctor or Terra (mostly the Doctor) forgot basic stuff, that's fine. It made her feel important, at least to them.

Terra said that, a lot. That Donna was important, that she mattered. Donna figured it was just Terra being polite. The young girl had a habit of going big with compliments. Donna told herself not to take them seriously. But she still loved hearing someone say it.

"Tell your fortune, lady." Donna turned to the voice. A woman, dressed in an ornate black and gold robe stood before a red tent. "The future predicted. Your life foretold."

Donna shook her head. She got enough spoilers about the future from her friends. "Oh, no thanks."

"Don't you want to know if you're going to be happy?" The fortune teller asked.

Donna smiled. She did know, actually. She knew completely about how her future would go. Sure, Martha said things went poorly for her family, but Martha hadn't seen the Doctor or Terra around Sylvia and Wilf. They learned from their pasts. If her family were ever in trouble, the Time Lords would keep them safe. Donna's safety was always their priority. Her happiness was always their priority.

And she was. Happy. Donna could see it in her now. She had more confidence, in herself and in what she could do. She never thought herself capable of things that she thought were regular business now. She snuck around an alien ship. She chased after a giant wasp. Donna even waved at fat! She'd never been happier.

She told the fortune teller as mich.

"You got red hair. The reading's free for red hair." The fortune teller offered.

Terra might be into that, actually. After the Soothsayers of Pompeii, Terra explained a lot of things about what being psychic really meant. Some of the things from the It sounded like nonsense, but it made her excited.

"Psychics are just- I had a dream that I only sort of remember, it made it sound so clever. It said 'visions are just remembering in the wrong direction'. The future wants to be known- remembered, but the wrong direction- so it leaves little clues. Signs. Repeated things. You see the same number over and over again, or you get a massive craving for that one food you haven't had in ages. Or you hear the voice of an old friend."

Terra got a far away look in her eyes. She stared at something behind Donna's shoulder.

"What?" Donna looked back, seeing nothing. "Is there something on my back?"

Terra's eyes widened for a moment. Then she smiled.

Donna should test it first, with this one. If she had a good review, Terra would like it even more. Or just think it's a bit of fun.

Donna followed the fortune teller into her tent. The sharp smelling incense hit her first. The teller brought Donna to the middle table, offering the seat. Once sat, the teller held Donna's hands.

"Oh, you fascinating. No, but you good." The fortune teller smiled at Donna. "I can see a man and a girl. The most remarkable couple. How did you meet them?"

"You're supposed to tell me." Donna pointed out.

"I see the future. Tell me the past. When did your lives cross?" The fortune teller explained. She glanced to the back of the tent, behind Donna, before looking back at Donna. She smiled again.

"It's sort of complicated. I ended up in a spaceship on my wedding day. Long story." Donna replied.

"But what led you to that meeting?" The fortune teller countered.

"All sorts of things. But my job, I suppose. It was on Earth, this planet called Earth, miles away." Most other planets hadn't heard of Earth, or thought of it as a backwoods place. "But I had this job as a temp. I was a secretary at a place called HC Clements."

-the same cubicle, as all the others. A cup of coffee on her desk-

Donna blinked. She gripped tighter to the teller's hand, and the table to keep from falling over. "Oh. Sorry."

"It's the incense." She was assured. "Just breathe deep. This job of yours. What choices led you there?"

Her head still spun. This incense must be wicked strong. Noises from outside filtered into the tent. A clicking, almost like a cricket. "There was a choice, six months before, because the Agency offered me this contract with HC Clements. But there was this other job. My mum knew this man."

That feeling overcame her again. She was lost, set adrift in her own body. Her mother's voice came back. Sharply, clearly, like she stood right by Donna now. As she did that day by the car.

"Jival, he's called. Jival Chowdry? He runs that little photocopy business and he needs a secretary." Her mom explained.

"I've got a job." Donna reminded her mom, feeling snippy.

"As a temp. This is permanent, it's twenty thousand a year, Donna." Sylvia explained, exasperated already.

"HC Clements is in the City. It's nice, it's posh, so stop it."

"Your life could have gone one way or the other. What made you decide?" The fortune teller asked.

She sat as close as her mum did. Right in front of Donna, hands still clasped together. But Donna thought this woman was worlds away.

"I just did."

That clicking noise came again. Not the same sort of sound as mum's car, this was more organic.

"But when was the moment? When did you choose?" The fortune teller asked.

The car stopped at a junction. A truck drove by, keeping Donna from seeing both ways.

"It won't take long." Mum insisted. "Just turn right. We'll pop in and see Mister Chowdry, so Suzette can introduce you."

"I'm going left. If you don't like it, get out and walk." Donna told her.

"If you turn right, you'll have a career, not just filling in." Mum said.

Donna scoffed. "You think I'm so useless."

"Oh, I know why you want a job at HC Clements, lady. Because you think you'll meet a man with lots of money and your whole life will change. Well let me tell you, sweetheart. City executives don't need temps, except for practice!"

"Yeah. Well, they haven't met me." Donna turned left, just to shove it to her mother.

"You turned left. But what if you turned right? What then?" The fortune teller asked, sounding much less polite and welcoming. The smile wasn't warm. It was sinister, sending a bad feeling into Donna's gut.

"Let go of my hands."

The fortune teller squeezed tighter. Her pointed nails dug into Donna's skin. That clicking noise came closer. It wasn't outside the tent, it was inside. And close.

"What if it changes? What if you go right? What if you could still go right?"

"Stop it." Donna warned.

A sudden jerk from behind got her attention. That clicking noise was so close, just by her ear. On her back. Something was on her back!

"What's that? What's on my back?" Donna snapped. The fortune teller- if she even was that- grinned to show off teeth. "What is it? What, what's on my back?"

"Make the choice again, Donna Noble, and change your mind. Turn right."

Donna heard the turn signal. Clicking. A steady monotone.

"I'm turning."

"Turn right. Turn right. Turn right!"

==MGCB==

"Well, let me tell you, sweetheart. City executives don't need temps, except for practice." Mum said.

Donna unclenched her jaw, shoulders slumping. God she hated this...but her mum was right.

"Yeah. Suppose you're right." She turned right.

"Turn right, and never meet that man or girl. Turn right, and change the world."

Donna let her mum be smug, giving directions to this place. She hoped she wouldn't regret it.

==MGCB==

Loud Christmas music filled up the room. Donna's friends cheered as she brought the drinks over. All of them were wearing their Christmas crowns, giggling already. Other people kept walking in her path.

"Come on, then, get out the way. Get out the way! Here we are. Feed at the trough." Donna lowered the tray of drinks for them.

They scrambled for their orders.

"Mooky says let's go to the Boardwalk. It's two for the price of one." Veena told Donna.

"Christmas Eve? It'll be heaving." Donna pointed out.

"Well, exactly, get in and grab them." Mooky cheered.

"Hey, that's the second round of drinks you've bought. It was my turn." Veena reminded Donna.

"I can afford it." Her coworkers tilted their heads at her. "Promotion. You are talking to Jival Chowdry's Personal Assistant, I'll have you know. Capital P, capital A, twenty three thousand pound per annum, merci beaucoup." Donna toasted her drink.

Veena raised her glass. "Here's to Mister Chowdry."

"Mister Chowdry!" Donna clinked her glass.

"She gets all the luck." Mooky giggled, already tipsy. What a lightweight!

Donna snickered to herself. She felt eyes on her, so she turned to it. Alice was staring at Donna in fear. "What's wrong? What is it?"

Alice kept staring at a spot just behind Donna. "Sorry?"

Donna checked her shoulder. "Did someone spill a drink on me?"

"Why?"

Donna checked behind her, then her shirt again. "Why do you keep looking at my shoulder? What's wrong?"

Alice shook her head, only getting more distressed. "I don't know."

"Oh, don't tell me you're getting all spooky again." Donna chided. Alice kept staring, her eyes widening and shaking her head. "It was bad enough when you saw the ghost of Earl Mountbatten at the boat show. What are you looking at? What is it?"

"It's like, it's like there's something I can't see." Alice explained in a helpless plea.

Donna checked her shoulder. Again, nothing.

"Come on, shut up, all of you!" A man shouted. Donna turned to the door of the bar. A man waved his arms, shouting for attention. Was he already drunk? "Come and see. Just look at the sky! It's a star! It's a Christmas star!"

Yeah, definitely drunk already. Just like all those folks that saw robots in the sky last April.

"Well, come on then." Veena started climbing out of their booth. Donna's friends following.

She's not gonna be a frightened little thing like Alice. Donna got up, leaving with them. Outside she spotted that Christmas star. An enormous large, silvery star floating across the sky.

"What the hell is that?" Mooky exclaimed.

"Ken Livingstone, that's what! Spending our money on decorations! I mean, how much did that cost?" Veena complained.

"Don't be so stupid. It's flying! It's really flying!" Mooky argued.

But Donna knew better. It's not a star. It was- It was something else. Something that wasn't right.

"That's not a star. That's a web." She warned. She walked forward, watching as the Web Ship flew further above them. "It's heading east. Middle of the City."

Towards the Thames, Donna thought.

As she thought it, the web ship attacked. Beams of energy shot out from the ends of the star. Donna's friends screamed. They ran off, back towards the bar. Except for one friend. Alice.

"Alice! There's a great big web star thing shooting at people, and you're looking at me?" Donna scolded.

"There is something on your back." Alice whimpered, practically shaking in fear. She scurried off, still glancing back at Donna's back.

Donna looked at the star. Something niggled at her brain. She went up the road, in the direction of the star.

"Donna?" Venna called out. "Donna, where are you going? You'll get yourself killed! Donna!"

She needed to be there. She needed to see. Donna couldn't explain it. She knew something about that star felt funny, and that she needed to go.

==MGCB==

Donna reached the Thames. She heard the army shouting. As she and a crowd watched, gunshots went out on the web star. It fell apart under the heavy gunfire.

"Everyone, stay back. The Thames has been closed. Return to your homes. Keep away from the river, and that's an order." A soldier ordered. He and his fellows kept telling the crowd that.

Well. Donna wasn't up for that. Instead, she found a way around them. She snuck around them to get between the police and military cars.

"Trap One to Greyhound Fifteen. What is your report? Over."

A soldier grabbed his phone, replying. "From the evidence, I'd say they managed to stop the creature. Some sort of red spider. Blew up the base underneath the barrier, flooded the whole thing. Over."

"And where are they now? Over."

"We found bodies, sir. Over."

Donna frowned. She looked across the cars. Two stretches were dragged by.

"Is it them? Over."

"I think so. They just didn't make it out in time." The soldier replied.

An arm fell from one. A man's arm, dropping a silver stick to the floor.

Buzz. Buzz.

-Stop blipping me!-

Donna blinked at it, confused.

The second stretcher had a bag attached to the side. Tied to it, like it belonged to her.

Her?

Nah, Donna was just assuming. It looked like a girl's bag, is all. Like a university student's bag.

"The Doctor is dead, along with his companion, Terra Johnson. Must have happened too fast for them to regenerate. Escort the ambulance back to UNIT base." The soldier reported.

Donna watched them go. She would write it off as a general empathy, this bit of grief in her chest. It's always sad when people die. But if she were being honest, that feeling went a lot deeper than a passing bit of empathy.

A clicking noise happened, and Donna forgot about that feeling completely. She turned on her feet, walking off from all the chaos. She avoided a blonde woman, running like the world was on fire.

"What happened? What did they find?" The woman asked Donna, eyeing the ambulances. "I'm sorry, did they find anyone?"

Donna shrugged. "I don't know. A bloke called the Doctor, and some Terra girl."

"Well, where are they?" She asked, searching the area for them.

"They took them away. They're dead." Donna said. The woman turned, slowly. Her jaw dropped. Sorrow filled her big brown eyes. "I'm sorry, did you know them?"

By the look on her face, Donna guessed that was a yes.

"I mean, they didn't say his name. Could be any doctor." Donna offered. "And Terra's a common name."

"I came so far." The woman mumbled, eyeing the ambulance as its doors slammed shut.

"It, it could be anyone." Donna tried again. She looked too, seeing that silver stick again.

-A hand grabbed it. A girl giggled. A man complained. Donna laughed at them both.-

Something rattled. Probably some leftover debris from that web star, yeah.

The woman turned to her. She focused immediately on something behind Donna. "What's your name?"

"Donna. And you?"

"Oh, I was just passing by." She checked Donna's left, then right. Her brown eyes kept darting between the two spaces while not even looking Donna in the face. "I shouldn't even be here. This is wrong. It's wrong. This is so wrong. Sorry, what was it? Donna what?"

"Why do you keep looking at my back?" Donna checked her back again. Did Alice leave something there?

"I'm not." The woman lied, still looking.

"Yes, you are. You keep looking behind me. You're doing it now." Donna told her. She checked it again, desperate to see what everyone was seeing. "What is it? What's there? Did someone put something on my back?"

When she turned to ask the woman again, Donna saw nobody. The blonde was long gone.

==MGCB==

Donna gawked, guffawing. "You can't sack me. I'm your personal assistant!" She put in a good amount of time in this place. It felt like it ended so fast, but that's just the effect working all the time had on people. She was promised a longer service than this!

Her former boss shrugged, playing it like he was helpless. "You don't have to make a scene. Just come downstairs and we can have a little talk."

"Oh, I'll make a scene, all right, right in front of a tribunal!" Donna shouted. "And the first thing I'm going to say is wandering hands!"

"Now, come on, Donna. You know what it's been like for the past few months, ever since that Christmas thing." Chowdry excused. Donna scoffed, loudly. "Half my contracts were on the other side of the river and the Thames is still closed off. Look, I can't deliver. I'm losing a fortune."

"Well, sack one of this lot." Donna glanced around, looking for the worst of the bunch. "Sack Cliff. He just sits there. Don't know what he does all day." Cliff looked at her, offended. "Sorry, Cliff. Actually, I'm not sorry. What do you do all day?"

Cliff rolled his eyes. He got back to his work. Or he would have if the building didn't give a great big shudder.

"What the hell? Like an earthquake." Chowdry took the excuse to leave this argument. He looked out the window. "That's weird. Funny sort of clouds."

Donna focused back on the termination notice. "Who typed this? I'm your PA. Did you get somebody else to type this? Beatrice?"

Beatrice gave her a side glare. She turned on the telly.

Donna huffed. She got to packing up her desk, annoyed at all of them.

As she packed and complained, none of them paid her any mind. They stayed focused on that hospital story. It bothered her.

"It sounds impossible, but the entire hospital has vanished. The Royal Hope no longer exists. It's not been destroyed, there's no wreckage. It's simply gone. Reports from bystanders say that the rain lifted up around the hospital-"

Donna thumped the hole punch in her box. "Hole punch. Having that. Stapler, mine. Toy cactus. You can have that, Beatrice. Catch." She tossed it. Beatrice caught it, making the toy squeak. "Cliff, I'd leave you the mouse mat, but I'm worried you'd cut yourself."

Cliff ignored her, staying focused on the screen. Chowdry turned to Donna.

"All right, Donna, have some respect. There's two thousand people in that hospital, and it's vanished." Chowdry reminded her.

"Oh, I'll show you vanishing. Thanks for nothing." She lifted up her box. All her meager work possessions managed to fit inside of it. Oh, and you know when that money went missing from the kitty? Anne-Marie, that's all I'm saying. Anne-Marie!"

Anna-Marie narrowed her eyes.

Outside, a large explosion sound went off. The building shuddered right after.

Donna rolled her eyes. "Don't tell me, the hospital's back. Well, isn't that wizard."

==MGCB==

"To confirm, the Royal Hope hospital was returned to it's original position, but with only one survivor. The only person left alive is medical student Oliver Morgenstern."

"And there were these creatures, like rhinos. Talking rhinos, in, in, in black leather."

Donna raised an eyebrow. "Rhinos?"

"Rhinos could be aliens." Her grandad pointed out. He loved animals, and space, so he loved pointing out things like this. Any time another alien hoax showed up on the news, her grandad was there to spout his theories.

"Shush." Was her usual reply.

Donna leaned back on the couch. They'd settled in at her mum's place. Despite the increase in salary, Donna could never manage a place to herself. Staying home saved money. Especially since her dad passed, practically leaving her mum alone. Grandad moved back home for that too. All three of them together in the same house- drove Donne barmy, half the time.

She missed traveling. Visiting Spain, and France, they'd all been good fun. Work kept Donna busy from all that. Her mum and grandad kept her busy the rest of it. Donna wouldn't trade this family time away. Or that's what she'd say if anyone asked. In truth, in her heart, Donna wanted adventure. She's not quite sure why she never did any more of it. Too tired, probably.

"There were hundreds of them. We couldn't breathe. We were running out of air. A colleague of mine gave me the last oxygen tank. Martha. Martha Jones. And she died." That supposed alien survivor said.

-"Oh, that makes a change from last time. That Martha must've done you good." Donna praised.

"She did, yeah. Yeah." The Doctor replied. "She did. She fancied me. Terra fancied her."

"Hey!" Terra whined, glaring at him. The Doctor shrugged.-

"At least you got a hole punch and a raffle ticket." Sylvia mused.

Donna smiled at her mum. "Yeah, well, they can keep the raffle. I won't take a penny off that man."

"Honestly, you two. There's aliens on the news." Wilf said. "They took that hospital all the way to the moon, and you're banging on about raffle tickets."

"Don't be daft, Gramps. It wasn't the moon. It couldn't be." Donna replied. Donna was stupid, but even she knew that space rhinos don't exist and people don't just visit the moon.

"Yes, well, I am telling you it is getting worse, these past few years." Wilf went off on his rantings again. If Donna didn't love her gramps, she'd call him a nutter. "It's like, all of a sudden, they suddenly know all about us, and there's keen eyes up there and they're watching us, and they're not friendly."

"This stapler says Bea." Sylvia noted.

Donna smiled at her mum. Her eyebrows scrunched up, watching her mum set the stapler aside. "I can't believe how well you're taking it, me getting sacked. Thought you'd hit the roof."

"I'm just tired, Donna, what with your father and everything." Sylvia admitted. She paused, before meeting Donna's eyes. "To be honest, I've given up on you."

Donna stared back. A sinking feeling in her stomach, in her heart, but not a new sensation. Her mum said things like that now, all the time. Donna reasoned that Dad wasn't around to catch anything her mum threw about. Terribly rude things that normally sparked up a riot in Donna. Lately, all the fight seemed to leave her.

Taking it seemed easier than starting a fight. If they had a fight, her mum could suddenly start crying. Then what would Donna be? Better to just let her mum get it all out. No use arguing it.

Right now, Donna deserved to be given up on. She lost a job that should've been easier to hold. She had no home, or savings to speak of. But Donna could get a new job, and then things would be better. She'd go back to temping, maybe.

"This further report just in from Oliver Morgenstern."

"There was this woman who took control. Said she knew what to do, said she could stop the MRI or something. Sarah Jane, her name was. Sarah Jane Smith."

"Sarah Jane Smith was a freelance investigative journalist, formerly of Metropolitan Magazine. Her body was recovered from the hospital late this afternoon. Miss Smith had a son called Luke, but early reports that Luke-"

Ohh, hearing about a dead child. No thank you. "What's for tea?"

"I've got nothing in." Sylvia replied, still going over Donna's things.

"I'll get chips. Last of my wages. Fish and chips, yeah?" Donna asked.

Nobody answered her. Just as well, Donna already decided. The fresh air might do her some good. She grabbed her things, headed out.

"Also had been inside the Royal Hope, along with his teenage friends Maria Jackson and Clyde Langer. It is feared that they also perished."

==MGCB==

It was cold out. Donna held her jacket tighter around herself, slipping her hands in her pockets.

-Pink boots kicking up snow. A man's laugh. Donna rolled her eyes at them both. Honestly, these two were bonkers.-

A large light went out. Donna flinched back from it. She landed, glancing over at it. She watched as a woman ran out from the alleyway.

"Blimey! Are you alright?" Donna checked down the alley. "What was that, fireworks or-"

"I don't know. I was just walking along. That's weird." The woman remarked.

Donna stared at her. The memory came sharp as crystal. How could she forget the look of grief on this woman's face, realizing her friends were dead. It gutted Donna. "You're the one. Christmas Eve. I met you in town."

"Donna? Isn't it?" The woman stared at Donna's shoulder again.

"What was your name?" Donna questioned, narrowing her eyes on the blonde.

"How're you doing? You're looking good. How's things, what have you been up to?" The woman kept on, like Donna hadn't spoken.

"You're doing it again." Donna scolded.

"What?"

"Looking behind me. People keep on doing that, looking at my back." Donna snapped.

"What sort of people?" The woman asked.

"People in the street. Strangers." Donna answered. "I just catch them sometimes, staring at me. Like they're looking at something. And then I get home, and I look, and there's nothing there. See? Look, now I'm doing it!"

"What are you doing for Christmas?" The woman asked.

Donna must have misheard. "What am I what?"

"Next Christmas. Any plans?" The woman asked again.

"I don't know. That's ages away. Nothing much, I suppose. Why?" Donna questioned back.

"Just, I think you should get out, you and your family. Don't stay in London. Just leave the city."

"What for?" Donna narrowed her eyes.

"Nice hotel Christmas break?" The woman offered.

"Can't afford it." She could barely afford the chips she was on her way to buy.

"Well, no, you got that raffle ticket."

Donna froze. "How do you know about that?"

"First prize, luxury weekend break. Use it, Donna Noble."

"Why won't you tell me your name?" Donna countered. This mysterious woman kept herself quiet. Donna started to walk off, but paused at the woman's side. "I think you should leave me alone."

She walked off. She ignored the flashes of light coming from that way. Must be kids, she told herself. Must be the kids.

==MGCB==

-"Tell me there's no Noddy."

"There's no Noddy." The man and the girl answered before running off.

Just like them, always running.-

Wilf gawked at the grand hotel. Noddy's Christmas song came from the car radio.

Donna won the raffle. She could've spent it on anything, but decided that buying her family a holiday was a good idea. She didn't like saying the woman's idea was good, but it was really good.

"Cor blimey, that's what I call posh." Wilf cheered. He smiled at Donna, walking to the boot to get his things. He avoided bonking his antlers on the door. "I said you were lucky, didn't I? I always said, my lucky star."

Donna smiled at him.

"Look, for God's sake don't tell them we won it in a raffle. Be classy." Sylvia instructed. Donna hardly minded. "Dad, take those things off."

"No, I shan't. It's Christmas." Wilf replied. He reached for bag. "Oi, I'll have that one, thank you. It's got my liniment in it."

Sylvia rolled her eyes at her dad. She walked towards the hotel. Donna stood by her, trying to encourage a smile from her mum.

"I reckon we deserve this. It's been a hell of a year." Donna said.

"Your dad would have loved this." Sylvia mused.

Donna took the victory as it was. "Yeah. He would have."

==MGCB==

Morning time. Donna excitedly touched up her makeup. She woke up early, buzzing for what the day had in store. Something big would happen today. She felt it in her bones.

"The future wants to be heard-"

Sylvia kept on watching her Christmas programs. Wilf sleepily reclined on the sofa.

Donna heard someone knocking. It perked her up. "Oi, Gramps, get that. That'll be breakfast. We've got croissants."

Wilf pulled himself up from the sofa. He groaned and creaked with every move. "Why can't you get it, Lady Muck?"

"It's Christmas Day, I never get up before ten." Sylvia replied. She bit into another chocolate. "Only madam there was up with the dawn chorus, like when she was six years old."

"I'm not wasting a second in this place." Donna brushed more makeup on her cheeks. "How was the sofa?"

"Oh, yeah. Oh, not so good, really." Wilf cracked his back. "Oh gawd." He stumbled over to the door. "You know, we could have paid for a second room. Oi!" Wilf pointed at Donna, giggling. "Merry Christmas."

Donna gestured right back. "Merry Christmas."

Sylvia laughed. "Merry Christmas, Dad."

They knocked again. Wilf rushed at it. "Yeah, all right. Come on in, my darling. Grub's up. Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas, sir!" The Hispanic maid replied.

Donna checked over her makeup again. It made her look great. She liked this look. It made her feel confident, and she was sure to get boys.

-"There is no planet of the Boys!"

"There's a million trillion planets out there! Somewhere there is a planet of the Boys just dancing about in their pants! Terra, tell him!"

"I mean...there could be."-

"Have you seen this?" Sylvia asked.

Donna tried to listen, but also tried to tune it out. There were better things for Christmas. "Because I thought, nice early breakfast and then we'll go for a walk. People always say that at Christmas. Oh, we all went for a walk. I've always wanted to do that. So, walk first, presents later, yeah?"

"Donna, come and see." Sylvia said.

"Tienes algo en tu espalda." The maid pleaded.

Donna glanced up. The maid was staring at Donna, practically shaking.

"-satellite."

"What?" Donna asked.

"Donna, look at the telly." Sylvia repeated.

"Tienes algo en tu espalda." The maid gawked at Donna.

"-replica of the RMS Titanic."

"What does that mean? I don't know what you're saying." Donna said.

The maid shivered, eyes welling up.

"Donna, look at the TV!" Sylvia snapped.

"Tienes algo en tu espalda!" The maid shouted.

Donna tried looking again. She caught flashes, maybe, of something. She wrote it off as her mascara.

"For God's sake, Donna. Don't just stand there, come and look." Sylvia ordered.

Donna walked out of the bathroom. She saw the news. A Titanic in the sky.

"Not sure how this is possible, but this footage is live and genuine. The object is falling on Central London. I repeat, this is not a hoax. A replica of the Titanic is falling out of the sky, and it's heading for Buckingham Palace. We're getting this footage from the Guinevere range of satellites."

"Is that a film or something?" Donna asked.

The Titanic in the sky began to fall. A single line forward towards Buckingham Palace.

"The Royal Air Force has declared an emerg-"

The ship hit the palace. The TV feed cut off.

Donna wondered what went wrong. Then, the building shuddered.

Sylvia checked the other channels. "It's gone dead. All of them."

Donna turned to her mum, then back at the static on the telly. Wilf walked over to a nearby window. "No, but, the Titanic? Well, don't be daft. Is that like a sequel?"

"Oh. Oh, God rest their souls." Wilf murmured. He rushed to the door.

Donna went after him.

Outside, other people in the hotel stood out on the yard. All of them looking in the same direction. All looking towards London. A mushroom cloud on the horizon, Donna felt the heat of it.

"I was supposed to be out there selling papers." Her grandad realized. Her heart thumped, painfully, as a lot of things came to light in her head. "I should have been there. We all should. We'd be dead."

Her mum joined them. She gasped, hand over her mouth. "That's everyone. Every single person we know. The whole city."

"Can't be." Donna shook her head. All of those people, Veena, Mooky, Alice, hell even Nerys-

-"Oh my God, she's finally got me back. This has got Nerys written all over it."

"Who the hell is Nerys?" The man asked. The girl beside rolled her eyes, but kept looking at Donna like she was... like she was...

"Your best friend." Donna hissed.-

-All of them. Dead.

"But it is. It's gone. London's gone." Sylvia replied.

Wilf stared at Donna. "If you hadn't won that raffle."

That woman. That woman knew about the raffle ticket, without Donna ever saying it. The woman told Donna to do it, at Christmas, months before they even played any Christmas tunes, and Donna did it. If she hadn't listened, if she'd stayed angry and ignored the woman-

Oh my god.

Donna turned around. The maid from their room glared at Donna. She pointed a hate fueled finger at the ginger, which did nothing to make her feel better. Especially because a lot of that focus seemed to be on Donna's back.

==MGCB==

"Leeds?" Donna snapped.

She stood in line with her mum. Hours of waiting, of having their appointment pushed back because of other people. The hours they spent getting their papers back and in order.

"I'm not moving to Leeds."

"I'm afraid it's Leeds or you can wait in the hostel for another three months." The housing officer explained.

Sylvia turned to her daughter. "All I want's a washing machine."

Donna understood that. She missed not having to hang their clothes to dry on furniture and washing them in sinks, with their few drops of water. "What about Glasgow? I heard there was jobs going in Glasgow."

"You can't pick and choose. We've the whole of Southern England flooded with radiation. Seven million people in need of relocation, and now France has closed its borders. So, it's Leeds or nothing." The housing officer grabbed a stamp. "Next!"

She slammed it on their sheet. A big red 'LEEDS' for Donna to hand over to the correct people.

==MGCB==

Their bus dropped them off. A random street in Leeds that Donna never saw before, but would now become her home.

Soldiers were all over the street too. In front of every house, and around a truck where an officer stood up with a megaphone.

A family beside them stared at Donna. The teenage daughter was staring, actually. Donna tried to pay her no mind. She'd watched Donna for the whole ride to Leeds.

"The Daniels Family, billeted at number fifteen." The officer shouted.

A family grouped up their things. They brought their things to the house.

"Mister and Mrs Obego, billeted at number thirty one. Miss Coltrane, you're in number eight. The Luna-Johnson family, billeted in twenty-seven. The Noble family, billeted at number twenty nine."

The family of three went over to it. They were neighbors now, weird.

Wilf lifted up his telescope. He brought it to Christmas, and now he refused to part with it. "That's us. Come on, off we go. All right?"

"Leah, Leah come on." A woman said.

Donna checked. The teenager kept her amber eyes on Donna. Not on her back, which Donna noted. The attention was completely on Donna herself.

Probably another reason that Donna let it go on so long.

The teen did move, at the woman's insistence. She hoisted up a bag on her shoulder, brushing up her brown hair.

Donna went with her family. She checked for her house, but kept checking the family ahead. The daughter never glanced back at them.

"Used to be a nice little family, number twenty nine." Donna turned back. A woman leaned out of her home, glaring at Donna. "They missed one mortgage payment. Just one. They got booted out. All for you lot."

"Don't get all chippy with me, Vera Duckworth. Pop your clogs on and go and feed whippets." Donna snapped.

"Sweetheart, come on. You're not going to make the world any better by shouting at it." Wilf chided.

Donna hummed. She turned, headed towards their new home. "I can try."

At number 27, the other family let themselves in. The daughter gave one more look at Donna, and this one was full of grief and confusion.

Donna, already frustrated from before, snapped at her too. "What's it to you?!"

The mother elbowed the teen. "Leah, stop staring."

"Daughter of London." The girl said, her American accent taking a far off quality. "I am so sorry."

An American? That's hold on, why were-

-"Are you American?" Donna asked.

The brunette girl blinked her amber eyes. "-yes?"

"But he's English."

"...yes?"

"You said you were the same. How can you be the same if you're American?" Donna asked, confused and panicked.

"...the same kind of alien, not the same person." The girl corrected. She sounded upset at having to make the distinction.-

The mother pulled Leah along with her. Donna wanted to pull her back, ask more questions, but Sylvia distracted her.

"What happens? Do we get keys?" Sylvia gestured to their new home.

"I don't know, do I?" Wilf replied.

"Who do we ask? The soldiers?" Sylvia asked.

The door opened wide. A foreign man stood, beaming happily at them. "Hey, hey. Is a big house. Room for all. Welcome! In you come." He stepped aside, letting them in.

"I thought this was our house." Donna admitted.

"Is many peoples house. Is wonderful. In, in, in." The man continued to usher them in.

Donna squeezed inside, past the man. She spotted kids on the stairs, and heard even more people all over the place.

"We've been here for eight weeks already." The man explained. "I had a nice little paper shop in Shepherd's Bush. All gone now. So, upstairs, we have Merchandani family. Seven of them. Good family. Good kids." He pointed at one of the children on the stairs. "Except that one. You be careful of him." The boy raised his arms, confused. The man laughed. "I's a joking! Where's that smile, eh?" The kid did smile then.

Donna quickly became overwhelmed. All these people in her home? She just wanted a quiet spot.

"Rocco Colasanto." The man introduced. "I'm here with my wife and her sister and her husband and their kids and their daughter's kids. We've got the front room. My mother, she's got the back room. She's old. You forgive, eh?. And this? This is you. This is your palazzo." He walked them down the hall towards the kitchen.

Rocco opened the door to a small packed away space. Three beds were organized, but all of them were simple cots pressed between counters and in the back hallway.

"What do you mean, this is us?" Sylvia asked.

"You live here." Rocco clarified, still beaming.

"We're living in the kitchen?" Donna checked.

"You got camp beds. You got the cooker, you keep warm. You got the fridge, you keep cool. Is good, eh?" Rocco asked, smiling like he actually thought they would like it.

Donna didn't. It was better than nothing, barely.

"What about the bathroom?" Sylvia asked.

Rocco laughed. "Nobody lives in the bathroom."

"No, I mean, is there a rota?" Sylvia asked.

"Is pot-luck! Is fun." Rocco laughed. He patted their shoulders, walking back towards the 'door'. "I go wake Mamma. She likes new people. Mamma! Is people! Nice people!"

Wilf shifted through the beds. He wobbled to the third bed, just beyond them. "Ah, well. We'll settle in, won't we? Make do? Bit of wartime spirit, eh?"

"Yeah, but there isn't a war. There's no fight. It's just this." Donna told him. Her grandad fought in that war, but he never talked about it. Donna never expected it from him. War stories weren't usually pretty, from what Donna heard.

-"How long's this war gone on for?" The man asked.

"Longer than anyone can remember. Countless generations marked only by the dead." A general answered.

"Is that what the counter is?!" The girl asked. "That's a lot of dead folks." The boy beside her nodded. Their matching amber eyes filled up with grief.

"What, fighting all this time?" Donna asked them.

"Because we must." A blonde girl answered. One barely older than the other kids. All of them were just kids. "Every child of the machine is born with this knowledge. It's our inheritance. It's all we know. How to fight, and how to die."-

"Well, America, they'll save us. It was on the news." Wilf said. "They're going to send Great Britain fifty billion quid in financial aid. God bless America."

-"Some say 'servants' but I've lived in America during the Civil War, and saw what the South was like. I know the difference." The young girl smiled. A smile that didn't belong on a face that was crying. Donna knew that kind of smile, and it ached that it was so familiar on her face. "Slaves would sing in the fields...such sad songs-"-

==MGCB==

"America is in crisis, with over sixty million reported dead. Sixty million people have dissolved into fat. And the fat is walking. People's fat has come to life and is walking through the streets. And there are spaceships. There are reports of spaceships over every major US city. The fat is flying. It's leaving-"

"Aliens." Wilf mumbled.

Donna bit into her cereal. "Yeah."

"-the fat creatures are being raised into the air-"

"I'm waving at fat." Donna giggled.

"But really cute fat." The girl reasoned.

"Actually, as a diet plan, it sort of works." That bloke added in.

The little babies of fat floated past them. Donna kept on waving, elated. A feeling of pride settled in her chest. She helped do this, she knew, and they couldn't have done it without her.-

The cereal went down. It settled in her stomach, but didn't fill her. Few things could, lately.

==##==

Night time. Donna and Sylvia laid side by side. Their beds rested in the only spots they could fit.

"Mary McGinty. Do you remember her?" Sylvia mumbled in the dark.

Donna turned to her mum. "Who was she?"

"Worked in the newsagent on Sunday. Little woman. Black hair." Sylvia listed.

Donna vaguely remembered her. "Never really spoke to her."

"She'll be dead. Every day I think of someone else. All dead." Sylvia said.

Her chest ached. Donna did the same. "Maybe she went away for Christmas." She wondered if that woman was even alive, the one that got them away. Her old friends, or old boyfriends. Any of them could be dead and gone.

-"And some of the boys she used to turn up with. Different one every week." Wilf recalled. "Here, who was that one with the nail varnish?"

"Matthew Richards. He lives in Kilburn now. With a man." Donna answered.

Neither of them were paying any attention. Too focused on the car. Like any man, but the girl was always weird so it made sense for her.-

"Maybe." Sylvia mused. She never liked agreeing with Donna's plans. Or ideas.

"I'll go out tomorrow. I'll walk into town. There's got to be work." Donna tried to encourage her. These years were the worst for her mum. Donna needed to do her part to make it better. "Everyone needs secretaries. Soon as I'm earning, we'll get a proper place. Just you wait, Mum."

"What if it never gets better?" Sylvia asked.

"Course it will." Donna said.

"Even the bees are disappearing. You don't see bumblebees anymore." Sylvia mused. Was she even considering Donna anymore, or just dismissing her off the bat?

"They'll sort us out. The emergency government. They'll do something." Donna tried again.

"What if they don't?"

"Then we'll complain."

"Who's going to listen to us? Refugees. We haven't even got a vote. We're just no one, Donna. We don't exist." Sylvia stressed.

Donna hated that feeling. The feeling of helplessness she felt ever since Christmas. Not even this Christmas, but the one before. Ever since those two people died, Donna's life took a turn for the worst.

"And I spent all my money on whiskey and beer." Rocco sang.

"I am going to kill that man!" Donna huffed. She pushed herself out of bed, storming off from their section of the house to his. "Now listen, Mussolini! I am telling you for the last time to button it! If I hear one more sea shanty-"

Rocco moved. Her grandad sat beside him, gleefully cheering along.

"I always loved a sing song." Wilf said.

Donna wanted to yell. The singing didn't help anybody. What's even the point of-

-"It's still fun!" Donna replied.

The man laughed. "Always count on Terra for that."

"Secret tunnel! Secret tunnel!" The ginger girl sang again.

"Come on, y'all, join in!" Her brother suggested. "Through-"

"-the mountain!" Donna and the blonde joined in, laughing.-

==MGCB==

Donna found herself singing with them. Tunes and melodies that belonged on the radio, lifting her spirits. They even got Sylvia over. Her mum laughed and clapped with them, even if Sylvia wasn't fully engaged. It was the first time she saw her mum smile in ages.

"I'm just a poor boy. Nobody loves me. He's just a poor boy from a poor family. Spare him his life from this monstrosity. Easy come, easy go, will you let me go? Bismillah, no."

Gunshots came from outside. The music stopped while everyone looked to the windows.

Rocco went to the door. Wilf followed him. For some reason, Donna followed them both.

"No, you stay here. Everyone, stay." Rocco told his family, and the family upstairs. Donna and Wilf were already ignoring him.

Outside, they saw the hubbub. A soldier shot at his car, smoke spewing out the tailpipe.

"Hey! Firing at the car is not so good. You, you crazy or what?" Rocco yelled.

"It's this ATMOS thing, it won't stop. It's like gas. It's toxic." The soldier told Rocco. His eyes kept darting at Donna.

"Don't shoot at the car!" Donna saw a blonde woman yelling at them. Mrs Leanna Luna-Johnson, Donna remembered. A former cop, until her station blew up in the Tragedy. She'd come out with noise. Her daughter, Leah, came behind her. "Just switch it off."

"I have done. It's still going. It's all the cars." The soldier explained. "Every single ATMOS car, they've gone mad."

-"Maybe they want to help. Get rid of pollution and stuff." Donna suggested.

"Clear the planet for an invasion, I like that." The ginger said, staring off at the door. "Well I don't like being invaded, but I like the idea. It'll make stopping the invasion that much cooler."

"Do you know how many cars there are on planet Earth?" The man replied. "Eight hundred million. Imagine that. If you could control them, you'd have eight hundred million weapons."-

"You, lady." Donna startled back to the present. A soldier aimed a gun at her, making Donna want to scream in fright. "Turn round! Turn around now!"

"Are you crazy, boy?" Rocco yelled.

"Put the gun down!" Wilf shouted.

"For God's sake!" Leanna scolded. "Before you hurt someone!"

"I said, turn round! Show me your back!" The soldier ordered.

"Do what he says!" Sylvia shouted.

The soldier raised his gun, stomping forward. "Show me your back!"

Donna turned. Her heart pounded. She found herself looking at Leah. For some reason, the look on her face made Donna feel calm. Not completely calm, there was still a gun on her back. But Leah gave Donna the impression that she was safe.

"Turn around, now! Show me your back!" The soldier ordered.

Donna stepped backwards. Rocco and Wilf stepped aside, letting Donna through. Wilf watched Donna with twitching hands, like he wanted to hold his grandchild tight to keep her from danger..

"Sorry. I thought I saw-"

"Call yourself a soldier? Pointing guns at innocent women?" Wilf snapped at him.

A light went off up the road. Nobody saw or reacted, too drawn in by the soldiers. Donna did. The same light as when that woman appeared before. Donna walked towards it.

"You're a disgrace. In my day, we'd have had you court martialed!" Wilf shouted.

"Donna? Where are you going?" Sylvia called out. "It's not safe at night. Donna! Donna!"

"Leah!" Leanna shouted. "Leah, come back!"

Donna checked. Sure enough, Leah was at Donna's back. She walked faster to reach her side.

"What are you doing?" Donna asked.

"The light." Leah replied. "There's something off about it. I need to see. When I see it, I'll figure out what's wrong."

The two of them turned the block.

Leah stepped back. "Oh."

Donna figured she would show. "Hello."

The blonde woman nodded. "Hi."

==MGCB==

The three walked over to a nearby park. They could hardly see the stars.

"It's the ATMOS devices." The woman explained. "We're lucky, it's not so bad here. Britain hasn't got that much petrol. But all over Europe, China, South Africa, they're getting choked by gas."

"Can't anyone stop it?" Donna asked.

"Yeah, they're trying right now, this little band of fighters, on board the Sontaran ship. Any second now." The woman explained.

Leah flinched. She looked up at the sky. Donna looked too. Still, she saw a cloudy night instantly went up in flames.

"And that was?" Donna asked.

"That was the Torchwood team. Gwen Cooper, Ianto Jones, Toshiko Sato, Owen Harper, Ch-Chloe Johnson. My aunt." The girl said, tone defeated. "They gave their lives. My mum is gonna be devastated."

"And Captain Jack Harkness has transported to the Sontaran home world. There's no one left." The woman said. She glanced at Leah. "How did you know?"

Leah shifted on the bench. "I dream about them. Every night. The Torchwood Three team. I'm with them, but I would never work with Torchwood. But in my dreams, it feels real. Like I want to do it."

The woman stared at Leah, a keen look in her eyes. "Who did you say you were, again?"

Leah's hands gripped her knees. Her brown hair fell around her face like a curtain.

"How about answering some of our questions first. You're always wearing the same clothes. Why won't you tell me your name?" Donna asked.

The woman leaned back on the bench. "None of this was meant to happen." She said. "There were these people, a man and a girl. This wonderful man, and this incredible girl, and they stopped it. The Titanic, the Adipose, the ATMOS, they stopped them all from happening."

"They made it better." Leah noted, gazing up at the stars. "Fixed broken things, didn't they?"

"That doctor and Terra?" Donna guessed.

"You knew them." The woman revealed.

"She did?" Leah asked.

"I did? When?" Donna asked.

"I think you dream about them sometimes, like Leah and Torchwood." The woman said. "It's a man in a suit. Tall, thin man. Great hair. Some really great hair. The girl would've been a brunette."

-"And who is she?" Donna asked. The ginger girl's smile shook, but stayed up. "Did you get a ginger to replace me? What happened to Terra?"

"She's right there." The man explained. The Doctor paused in their retreat down the stairs, smiling at Donna and the girl. "Just like old times!"

"Only without giant red murder spiders!" Th- Terra Johnson laughed.-

"She's ginger, now." Donna recalled, but as soon as thought about it the memory went away. Faded and vague as a dream. But for that moment, things made sense.

The woman snorted. "God, she would. Bet he loved that."

"Who are you?" Donna went back to that. The woman dodged questions every time. If she had answers to explain her dreams- at night or in the day- Donna needed those answers.

"I was like you. I used to be you." The woman admitted, which didn't answer her questions at all. "You've traveled with them, Donna. You've traveled with the Doctor and Terra in a different world."

"I never met them, and they're dead." Donna insisted.

"They died underneath the Thames on Christmas Eve, but you were meant to be there." The blonde explained. "They needed someone to stop them, and that was you. You made them leave. You saved their lives."

-Water. A heavy, unstopping tide of water.

A giant red spider, screaming for her children. Rage in the swinging of her arms. Glares and hisses as she succumbed to the water.

The Doctor and Terra, standing on the stairs. Watching it all.

Donna was scared. For herself, and for those two. Already so hurt, and seemingly deciding to drown with them. "Doctor! Terra! You can stop now."

Terra turned to her, really truly seeing Donna. Terra held the Doctor's hand. The Doctor looked at her, he didn't seem to agree but Donna saw Terra speak. The Doctor nodded, holding onto Terra's hand.-

"Stop it. I don't know what you're talking about." Donna yelled. She stood up from the bench, marching off. "Leave me alone! That girl could've done it! Yell at her!"

"Something's coming, Donna. Something worse." The woman warned.

Donna whirled around to glare. "The whole world is stinking. How can anything be worse than this?"

"Trust me. We need the Doctor and Terra more than ever. I've-" She stopped herself, quickly becoming animated in her desperation. If she traveled with the Doctor as she claimed, then maybe she also had that hollow feeling Donna did. "I've been pulled across from a different universe because every single universe is in danger. It's coming, Donna. It's coming from across the stars and nothing can stop it."

"What is?" Donna asked.

"The darkness."

Always with vagueness, that one. Never able to give Donna a clear answer. "Well, what do you keep telling me for? What am I supposed to do? I'm nothing special. I mean, I'm, I'm not. I'm nothing special. I'm a temp. I'm not even that. I'm nothing."

"Donna Noble, you're the most important woman in the whole of creation." The woman stressed.

"Oh, don't. Just don't." Donna shook her head.

-"Donna, you are the most important woman in all of creation, only you can do this." Terra promised.-

Donna hardly believed it. "I'm tired. I'm so tired."

-"Just in case, I've got your back." Terra assured her. "Like a voice in the back of your head."-

"I need you to come with me." The woman asked. "Both of you, please."

"Yeah. Well, blonde hair might work on the men, but you ain't shifting me, lady." Donna snapped.

"That's more like it." The woman praised.

"I've got plenty more." Donna shot back.

"I can't leave my mums behind." Leah gestured to the sky. "Not with- I couldn't do that to them. They already lost me once."

"Then you'll come with me, only when you want to." The woman warned.

"You'll have a long wait, then." Donna snapped.

"Not really. Just three weeks. Tell me, does your grandfather still own that telescope?" The woman asked.

Donna tensed. "He never lets go of it."

"Three weeks time." The woman repeated. "But you've got to be certain. Because when you come with me, Donna, sorry, so sorry, but you're going to die." The woman faded, like she never even existed there.

That's enough weirdness for one day.

Leah got up from the bench. She started walking towards their street, stopping to look at the stars.

Donna shook her head. "She could've saved him. That Terra girl could have done it. Anyone else. They never needed me."

"There was another. She left them behind." Leah replied. Donna scoffed. "It only worked with you."

Donna sighed. "Whatever, kid. Let's get you home."

"Terra didn't stop him because she saw this. Saw this world, this time, and didn't want it." Leah admitted. "I can see it. See what she was thinking then. Terra didn't want a life if it didn't have you."

Donna sucked a breath in through clenched teeth.

-Terra and Donna laughing about a wooden stick.

Holding a pig and dog, staring at Donna, but wrapped around a sobbing Terra.

Donna hugging Terra. The Time Lady hugging back.

"You look happy."

"I am." Terra lifted up a sugar cookie. She took a big bite out of it. She washed it down with a water bottle. "How about you? Are you happy, Donna?"

"I think I am." Donna replied. Terra giggled again, taking another bite of her cookie.-

"Sometimes, in my dreams, I think you were her best friend." Leah admitted. "I shouldn't even know it. It's like I remember it but-"

"-in the wrong direction." Donna and Leah said.

Leah stared at her. Donna kept seeing another kid flashing in her mind. Another young face, staring at Donna with wonder and pride. Someone was proud of Donna, of what Donna said and did.

In her dreams, Terra encouraged Donna's ideas even if they were wrong. In her dreams, joy danced in her chest. Because Dream Donna did her damned best to keep Terra from ending up like the temp. And Terra-

Well she didn't exist. She was dead. Not even worth thinking about. Donna needed to sleep.

That night, she dreamt of blue boxes again.

==MGCB==

The truck honked.

Rocco and his family and his sister's family and his mum were all loaded onto the truck. The children looked scared and so much smaller, tucked under their mother's arms. But Rocco smiled as always.

"And you! I'm going to miss you most of all. All flame-haired and firey." Rocco pulled Donna in for another hug.

Donna patted his bag. "Oh, but why do you have to go?"

"It's the new law. England for the English, et cetera. They can't send us home. The oceans are closed! They build labor camps." Rocco replied.

"I know, but labor doing what? There aren't any jobs." Donna certainly spent weeks searching. Even before moving here, she searched and searched.

"Sewing, digging. Is good. Now, stop it before I kiss you too much." Rocco gave her a final pair of kisses on her cheeks. Donna would miss him, but not so much the sloppy wet kisses on her face. "Wilfred. My capitano." He saluted.

Wilf saluted him in turn.

Rocco climbed into the truck. A soldier slammed the back of it closed. Rocco held his wife, sitting close to her side.

"It'll be quiet with him gone. Still, we'll have more room." Donna tried to cheer up her grandad with the brightside.

Wilf sniffled. He wiped at his face. "Labor camps. That's what they called them last time."

That sinking feeling came back. "What do you mean?"

Wilf watched the truck. It whirled to life, beginning to drive away. "It's happening again."

"What is?" Wilf said nothing, turning away to walk back to their home. Donna turned to the soldiers around the truck. "Excuse me? Excuse me, where are you taking them? Where are you going? Rocco, where are you going? Where are you going? Where are you going?"

They ignored her. Like everyone else did, lately.

Except-

"He takes a while noticing things." Terra reminded the Doctor. "He still hasn't noticed Donna left."

"She did?" The Doctor asked.

"He didn't?" Donna asked, walking back in.-

-"He didn't notice you'd left. I had to tell him."

Donna scoffed. "Oh that sounds right."-

Everybody alive ignored her.

==MGCB==

Donna went to her mum. Sylvia wasn't looking at Donna, gazing off into the distances like she always did lately.

"I asked about jobs with the army. They said I wasn't qualified. You were right. You said I should have worked harder at school. I suppose I've always been a disappointment."

Please mum, please. Just this one time please. I'm so close to losing it. Say something- anything. Make me change my mind.

"Yeah." Sylvia mumbled.

And Donna felt it. Just like she did those years ago, when she turned left, even if she wasn't aware of it at that moment or this one. Her fate was sealed. The world would change again.

==MGCB==

Another night in their quieter, emptier house.

Wilf sat on the roof. He twisted dials on his telescope. "You know, we'd get a bit of cash if we sold this thing."

"Don't you dare." Donna replied. "I always imagined, at your old age, I'd have put a bit of money by. Make you comfy. Never did. I'm just useless." Wilf stared into the telescope. "You're supposed to say, no you're not." She wanted Sylvia to say it. It burnt up the last bit of heart left in Donna's chest.

Wilf moved the telescope, pointing at a different point in the sky. "Ha, it must be the alignment."

"What's wrong?" Donna asked.

"Well, I don't know. I mean, it can't be the lens, because I was looking at Orion. The constellation of Orion. You take a look. And tell me, what can you see?" Wilf moved the telescope for Donna.

"Where?" Donna leaned towards the telescope.

"Well, up there in the sky." Wilf pointed up at it.

Donna checked through it. She hadn't found the thing yet, whatever her grandad was so worried about. "Well, I can't see anything. It's just black."

"Well, I mean, it's working. The telescope is working." Wilf said.

"Well, maybe it's clouds." Donna guessed.

"There are no clouds." Wilf said.

"Well, there must be." Donna figured that they were just looking at the wrong spots, or maybe the stars-

The darkness. The woman said the darkness was coming.

"There's not! It was there. An entire constellation. Look. Look there." Wilf managed to get one spot. Donna looked at it. One by one, stars vanished from the telescope. "They're going out. Oh, my God! Donna, look. The stars are going out."

Donna stood up. This shit world could take so much from her, every last bit, but it wouldn't take the stars from her grandad. Donna wouldn't let it.

"I'm ready."

The woman was there, and she looked grim.

==MGCB==

The woman led Donna to a warehouse. Or, some group called UNIT led them to a warehouse. The two of them and a bunch of soldiers. Donna hadn't spotted Leah anywhere. Not that she minded, if she was gonna die for this then keeping the kid away was the smart thing.

Soldiers in red caps were everywhere. Donna ignored the flashing memories in her mind, the dream state that kept fighting to be in place. Of Terra following after Martha like a sad puppy, of the Doctor working on her grandad's car, of Terra being in that car. Yeah, that's best left forgotten.

Or maybe she should enjoy it. She'd be dead soon according to the mad vanishing blonde. The one who always wore that same colored purple jacket and pink shirt that Donna swore she'd never seen before-

-"That friend of yours. What was her name?"-

The soldiers and the blonde led Donna to a place surrounded by mirrors, and equipment that Donna would never understand no matter the timeline.

"Where's it gone?" The woman asked.

A soldier stood up, saluting. "Ma'am."

"I've told you, don't salute."

-"Donna, by the way. Donna Noble, since you didn't ask. I'll have a salute."

The general glanced back at the Doctor. The Doctor nodded. Mace turned back to Donna, giving her a salute. "Ma'am."

"Thank you." Donna nodded.

At Donna's side, Terra raised her hand. Donna nodded before clapping it. Terra grinned in delight.-

"Well, if you're not going to tell us your name." The general replied.

"What, you don't know either?" Donna asked.

"I definitely won't if you tell me you lost it." The woman countered. "I've crossed too many different realities. Trust me, the wrong word in the wrong place can change an entire causal nexus. And anyone losing that box is definitely one of those things!"

The general opened her mouth.

A whoosh, whoosh noise went off up the road.

Donna knew that noise. She knew it. It- she'd heard it every night in her dreams for years.

She watched as the box appeared. A great big blue box, with a blinking light on top.

"Unbelievable!" Leah? What's Leah doing in there? She stormed out from the blue box, visibly fuming. She opened the door out the way, gently closing it behind her. "The state he left her in! Did you know her rotors were out of tune? And don't even get me started on what he did to the console! The wires jumbled and the navigation system- And worse yet those brakes-"

"You drove her?" The blonde asked.

Leah paused. She glanced at the blonde, then at the many UNIT agents, then back at the blonde. "Yes?"

"How?" The general came to the blonde's said. "It was quiet all this time. Like it was waiting."

"She was." Leah patted the side. "Waiting. I- sorry, who are you?"

"Captain Erisa Magambo." She answered. "How did you-"

"All of you are in such a state since ATMOS. Really, you should have made it harder to sneak by. Anyone could do it." Leah reasoned. "She deserves to be treated with more respect than this."

"She?" Donna asked.

"The TARDIS is a lady, Donna." Leah replied. "All ladies deserve respect. She's been quiet because she was grieving. Just needed someone to listen to her." Leah leaned against the blue box.

"Miss Noble?" Captain Magambo asked.

"Donna."

"Then this must be Miss Leah Luna-Johnson." Magambo nodded at Leah.

Leah stood up straighter. "Yes. I am."

"How did it work for you?" The blonde asked. "She's not budged for any of us. Even me."

"She showed me." Leah nodded up at the machine. "Just- plopped it all in my head. Like I've been driving her for years."

The blonde stared at the blue box with a stronger degree of warmth. "Where did she take you?"

"Nowhere. There's nowhere to go except backwards, and even that's a bore." Leah replied. "Granted, a fun bore, but still. Shakespeare's written me sonnets, apparently. The Ood! Met some Ood- very nice race, wish I met them earlier! And I think I met the last of the Pyrovile! They were an amazing race, went extinct two thousand years ago! Nobody knew why! Just up and vanished-"

-"Because we'd be sending all the power right back to Vesuvius." Terra explained. "All that power, that force, to the heart of a volcano. To Vesuvius on volcano day."

We're sending to Vesuvius. On volcano day."-

"You did what?" Donna asked.

"And did you know Daleks built the Empire State Building?" Leah burst out laughing. "Daleks! Built a whole building! It's incredible."

"She took you to all those places? Why?" The blonde asked.

"Doctor and Terra weren't around to do it, obviously." Leah replied. "And those things needed fixing. If they weren't solved back then, it would only lead to more problems now. Trust me, you don't want to deal with Daleks on top of all of this." Leah touched the box again. She stared at it with respect and love, like she cherished a police phone box. "She saved humanity, all over again. Beautiful thing, you are. Even if he treated you like that."

"What's a police box got everyone so excited about?" Donna asked.

"We salvaged her from underneath Thames. Just go inside." The blonde suggested.

"What for?" Donna asked.

"Just go in."

Leah opened the door. Behind her, it glowed a bright yellow and green. She stepped inside.

Donna followed.

-"No way."-

Donna stared up at the machine.

"Yeah, she's great!" Leah skipped around the console. She pulled the computer around, typing in numbers and dials. "Isn't she?"

The woman beamed. "Donna, what do you think?"

Donna glanced between them, at the blonde and Leah. "Can I have a coffee?"

Leah laughed.

==MGCB==

Since the box returned, soldiers and the two ladies kept wandering off. Cables and wires needed to be plugged back in. All connected to the console unit. Leah even helped, once they explained the science-y parts to her.

Donna got her coffee. According to Leah, the kitchen was gone so she couldn't make anything.

"Gone?" The blonde asked.

"She's deleting things." Leah replied. "Like clearing up storage." Leah glanced at the large rotor. "Those trips she took me on, they really drained her. I tried to fill her up on the Rift but she wouldn't take any. She likes me but it's not the same. I'm not him, or her."

The blonde nodded, sucking her lip in to bite it. "Still trying to help. And now she's dying."

Leah agreed. She sat herself down on the pilot seat, blowing out a breath. "Time and Relative Dimension In Space. What an honor to have flown with you."

Donna must have gone bonkers. The ship hummed, and it sounded like it was replying to what Leah said. "And, and it belonged to the Doctor?"

"And Terra. They were Time Lords. Last of their kind." The woman replied.

"But if they were so special, what were they doing with me?" Donna asked. "Leah would've been better."

Leah snorted, dismissive of it.

"No, you are." Donna repeated.

"They didn't want me. They wanted you." Leah reminded her.

"They thought you were brilliant." The blonde added.

Donna shook her head. "Don't be stupid."

"But you are. It just took the Doctor to show you that, simply by being with him. He did the same to me. To everyone he touches." The woman smiled up at the rotor, but there were tears in her eyes.

Donna thought she could know, there and then, her name. If only she could remember that dream for just a moment. "Were you and him-?"

The blonde stopped her. "Terra did it too, I bet. She's proud of you in every timeline I've seen." She ignored the tear that fell on her cheek.

Donna wanted to dismiss that off the bat. But the few memories she had, all of them had that ginger girl beaming at her. Donna was her hero. Leah's own words about it bounced around in her head. Though she hated thinking about it, those amber eyes and familiar phrases and things, led Donna to only one conclusion. A conclusion that explained why the Doctor and Terra wouldn't have brought along Leah Luna-Johnson.

Didn't completely explain why Donna, but it helped. And Donna hated it.

(Because deep down, a part of her heart long though dead soaked it up. Soaked up the praise and the joy and the love)

The woman held Donna's shoulder. She glanced at Donna's back. "Do you want to see it?"

Donna heard a clicking sound. Not a hum, like her dreams warned. This click only ever part Donna pain. "No. Go on, then."

==MGCB==

The woman led Donna into a circle of mirrors and arc lights.

"We don't know how the TARDIS works." The woman admitted. She walked Donna towards the middle of the ring. "Leah helped us with that."

Leah walked a circle around the mirror, checking wires and cables. "She knows she's dying, and she wants it to mean something. She's giving us the last of it so we can show you that thing on your back."

"It's a thing?" Donna asked.

"Yes." Leah replied.

The woman adjusted Donna's standing point. "Just stand here."

"Out of the circle, please." Magambo warned.

The woman stared at Magambo, and Donna couldn't tell if it was because of the audacity or in finally treating the blonde like a proper person. "Yes, ma'am." She walked out.

Leah continued rushing about, slotting wires into place and flipping switches.

The woman looked at her, then snorted.

"Can't you stay with me?" Donna pleaded. "Either of ya?"

"It won't work if we stand there." Leah patted a standing light. "It'll confuse them."

"Ready. And activate." Magambo called out.

The lights switched on. Donna squinted at the light. She caught sight of something on her shoulder, a long black leg. She shut her eyes.

"Open your eyes, Donna." The blonde said.

"Is it there?" Donna asked.

"And it's not going away just because you close your eyes." Leah replied. "So open them."

Donna did open them. To her horror, she saw the creature that made her feel like a freak. A large, black beetle stuck to her back. It's mouth bit kept gnawing on her ponytail. She whirled around, trying to get a full look at it because it couldn't be real. This thing couldn't be real! It's just- It's not- It can't-

"Donna! Donna, it's okay! It's okay." Leah called out.

"Calm down, Donna!" The blonde added.

"Donna! You're still here. With us. In the circle, remember?"

Donna slowed her spinning. She stared at it again. This thing stuck to her back. She couldn't even feel it. She could see it and hear it, but there wasn't any weight added to her back to make her heavier. "What is it?"

"We don't know." The woman replied.

"Oh, thanks." Donna snarked.

"It's from the Trickster Brigade." Leah explained. "One of the- I guess we could call them 'Feeders'. They feed off time, similar to a Weeping Angel except- well. A Weeping Angel sends you back, and these keep you going forward but in a different way. They get you to change your whole life based on one choice. A baby never born, a person never loved, a meeting that never happened. They suck the stolen time away from you."

"But I never did anything important." Donna argued.

"You did. You saved the Doctor and Terra, and a lot more than that." Leah reminded her.

"One day, that thing made you turn right instead of left." The blonde revealed.

"When was that?" Donna asked.

"Oh, you wouldn't remember. It was the most ordinary day in the world. But by turning right, you never met the Doctor or Terra, and the whole world just changed around you." The blonde explained.

"Can you get rid of it?" Donna asked.

The blonde shook her head "No, I can't even touch it."

"It seems to be in a state of flux." Leah supplied.

"What does that mean?" Donna asked.

"Can you hold onto a dream?" Leah countered. Donna stared at her, wanting again to shout and snap. "It's not really here. It's back in the original timeline, on the other you's back. But 'cause of the mirrors, we've caught it for a moment. Just enough to see it. Touching it requires more energy than the TARDIS can make."

"That's the sort of thing they would say." The blonde said, nodding fondly at Leah.

"You liars! You told me I was special. But it's not me, it's this thing. I'm just a host!" Donna yelled.

"Absolutely not!" Leah snapped. The woman opened her mouth, but Leah was faster. "You are important! I've only known you a few weeks and I see it- see how great and special you really are. I see it every night because that's how important you are to her!

"No, there's more than that. The readings are strange. It's, it's like reality's just bending 'round you." The blonde explained.

"Because of this thing!" Donna snapped.

"No, no! We're getting separate readings from you." The woman said. Donna paused. "And they've always been there, since the day you were born."

"This is not relevant to the mission." Magambo told her.

"If your mission relies on her, every detail is relevant." Leah countered.

Magambo narrowed her eyes on Leah. "Your skills with the box do not protect you either, Miss Luna-Johnson."

"The earth's safety is your mission." Leah argued. "Donna's the only one that can fix all of this. Without her, we might as well welcome the darkness. You don't get to decide what's relevant. Not even blondie over there can."

Donna noticed that Magambo swallowed. Leah stepped closer to the captain, narrowing her eyes once again.

"Donna Noble is the most important woman out there." Leah scolded. "How could none of you see it? We can't save anyone without her. The Doctor can't do it alone, and Terra never would without Donna. The Doctor Donna Terra. All three of them together or none of them at all. They'll keep the stars from going out."

"Why? What can I do?" Donna asked. The creature clicked again. She could feel it, the mandibles pinching at her hair. "Turn it off, please."

"Captain." The blonde asked.

"Power down." Magambo ordered.

The lights went down. Leah rushed over to Donna, and the blonde joined her.

"I'm not going to ask if you're alright." Leah said. "But do you understand now why it has to be you?"

Donna gulped. "It's still there. On- on my back."

"Yes."

"The me- the other me's back, and my back." It hurt her head trying to keep it all straight. "How do I get rid of it?"

Leah grinned.

"You're going to travel in time." The blonde said.

==MGCB==

Leah fastened a bunch of colored wires to Donna's jacket.

"The TARDIS and I tracked down the moment of intervention." Leah explained. She twisted Donna about as she pinned all the wires in place. "Monday the 25th, one minute past ten AM. You were on Little Sutton Street leading to Ealing Road, and you turned right towards Griffin's Parade. You need to make your past self turn left. It's vital. Turn left. Okay?"

"Turn left, yeah." Donna nodded.

Leah patted down the jacket on her. "Okay. Good. Never take off the jacket. I've insulated it against temporal feedback."

"We made one as well." Magambo pointed out.

"Your's was garbage. I tossed it." Leah replied. "UNIT's never going to be good at tech and fashion. I've seen the Doctor's old outfits. Why did none of you stop him?"

The blonde snickered. "You saw the vegetable?"

"Everyone saw the vegetable! It was the only bit of color he had!" Leah replied. She grabbed a nearby metal contraption, attaching it to Donna's wrist. "This is- it's not a vortex manipulator, I'm not that cruel. It corresponds with the local time when you land."

"Ahem." Magambo held up a glass of water.

Leah took it. "Water. For hydration."

Donna accepted it.

-"I'm not! It smells weird."

"It's a good weird! Just try it." The Doctor held the large mug to Terra. "Donna is."

"No, I'm having a water." Donna replied.-

They led her back to the mirrors.

"I hope to meet you there, again." The blonde told Leah.

Leah snorted. "We both know you have."

The woman nodded. "This is where we leave you." She said to Donna.

"I don't want to see that thing on my back." Donna shook her head.

"No, the mirrors are just incidental." The blonde assured her. They bounce chronon energy back into the center which we control and decide the destination."

Donna beamed. "It's a time machine."

The blonde beamed back. Leah smiled, but tried to hide it. "It's a time machine."

"Never gonna be as good as her, but it'll do in a pinch." Leah winked.

"If you could?" Magambo asked.

Donna left the small huddle. She walked to the middle of the mirror circle, turning back to look at Leah and the blonde.

"Powering up." Magambo announced. She went to a control panel, flipping switches and dials.

"Don't forget the zig-zag! It's very important." Leah instructed. Magambo gave her a blank stare. "Right, yeah."

"How do you know it's going to work?" Donna asked.

"Cause I don't build broken things." Leah replied. "I build things, and plans that work."

"Or blow up." The woman smirked.

Leah narrowed her eyes. "Then I wanted it to blow up."

The blonde laughed.

Donna laughed too. Mad, all three of them, mad.

"Just remember, when you get to the junction, change the car's direction by one minute past ten." The blonde warned.

"How do I do that?" Donna asked.

"It's up to you." The blonde said.

"Well, I just have to run up to myself and have a good argument." Donna decided.

The blonde and Leah laughed. "I'd like to see that!"

"Activate lodestone." Magambo announced.

The motors were running. A whoosh, whoosh noise. The blonde turned to Leah. Leah shrugged.

"It's a good noise. Means it's working." Leah shoved her hands in her pockets, darting her gaze to the mirrors.

The blonde smiled again, tongue on her teeth. "Yeah. It is." She nodded at Donna. "Good luck."

Donna nodded back. "I'm ready."

"One minute past ten." Leah warned. "It's gotta be then."

"Because I understand now. You said I was going to die, but you mean this whole world is going to blink out of existence." Donna explained. The noise around them got louder and louder. Donna had to shout this out, and she was always good at shouting. "But that's not dying, because a better world takes its place. The Doctor's world. And I'm still alive. That's right, isn't it? I don't die. If I change things, I don't die. That's that's right, isn't it?"

But the blonde wasn't smiling anymore. Neither was Leah. Both of them stared at Donna with what can only be described as grief.

"I'm sorry." The blonde said.

"You won't have ever existed. Not this you." Leah revealed. "But the other Donna, she will."

Donna gawked at them. "But I can't die. I've got a future. With the Doctor. You told me!"

"We're sorry!" Leah yelled.

"Activate!"

==MGCB==

She heard music. Upbeat, perky music. The coat, nice in the cold of night, suddenly felt overbearingly hot. She stood up. A man walked by with a briefcase. Ladies walked by holding purses and phones. Cars drove past without ATMOS stickers.

London. She made it to London.

She laughed.

Then she saw a nearby sign.

"But hold on. But this is. I'm not. This is Sutton Court." Donna realized in horror. "I'm half a mile away. I'm half a mile away!" She checked the wrist strap thing.

It took a second to click on. When it did, it read 9:57.

"Four minutes? Oh, my God." Donna got to running.

She ran and ran and ran. With each panicked step, she got flashes. More moments of the other life. The months spent running by those two. They rarely got out of breath, except when gas choked them.

Donna paused on one street. So close, but she knew it was a long ways away still. Even if she made it on time, she was too out of breath to explain.

Her wrist strap said it was two minutes left.

"I'm not going to get there." Donna stated to herself, a realization and a scolding.

She was never meant to reach herself.

-"You're going to die." The blonde had said. Leah hadn't even argued it.

"You won't have ever existed."-

She saw a van. Suddenly, she remembered it. It drove past her, right before she turned. A great big van that came from the right towards the left.

"Please." Let this work. Let me be important. Give Grandad the stars back.

Donna stepped into the road.

==MGCB==

Suddenly, Donna existed in two moments. Herself, dying in the road. In a car beside her mum. She couldn't place the real her. If there even was a real her. Maybe they both existed in this state of flux.

Huh. Now she got it.

A woman was screaming. Cars were honking.

"Can you hear that?" Her mum asked.

Donna did hear it.

They said there was something in the road. Her.

"The traffic's stopping." Cars in the right lane began to stack up.

"Something must have happened." Sylvia stated the obvious.

The blonde was back. She walked up to Donna, weak and so close to being gone.

"Tell them this. Two words." She leaned forward, and whispered.

Donna held them tight.-

She held the turn signal tight.

"Well, that decides it. I'm not sitting in a traffic jam. I'm going left."

And so she did.

==MGCB==

AN: Sorry this took so long! I got sent online harassment, and when I complained to my bosses about it they said it was *all my fault that I got the harassment- and I'm lucky I didn't make it worse*. So to fix it, they fired me. As one does. But I managed to finish this and other chapters in my new free time.

And as for the Leah TARDIS bit, I always struggled with some of the past episodes just being...ignored? Like if the Adipose thing happened, it meant their breeding planet was gone which meant the Daleks did it, which meant the Pyroviles still happened and so on. A lot of things in the future and past still happen, and yeah they could be ignored but it bothered me that they never ever got glanced over.

Like we would all be lava rock monsters, if the Doctor hadn't stopped Pompeii. Remember that? Remember the big deal the Doctor made about blowing up a volcano that didn't need to blow up, because modern time people would all become lava rock monsters?

Episodes that Leah didn't do cause it wasn't 100% necessary: Gridlock (it's technically fine, people are dying but like after a century they'll be fine. Or maybe Jack got them out sooner, idk), Lazarus Experiment (the Master funded Lazarus, so there's no way he could do it this time), 42, Human Nature/Family of Blood, Blink, Utopia/SOD/LATL, Doctor's Daughter, the River episodes (no Doctor= no Silence), Midnight, any episode with consequences in this episode, and any of the Big Finish Audios that come of these two seasons.

Leah just did a speed run of season 3 and 4- all future and distant past episodes. Maybe she did them even faster 'cause I said so. She's smart like that.

Thanks to KALEGO for favoriting and following