A/N - Sorry this one took a while to get up! It's significantly longer than the other chapters, as I'm sure you'll see, so I hope that makes up for it! I was tempted to split it into another extra chapter, but there didn't seem like a good point to do it that wouldn't leave the next chapter ridiculously small.
As the doors to the lift opened on the lower basement floor, the group stepped out into a long hallway filled with an eerie green light. 'Ah yes, not creepy at all,' Rose couldn't help but think sardonically to herself, but she turned around to get a good look at their surroundings. There was very little down here to see, granted, but that strange pulling sensation she felt was stronger down here, and she let out a small breath, trying to calm the pounding of her heart in her chest.
It all felt so… wrong, somehow.
"Where are we?" Donna's voice snapped Rose out of her thoughts, and she turned, absently rubbing her hand against her chest, where a wound may have once lingered in another life. "What goes on down here?" She asked, and The Doctor lifted his eyebrows slightly.
"Let's find out." He suggested, stepping forward and taking another look around, trying to place where exactly they were.
"Do you think Mr. Clements knows about this place?" Donna asked, and The Doctor nodded once in confirmation.
"The mysterious HC Clements? I think he's part of it."
"So he's either an alien, being used by an alien, or in cahoots with an alien," Rose surmised, and The Doctor couldn't help but grin.
"Cahoots. Love that word, but yep, that sums it up, more or less." He confirmed, before his eyes locked in on a bunch of segways nearby, and his expression lit up in what Rose could only describe as child-like glee. "Oh, look! Transport!"
"Really? Segways?" Rose couldn't help but laugh, but followed The Doctor as he ran for the devices, "We could just walk, y'know."
"More fun this way," The Doctor dismissed the idea, waving his hand, stepping up onto one and starting it up, taking a moment to look at Rose, wriggling his eyebrows in his excitement, and Rose's laughter only grew. She moved to another one, climbing onto it and turning the handle, letting out a little noise of surprise when it jerked forward slightly, and The Doctor snickered.
"Shut it, you!" Rose huffed, fighting back her own smile as she shifted her balance a little better, and was able to maneuver the machine away from the others, The Doctor following close behind. Soon enough he moved beside her, shooting her a small, playful wink.
"Mad, the pair of you," Donna muttered, but, granted, she had just jumped out of a taxi – this was hardly the strangest thing she'd done today. With that in mind, she too climbed aboard a segway, a sharp look in Lance's direction prompting him to mount one, too.
They rode in silence for a while, down a long – far too long – hallway, until Rose happened to glance behind her, catching Donna's eyes. Immediately, the two women started to laugh, Rose turning back forward, her laughter only growing stronger as she caught sight of The Doctor's grinning face in her peripheral vision. She really didn't know how they ended up in these ridiculous situations, but it could only ever happen with The Doctor.
As Rose began to try to stifle her giggles, the group soon came to a stop at a large bulkhead door, and they dismounted. Rose's mirth finally came to a halt at the sight of the Torchwood logo stamped upon the door, a grim reminder of everything she had lost so far. She tucked her hair behind her ear, clearing her throat as The Doctor opened up the door to reveal a ladder.
"Wait here," The Doctor instructed them, only to pause at the sight of Rose's expression. With that in mind, he was quick to add; "I just need to get my bearings. Don't do anything."
"You'd better come back." Donna warned as The Doctor began to climb, and he let out a small scoff, as though the very idea that he'd vanish was ridiculous.
"And leave Rose? Nah, it'd be pointless, she'd find a way back to me somehow – she's like a boomerang, she is. I don't think I could get rid of either of you if I tried."
"He has tried, believe me," Rose muttered, peering up the ladder as he moved farther and farther upwards. She tuned out Donna and Lance's small conversation as she watched his ascension. With a brief moment of reprieve in their adventure, Rose's thoughts began to wander. Before everything had started, before The Doctor had found a way to help her say goodbye to her mother, she had been avoiding him, to put it rather bluntly.
She had been afraid of what he might do when he found out the truth about her, about what she'd been through. She knew that she couldn't very well hide this from him – he was a Time Lord, he was going to find out about this eventually, and keeping it a secret made it seem as though she felt like she had done something wrong, and she didn't! Coming back was the best decision she could have made, and she knew that. Unfortunately, she just wasn't able to predict how The Doctor would feel about this, and THAT was what frightened her.
She was startled out of her thoughts quite suddenly as The Doctor jumped down the last few rungs of the ladder, dusting off his hands as he spoke.
"Thames flood barrier right on top of us. Torchwood snuck in and built this place underneath." He explained, and Rose couldn't say she was surprised, though Donna certainly was.
"What, there's like a secret base hidden underneath a major London landmark?" She asked in disbelief, and The Doctor and Rose shared a look.
"Oh, I know. Unheard of." He replied, voice light, and Rose couldn't help but smile slightly, following after him as he left the room, wrapping her arms around herself as they headed for another door close by. This one didn't seem to be a door leading towards a ladder, but seemed instead to lead to another part of the underground base. For some reason, the unease Rose had been feeling ever since she had gotten down here only began to grow the closer that she got to it.
Her hands moved to press over her heart, able to suddenly feel it pounding in her chest. She felt almost light-headed as The Doctor pushed open the doors, and she hesitated for a second before following him. Her unease must have shown upon her face, because Donna gave her a curious look, and Rose simply shook her head before steeling herself and heading inside.
It seemed to be a laboratory of some kind, full of bubbling tubes, and Rose took a moment to look around, overwhelmed just by being in the middle of the wrong-ness she felt. There was something here, something that shouldn't BE, but she just… didn't know what.
The Doctor, of course, was in his element, clearly delighted as he moved throughout the room, examining everything that he could see. "Ooh, look at this... Stunning!"
"What does it do?" Donna asked, looking around, seeming overwhelmed.
"Particle extrusion. Hold on," The Doctor replied, moving to another part of the lab quickly, staring at some more tubes, and Rose could practically feel his awe. "Brilliant. They've been manufacturing Huon particles... 'Course, my people got rid of Huons. They unravel the atomic structure." He explained, and Rose started for a moment as a voice, much like her own, yet with something else, seemed to echo in her mind.
I can see the whole of time and space. Every single atom of your existence, and I divide them.
Her fingers moved to her head, massaging her temples slightly, shutting out the sound of The Doctor explaining who 'his people' were to Lance. Her memories felt so… fractured. She could hardly tell between her memories of her previous life with The Doctor, her memories in the alternate universe and her dreams. They all… blurred together, somehow. Still, the feeling that had settled inside of her felt familiar.
The Doctor held up a small tube of some kind of liquid in front of Donna, who looked apprehensive, and Rose tried to tune herself back into the conversation as best as she could. Liquid huon particles… right. Of course.
"And that's what's inside me?" Donna asked, and by a way of response, The Doctor turned a small knob on top of the container. The liquid inside began to glow gold, as did Donna. Horror and fear were both plain upon her face, though Rose didn't get the opportunity to comfort her. The moment The Doctor had turned the knob, the feeling she that had been sitting inside of her flared up into an inferno.
Stars. She was burning. Inside out. Hot.
WRONG. WRONG.
Rose stumbled, grabbing onto a nearby table in order to keep her balance, her free hand moving to cover her mouth to stop herself from crying out. There was a song inside of her, burning her from the inside out, and it was only when golden eyes looked up to meet Donna's horrified gaze, that she realized she too, was glowing.
She looked down at her hand, glowing and pulsating with a golden light, and as Donna opened her mouth to say something, Rose shook her head sharply. Not now. Not here.
The Doctor turned the knob once more, and the glowing faded, taking the burning sensation along with it, and Rose breathed a small sigh of relief, resting her other hand on the table and dropping her head downward slightly in order to catch her breath.
What was THAT?
"Genius." The Doctor breathed, shaking his head slightly as he looked at the tube. "Because the particles are inert, they need something living to catalyse inside and that's you. Saturate the body and then. Ha!" He jumped backwards, suddenly giddy. "The wedding! Yes, you're getting married, that's it! Best day of your life, walking down the aisle. Oh, your body's a battleground! There's a chemical war inside! Adrenaline, acetylcholine. Wham! go the endorphins. Oh, you're cooking! Yeah, you're like a walking oven. A pressure cooker, a microwave, all churning away. The particles reach boiling point. Shazam!"
Rose looked up as a loud noise broke through The Doctor's rambling, only to see Donna with her hand raised, and The Doctor looking sufficiently overwhelmed. Ah. Oh dear. Rose straightened up, moving to step beside The Doctor, and he looked between the two women, genuinely confused.
"What did I do this time?" He asked.
"Are you enjoying this?" Donna demanded, and The Doctor had the grace to stay silent, something akin to guilt flashing over his face for a brief moment. He DID tend to get a bit carried away when he figured out the answers to a mystery. "Right, just tell me. These particles, are they dangerous? Am I safe?" Donna's eyes moved to Rose, then, and she could hear the unasked question in her words. Are WE safe?
"Yes." The Doctor replied, far too quickly and not at all convincingly.
"Doctor," Donna breathed, and the look in her eyes was desperate. "If your lot got rid of Huon particles, why did they do that?"
The Doctor didn't reply for a moment, but his expression was grim, and Rose reached out, taking hold of Donna's hand, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth.
"Because they were deadly." He admitted finally, and Donna let out a shaky breath, stumbling against Rose, who moved to wrap her arms around her tightly, pulling her into a hug.
"Oh, my God.." Donna whispered, a tremor in her voice. The Doctor strode forward towards the girls, staring down at them, though his eyes were fixed on Donna.
"I'll sort it out, Donna. Whatever's been done to you, I'll reverse it. We are not about to lose someone else." He promised.
"Oh, she is long since lost!"
The voice caught them all off-guard, and Rose turned quickly, seeing what had initially appeared to be a blue wall beginning to rise upwards. It revealed some kind of hole leading directly into the Earth, and the voice continued, raspy and hoarse, though Rose couldn't figure out where it came from. It seemed as though it were all around them, and she shivered. She didn't like this, not at all.
"I have waited so long, hibernating at the edge of the universe until the secret heart was uncovered and called out to waken!"
Up upon the platforms, a dozen or so robots wearing hooded cloaks turned to face them, raising up the guns in their hands. Instinctively, Rose moved a little in front of Donna, fixing them all with a glare. The Doctor, however, seemed unperturbed, and strolled forward with his hands in his pockets, peering over the edge of the hole.
"Someone's been digging. Oh, very Torchwood. Drilled by laser," He noted, and Rose rolled her eyes slightly, letting out a somewhat breathless laugh.
"They always liked bein' overly flashy," She noted, taking hold of Donna's hand as the other woman moved closer to the hole. She didn't intend to let Donna out of her sight or away from her side just quite yet. The Doctor glanced at her with a half smile before he continued.
"How far down does it go?"
"Down and down, all the way to the centre of the Earth!" The voice announced gleefully.
The Doctor's eyebrows rose up high at that response. "Really? Seriously? What for?" He asked, genuinely puzzled.
"Dinosaurs." Donna offered, and The Doctor's puzzlement only seemed to grow even stronger as he turned to look at the women.
"What?"
"Dinosaurs?" Donna tried again, and The Doctor shook his head, bemused. Rose fought the urge to laugh as the two of them stared at one another with equal confusion.
"What are you on about, dinosaurs?" The Doctor asked.
"That film, Under the Earth, with dinosaurs. Trying to help." Donna shrugged.
"That's not helping." The Doctor dismissed, turning back to face the hole once more.
"Good try, though." Rose piped up, shaking her head behind The Doctor's back. "Not like The Doctor was comin' up with any theories."
"Rose." The Doctor let out a loud sigh, glancing over his shoulder, and Rose simply offered him a little smile in response, tilting her head to one side.
"Doctor."
"Such a sweet couple." The voice taunted, and Rose's smile instantly faded. She held onto Donna's hand a little more tightly, and Donna glanced at her nervously.
"Only a madman talks to thin air and trust me, you don't want to make me mad. Where are you?" The Doctor demanded.
"High in the sky. Floating so high on Christmas night."
"Definitely alien, then," Rose muttered, taking a moment to look at the robots in the room once more. They weren't taking any further moves to hurt them, but Rose really didn't like having any guns pointed at her. She had far too many bad experiences with them at this point. It had understandably left her on edge.
"I didn't come all this way to talk on the intercom. Come on, let's have a look at you!" The Doctor's voice rose to a shout, and Rose could practically feel his irritation seeping through his words.
"Who are you with such command?"
"I'm The Doctor."
"Prepare your best medicines, doctor man, for you will be sick at heart." The voice scoffed, and up on a platform close by, a large red creature suddenly appeared. Though Rose had seen a great number of horrible things in her time, a large alien spider-woman with huge pincers was still enough to make her cringe, and she let out a breath, her eyes wide in horror.
God, that thing was ugly.
"Racnoss?" The Doctor breathed, just as in shock as she herself must have looked. Donna's mouth was hanging open, and Rose could feel her hand trembling. For a first alien encounter, this was certainly a doozy. "But that's impossible. You're one of the Racnoss?" The Doctor repeated, and the creature sneered.
"Empress of the Racnoss!" She announced proudly with a hiss, and Rose shook her head slightly. Oh, that hissing… it sent uncomfortable shivers down her spine.
"If you're the Empress, where's the rest of the Racnoss?" The Doctor asked, before a sudden thought seemed to dawn upon him. "Or, are you the only one?"
"Such a sharp mind." The Empress taunted in response.
"That's it, the last of your kind." The Doctor realised, and Rose glanced at him for a moment. Someone being the last of their kind was usually a… sore subject for him, after all. "The Racnoss come from the Dark Times, billions of years ago. Billions. They were carnivores, omnivores. They devoured whole planets."
"Racnoss are born starving. Is that our fault?" The Empress retorted, and Rose heard Donna breathe in sharply.
"They eat people?" She asked, voice shaking, and The Doctor turned to them, an apology clear in his eyes.
"HC Clements, did he wear those, those er, black and white shoes?" He asked quietly, and Rose followed where his gaze had been moments before, only to wince at the sight of a pair of feet sticking out of a web above them. She glanced away then, biting her bottom lip as Donna spoke.
"He did. We used to laugh. We used to call him the fat cat in spats." She informed them, and The Doctor simply pointed upwards. Donna let out a frightened cry at the sight of her bosses body, and The Empress simply let out a cackle at their horrified reactions.
"Mmm. My Christmas dinner!" She grinned at them, a terrible sight.
"You shouldn't even exist. Way back in history, the fledgling Empires went to war against the Racnoss - they were wiped out." The Doctor pointed out, shaking his head slightly, and Rose could practically see his mind working, trying to put all of the pieces of the puzzle together.
"Except for me."
As The Empress spoke, Rose noticed Lance moving on the platforms above them, and she started slightly. When had he left? She hadn't even noticed he'd gone! He made a motion for them to be quiet, hefting an axe into his hands. Rose glanced at The Doctor, and he shook his head once in response. Rose felt her stomach sink.
Something was definitely wrong.
"But that's what I've got inside me, that Huon energy thing." Donna suddenly blurted out, and Rose glanced at her as she stepped forward, letting go of Rose's hand. "Oi! Look at me, lady, I'm talking!" Rose realised she was trying to buy Lance some time, but none of it felt… right, somehow. "Where do I fit in? How comes I get all stacked up with these Huon particles? Look at me, you! Look me in the eye and tell me!"
"The bride is so feisty." The Empress sneered as Lance moved behind her, raising the axe up into the air.
"Yes, I am! And I don't know what you are, you big thing, but a spider's just a spider and an axe is an axe! Now, do it!" Donna shouted out, her hands moving into fists. Lance made as though he was going to swing the axe, and The Empress turned to him with a hiss. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, before Lance started to laugh. The Empress quickly joined him, and Rose felt a flare of anger beginning to burn inside of her.
That bastard.
"That was a good one. Your face." Lance laughed, dropping the axe down on the ground.
"Lance is funny." The Empress smirked, and Rose stepped forward beside Donna, moving to rest a hand on her lower back, though she focused a furious glare on Donna's former husband-to-be.
"What?" Donna asked quietly, and she seemed to shrink under the sound of Lance's laughter. Clearly, none of this was sinking in, and Rose couldn't blame her.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor offered quietly, and Donna shook her head.
"Sorry for what? Lance, don't be so stupid! Get her!" Donna demanded, desperation in her voice. Lance simply scoffed, rolling his eyes at her words.
"God, she's thick. Months I've had to put up with her. Months. A woman who can't even point to Germany on a map!"
"Oi! Shut it!" Rose snapped, her arm tightening around Donna, longing to just hit Lance right in the sneer plastered all over his face. He was just adding insult to injury, and Rose knew all too well how it felt to have someone you thought you loved belittle you and tear you down. Though overall she had long since healed from Jimmy Stone's influence over her, the words he'd said, the things he had done… those had had a huge lasting impact upon her.
"I don't understand." Donna whispered, staring at Lance with clear hurt in her eyes.
"How did you meet him?" The Doctor asked, moving to Donna's other side, and she tore her eyes away from Lance to look at him in confusion.
"In the office."
"He made you coffee." The Doctor pointed out, and Rose felt her heart sink. God, it just got even worse. He wasn't just working with The Racnoss, he'd actively been poisoning Donna this whole time.
"What?" Donna asked, blinking, and Lance cut in, smirking down at them all.
"Every day, I made you coffee!" He announced, and The Doctor shot him a filthy look.
"You had to be dosed with liquid particles over six months." He reminded Donna, and as the implication sunk in, Donna's shoulders completely slumped.
"He was poisoning me." She realised quietly, and Rose's heart ached at the sight of tears brimming in her eyes, though she seemed to be doing her best to hold it back. Donna was strong, Rose could only imagine she wasn't going to give Lance the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
"It was all there in the job title. The Head of Human Resources." The Doctor noted in disgust, and Lance let out another laugh, holding out his arms.
"This time, it's personnel." He taunted, and Donna swallowed thickly.
"But, we were getting married." She protested weakly.
"Well, I couldn't risk you running off. I had to say yes. And then I was stuck with a woman who thinks the height of excitement is a new flavour Pringle. Oh, I had to sit there and listen to all that yap yap yap. Oh, Brad and Angelina. Is Posh pregnant? X Factor, Atkins Diet, Feng Shui, split ends, text me, text me, text me. Dear God, the never ending fountain of fat, stupid trivia. I deserve a medal." Lance wasn't holding back. With every word, Rose could feel Donna sinking into the hand on her back, and her fury reached its' peak, burning white hot.
"A medal? You don't deserve anythin'! Does that make you feel special? Make you feel powerful siding with someone who's going to destroy the whole planet? What's WRONG with you? Are you that much of a sick, twisted bastard? Haven't you done enough damage to her?" Rose let go of Donna, moving forward ahead of her and The Doctor, her voice rising into a shout. "Oh, yeah, lemme just side with the alien who's gonna devour th' whole planet! What do you even GET out of all this?!"
"Yes, what DID she offer you? The Empress of the Racnoss? What are you, her consort?" The Doctor's voice cut through Rose's rage, and he stepped up beside her, a hand moving onto her shoulder. The grip was steady, trying to keep her from leaping forward and strangling Lance with her bare hands, she imagined.
"It's better than a night with her." Lance had been surprised initially by Rose's outburst, but the sneer had quickly returned to his face, and Rose let out a noise of genuine fury. The Doctor moved to grip her other shoulder, holding her in place.
"Donna needs you." The Doctor's voice was soft in her ear, a murmur meant just for her, and Rose turned, staring at Donna who was gazing at Lance with utter heartbreak in her eyes.
"But I love you..." She whispered, and Rose gently shrugged off The Doctor's hands, moving to Donna's side and wrapping her arm around her shoulders. Donna sunk into the hold, swallowing back a lump in her throat.
"That's what made it easy," Lance admitted, before he turned to The Doctor. "It's like you said, Doctor. The big picture. What's the point of it all if the human race is nothing? That's what the Empress can give me. The chance to go out there. To see it. The size of it all. I think you understand that, don't you, Doctor?" He was almost beseeching, and Rose had to bite her lip to keep herself from losing her cool once more.
"Who is this little physician and his feisty blonde friend?" The Empress asked, letting out another hiss, and Lance shrugged dismissively.
"She said Martian."
"Oh, I'm sort of homeless." The Doctor interjected quickly, idly sticking his hands into his pockets. "But the point is, what's down here? The Racnoss are extinct. What's going to help you four thousand miles down? That's just the molten core of the Earth, isn't it?"
"I think he wants us to talk." Lance smirked, glancing at the Empress.
"I think so, too." The Empress agreed, and Lance sneered at them.
"Well, tough! All we need is Donna."
"Kill this chattering little doctor man and his blonde friend!" The Empress ordered, and instantly, Rose left Donna's side in favour of standing in front of The Doctor, shielding him with her body. The Doctor stiffened at the movement, but didn't have a chance to interject.
"Don't you hurt them!" Donna's voice cut through Rose's thoughts as she stumbled forward, trying to shield both Rose and The Doctor with her own body, and Rose's eyes widened slightly.
"No, no, Donna. It's all right." The Doctor tried to reassure her, but Donna simply shook her head wildly.
"No, I won't let them!" She cried, and Rose glared at the robots as they all aimed their guns directly at herself and The Doctor at the Empresses order.
"Ah, now. Except-" The Doctor began, but was cut off abruptly.
"Take aim!"
"Well, I just want to point out the obvious." The Doctor continued, holding up his hands for a moment, and the Empress sneered at him, letting out a gleeful hiss.
"They won't hit the bride. They're such very good shots."
"Just, just, just, just, just hold on. Hold on just a tick. Just a tiny little, just a little tick!" The Doctor was quick to continue, shaking his head rapidly. He almost sounded nervous, but Rose knew he was just stalling for time. If anyone could get them out of this, he could. "If you think about it, the particles activated in Donna and drew her inside my spaceship. So reverse it, and the spaceship comes to her." The Doctor drew the small container of huon particles he had taken earlier, and turned the knob, just as the Empress called to fire.
As the knob turned, activating the huon particles inside of Donna and summoning the TARDIS, Rose let out a small cry, falling back against The Doctor's chest. Her hands moved to grab at her chest as a white-hot heat spread through her entire body, and she squeezed her eyes shut, feeling as though it were burning her from the inside out once more.
Her skin was glowing gold along with Donna's, and The Doctor's arms wrapped around her tightly, clutching her to him.
"Rose!" The panic in his voice didn't escape Rose's notice as the TARDIS materialized around them, and she stumbled forward out of his hold as the console came into view, gripping onto it and sinking onto her knees. The close proximity to the console instantly made her feel better, and she pressed her burning forehead against the nearest coral strut, letting it cool her skin. The TARDIS' song washed over her mind, soothing her, and Rose could sense an apology within the hums.
"Get us out of here, Doctor," Rose's words were hoarse, and she closed her eyes slightly, shaking her head sharply. The Doctor paused, torn between helping her and getting them out of there, but he turned at the last second and ran for the console, flipping some switches.
Rose let her body slump against the coral strut as exhaustion began to weigh down upon her, overwhelmed as her body sank into unconsciousness.
"Rose," The Doctor's voice was gentle but urgent, and Rose let out a little groan at the sound, reluctantly opening her eyes to peer at him. His face swam into her view, concerned and most definitely worried, and she pushed herself to sit up, rubbing her face. "Are you okay?"
"M'okay, Doctor," She mumbled, offering him a small smile, though he certainly didn't look convinced. The smile faded, and she looked down at her knees for a moment, letting out a quiet sigh. "Look… we… we need to focus on Donna right now, yeah? When this is over, I'll… let you do whatever tests you wanna do, and I'll explain everythin' to you."
"Explain…?" The Doctor's frown only grew, his eyebrows pulling together, and Rose gripped onto the console, pulling herself up to stand.
"About… my timelines, about the note I left for my mum… about, well, everythin'. Once this is done, I'll tell you everythin' I know, I promise." She assured him. The Doctor didn't exactly look reassured by that, and she knew being denied knowledge immediately was torture for him, but he simply pressed his lips together and nodded once.
"Right, well, you better come and have a look at this. We came back to see what's buried at the planet's core… farther back than we've ever been before," He told her, and Rose nodded, only to pause when she noticed Donna stood nearby, discreetly trying to wipe some tears away.
She moved quickly over towards her, stumbling slightly on the grating. The Doctor reached out to try and steady her, but Rose steadied herself, taking a deep breath before she immediately pulled Donna into a tight hug. Donna stiffened in the embrace, but finally relaxed into it, hugging Rose tightly in return, burying her face into her shoulder.
"It's stupid – you just bloody fainted, and I'm here, cryin' because I just got jilted!" She burst out, emotion heavy in her voice, and Rose shook her head fiercely.
"Never you mind me," She instructed firmly. "Donna, your feelin's matter. He lied to you and betrayed you… of course you're upset… an' all of those things he said, none of 'em are true. You're brilliant, alrigh'? A million times more important than he could even hope of bein'"
Donna let out a watery laugh, breaking free from the hug and wiping her eyes, though she still looked completely miserable.
"Wish I could believe that, but… thanks." She sniffed, and The Doctor took that moment to interject.
"Do you girls wanna see? We're doing this the Donna way – come on. No humans have ever seen this before, you two will be the first," The Doctor tried to enthuse, and Donna scoffed, rubbing the tear tracks from her face as she walked towards the door, Rose close behind her.
"All I wanna see is my bed," She admitted quietly, and The Doctor offered a small smile, before he threw open the TARDIS doors.
"Donna Noble, Rose Tyler, welcome to the creation of the Earth." He announced, and Rose's eyes widened at the sight in front of them. The sun was shielded by layers of dust, with huge rocks floating all around them, their movement aimless. She remembered when the Earth had been destroyed while she'd been on Platform One, the sense of emptiness she had felt. This too was an emptiness, but so different. In this, there was creation, life just… waiting to form.
There was a beauty within this, and she let out a little awed noise, leaning slightly against the door frame of the TARDIS.
"We've gone back four point six billion years. There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas. That's the Sun, over there. Brand new. Just beginning to burn." The Doctor informed them, a small smile on his face.
"Where's the Earth?" Donna asked quietly, and The Doctor gestured with one hand.
"All around us, in the dust."
"Puts the wedding in perspective. Lance was right. We're just tiny." Donna admitted with a sigh, folding her arms over her chest slightly.
"The words 'Lance was right' don't belong in the same sentence unless you put 'not' in there somewhere," Rose was quick to retort, shaking her head slightly.
"See, that's what you do!" The Doctor agreed, his enthusiasm seeming to grow. "The human race makes sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."
"So I came out of all this?" Donna asked, her voice soft as the awe of it all began to sink in.
"Isn't that brilliant?" The Doctor grinned slowly, catching Rose's eye. Rose returned the smile, and the expression began to fade, prompting him to look away from her, which felt like a sudden blow to the gut.
"I think that's the Isle of Wight." Donna suddenly offered, letting out a short laugh as a large rock floating past the TARDIS.
"Eventually, gravity takes hold." The Doctor continued. "Say, one big rock, heavier than the others, starts to pull other rocks towards it. All the dust and gas and elements get pulled in. Everything, piling in until you get-"
"-The Earth." Donna cut in.
"But the question is, what was that first rock?" The Doctor asked, shaking his head slightly. Rose gnawed on her bottom lip for a moment, before her eyes widened at the sight of a large star shaped ship seemed to come looming out of a nearby dust cloud, and she pointed at it quickly.
"Over there – look!"
"The Racnoss." The Doctor noted, hisexpression grim, before confusion twisted both his face and his words. He turned, running back to the console. "Hold on! The Racnoss are hiding from the war. What's it doing?"
"Exactly what you said!" Donna realised as rocks began to float towards the ship, connecting against it as though they were somehow drawn towards it. The Doctor quickly joined them once more to observe the ship spinning, pulling more and more rocks towards it.
"Oh, they didn't just bury something at the centre of the Earth. They became the centre of the Earth. The first rock." The Doctor's eyes widened slightly.
"So, Earth was made around a giant alien space-ship? S'pose I shouldn't be surprised at this point..." Rose pressed her lips together, only to stumble and grab onto the door frame as a loud BANG rocked the ship. The three of them turned to look at the console, and Rose felt a sharp tugging at her core. She rushed over to the controls as The Doctor slammed the doors shut, and she grabbed onto a railing as the time rotor started up once more.
The TARDIS certainly didn't appreciate being pulled back and to so fiercely, and the ship rocked fiercely, sending all three of them stumbling and trying to keep their balance.
"What the hell's it doing?" Donna demanded, clinging onto a nearby rail as The Doctor tried in vain to stop the TARDIS from moving.
"Remember that little trick of mine, particles pulling particles? Well, it works in reverse. They're pulling us back!" He called out, spinning around the time rotor, stumbling as another tremor rocked the ship.
"Well, can't you stop it? Hasn't it got a handbrake? Can't you reverse or warp or beam or something?" Donna shouted in response, and Rose fought back a laugh as The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Backseat driver," He muttered quietly, until a thought seemed to dawn on him. "Oh! Wait a minute! The extrapolator!" He shouted, diving under the console in order to grab a device Rose hadn't seen in quite some time.
"Blimey! Been a while since you used that!" Rose noted, her eyes wide in surprise, and The Doctor couldn't help but grin.
"Yep! It can't stop us, but it should give us a good bump!" He set it down on the console, picking up a mallet he often used when the TARDIS was being 'difficult.' He waited for a moment, before he slammed the mallet into the extrapolator with a loud cry of: "Now!"
The shaking stopped abruptly, and The Doctor didn't hesitate, running for the doors, pushing them open with both Rose and Donna both hot on his trail.
"We're about two hundred yards to the right. Come on!"
The three of them ran down the corridor they had entered from, The Doctor heading straight for the bulkhead door, pulling out a stethoscope as he ran towards it, immediately putting it in his ears and pressing the chestpiece against the door.
"But what do we do?" Donna asked, trying to catch her breath as she watched The Doctor, who turned back to her, almost looking bemused.
"I don't know. I make it up as I go along. But trust me, I've got a history."
"He really does, and even when he does come up with a plan, it usually always goes wrong," Rose agreed, letting out a laugh, though standing so still made her feel on edge, nervous. The Empress wasn't going to just wait for them to show up again, after all.
"But I still don't understand. I'm full of particles, but what for?" Donna asked, shaking her head slightly, and The Doctor focused on the door as he answered.
"There's a Racnoss web at the centre of the Earth, but my people unravelled their power source. The Huon particles ceased to exist but the Racnoss were stuck." He began, but the rest of the explanation Rose didn't quite hear. A hand covered her mouth, pulling her backwards. She tried to struggle and kick her legs, but the hold was unyielding.
She turned her head slightly to see Donna in a similar situation, struggling in the arms of one of the robots, and she felt her resolve tighten. Dimly, she could recall some old techniques to escape a strong hold from an attacker from behind she had learned from Torchwood. Though she was being dragged backwards and away from The Doctor, her feet were still on the ground, and Rose threw her weight backwards, throwing off the robot's balance. With the slight shift in the balance, Rose found purchase and twisted her body, pulling herself free out of the hold, letting out a gasp and darting forward.
She opened her mouth in order to call out to The Doctor, but before she had a chance, a hand grabbed the back of her head, and pushed it sideways into the nearest wall. Her skull collided against the brick, and the impact was enough to send Rose careening into darkness.
It was the song that brought Rose back into consciousness. It was gentle, at first, similar to the tune of the TARDIS, warm and soothing, but it quickly began to turn cruel and burn, and Rose's eyes snapped open with a sudden cry. Her back arched up off of the ground, her body glowing gold. She could feel something pulling at the very fibre of her being, trying to pull her apart from inside.
She rolled onto her side, only to try to stumble back, realising how close she was to the edge of the pit leading to the centre of the Earth. Her head pounded and ached, but it was nothing compared to the agony raging inside of her body.
"Rose!" She heard Donna's voice from above, and she rolled onto her back once more, gasping for air, unable to see her friend, unable to focus or even think straight.
"The Doctor man's little human friend is full of the particles as well! Yet they will not leave her…" The Empress let out a long hiss. "It matters NOT! The secret heart unlocks!"
The pain began to recede slightly, and Rose tried to focus, tried to will herself into thinking coherently. Her hand moved to cover her eyes, her entire body trembling. She knew something important was happening, and she needed to help, she needed to DO something. She moved, forcing herself up onto her forearms, blinking as the world began to come into focus once more. She looked up, able to see Donna and Lance suspended in webs above the pit, and her breath caught slightly.
"Donna..." She breathed, moving to push herself onto her knees.
"My children, the long lost Racnoss, now reborn to feast on flesh! The web star shall come to me!" The Empress cried out gleefully, looking down into the hole. "My babies will be hungry. They need sustenance. Perish the web!" She ordered.
"Use her, not me! Use her!" Lance begged, and Rose forced herself to her feet, swaying precariously, but trying to keep herself from either vomiting or fainting once more.
"Oh, my funny little Lance! But you are quite impolite to your lady friend. The Empress does not approve!" She reached upwards with one of her pincers, and the web holding Lance collapsed, sending him falling down into the void below. Donna's cry of horror prompted Rose to flinch, and she looked away from the scene, turning her glare onto the Empress, who laughed gleefully. "Harvest the humans! Reduce them to meat! My children are climbing towards me and none shall stop them! So you might as well unmask, my clever little doctor man, before I turn your pretty friend into a meal for my precious children!"
That was enough to prompt Rose to turn, squinting slightly at a nearby platform, where The Doctor pulled off a cloak and a mask, a disguise to make him look like one of the robots.
"Oh well. Nice try. I've got you, Donna!" He called out, pointing his sonic up at the ceiling and activating it. The web began to give way, and Donna let out a loud shriek.
"I'm going to fall!"
"You're going to swing! I've got you!" The Doctor corrected her, and he held out his arms as the webbing finally snapped. Donna clung to one large strand, which swung her across the pit and towards The Doctor's waiting arms. Unfortunately, he had over-estimated where he would need to be, and Donna hit the wall underneath him, landing hard on the ground. The Doctor flinched, peering down over the railings.
"Oh. Sorry."
"Thanks for nothing." Donna muttered, glaring up at him before moving to push herself to stand up.
"Just.. just… go help Rose!" He ordered, his eyes flicking over towards her. She was clearly struggling, swaying on her feet, and he could see what appeared to be blood from where she had been lying. She had been hurt, severely so, and had been put in danger multiple times during this 'adventure.' The Doctor could feel his anger beginning to rise, the oncoming storm starting to brew.
"The doctor man amuses me." The Empress cackled, and The Doctor stared at her, his expression steely.
"Empress of the Racnoss, I give you one last chance. I can find you a planet. I can find you and your children a place in the universe to co-exist. Take that offer and end this now." He instructed her, doing his best to temper his anger, keep it contained for now.
"These men are so funny." The Empress sneered.
"What's your answer?"
"Oh I'm afraid I have to decline." Donna moved beside Rose as The Empress spoke, carefully moving one of Rose's arms around her shoulders, using the grip to help Rose walk back towards the stairwell. The Doctor followed their movement with his eyes briefly, and when he spoke, his words were cold.
"What happens next is your own doing."
As The Empress prepared her robots to fire, Rose closed her eyes, trying to concentrate. She hated being useless, but her head ached without the burning to distract her from it. She blinked, drifting in and out of focus as The Doctor was able to disarm the robots with ease, revealing that he'd had a remote control for them in his pockets.
"Roboforms are not necessary. My children may feast on Martian flesh."The Empress insisted.
"Oh, but I'm not from Mars." Donna was chilled by the tone in The Doctor's voice, and she glanced between him and Rose for a moment, worry clear in her gaze. She may have only just met him, but… he seemed beyond angry. Furious.
The Empress seemed startled by this sudden revelation. "Then where?"
"My home planet is far away and long since gone. But its name lives on." The Doctor told her, and his expression hardened. "Gallifrey."
The Empress let out a sudden, terrible scream, rising up to her full height at the mention of the name, and the sound prompted Rose to look up, pushing through the haze as best as she could.
"They murdered the Racnoss!" The Empress screeched, but The Doctor remained cold, dispassionate.
"I warned you. You did this." He reached into his pocket, pulling out a handful of the Christmas baubles that had been used to cause so much damage at Donna's wedding reception. He threw them up into the air as the Empress let out horrified cries of realisation, begging him to stop. The Doctor used the remote to direct the baubles, sending some of them to blow holes in the corridor to let the water from the Thames flood the chamber. The pressure from the sudden collection of water prompted manhole covers in the room to burst, allowing even more water to flood in as the water poured into the hole below.
"No! No! My children! No! My children! My children!"
The Empresses screams were a terrible thing to behold, and it was that which allowed Rose to finally focus, though not for her sake. It didn't take long before she and Donna were soaked to the bone, and she looked up, seeing The Doctor staring out at the chaos he had created, his expression a mask of stoicism.
"Doctor." Rose didn't need to shout in order to be heard over the Empress' desperate screaming. Though she leaned heavily on Donna, her eyes were fixed clearly upon The Doctor, and he faltered for a moment, looking down at her. "That's enough."
Whatever spell he had been under seemed to break at being addressed by Rose, and he immediately abandoned the remote in his hands, moving some of the debris around him in order to get down to her and Donna.
"Right! Let's get you two out of here!"
Donna stumbled forward, trying to block out the Empresses screams, and The Doctor immediately moved to her side, turning and bending slightly in front of them.
"Help her on," He instructed, and Donna moved, draping Rose's arms over The Doctor's shoulders. Rose wanted to fight, insist she could walk, but she was just so… tired. Instead, she did her best to climb up onto The Doctor's back, helped with a slight push from Donna. She wound her legs around his waist, and he hefted her up with ease. He immediately hooked his hands underneath her legs, keeping her in place, and began to head up the stairs, Donna in close pursuit of them. The Doctor led them towards another bulkhead door that he'd left open, and nodded at Donna to indicate she should climb up the ladder.
"Rose, I need you to hold on tight, okay?" He instructed, and Rose buried her face into his neck, but her grip on him did in fact tighten. The Doctor let out a breath, knowing this would be difficult, but he began to climb the ladder, trying to display his weight more evenly, so Rose wasn't leaning too far back and neither of them felt unsteady.
"But what about the Empress?" Donna asked suddenly from above, and The Doctor glanced upwards, shouting above the roar of the water.
"She's used up all her Huon energy. She's defenceless!" He assured her, and as he said that, a loud explosion rocked them from above. Donna shrieked, and The Doctor clung to the ladder a little tighter, gritting his teeth slightly. As the tremors from the explosion stopped, Donna pushed open the cover above her, and climbed up on top of the flood barrier, letting out a loud, breathless gasp.
Seeing he was struggling with Rose, Donna moved to grab ahold of the blonde, and Rose used the grip to help pull herself onto her feet, almost wobbling, but holding onto Donna in order to keep her balance. The Doctor joined them, and both he and Donna let out loud, weak laughs.
"There's just one problem." Donna told him, grinning slightly, and The Doctor lifted his eyebrows.
"What's that?"
"We've drained the Thames." Both he and Donna were silent for a moment, before they began to laugh loudly, though it faded quickly at the sight of Rose so… out of it. She noticed The Doctor's gaze, and she offered him a small, tired smile. She turned slightly, resting her head against Donna's shoulder, and he could see where she had been injured quite clearly.
"So, what about the TARDIS?" Donna asked after a second. "I mean it was down there, right? I know it's a magic space ship or whatever, but is it gonna be alright?"
"Oh, the TARDIS is sturdy, don't you worry about her, i'll pop down and get her when the water recedes a little bit, but I should probably take a look at Rose's head now." The Doctor replied, and Donna nodded, though Rose tried to wave her hand dismissively.
"Doctor, I'm fine," she mumbled, but The Doctor simply rolled his eyes, carefully taking Rose's face in his hands. He turned her head to the side, peering at the wound. It… didn't seem as bad as he was expecting it to be. There had been more blood on the ground than should have come from such a small wound, but her dizziness and lack of co-ordination was still concerning.
"It looks like you've got a concussion," He noted, pulling her eye apart slightly to shine a little light in there, seeing if her pupils would shrink. "I've got something for that on the TARDIS, but just try to stay awake for now, okay? They must have hit you pretty hard," He noted, his thumbs gently brushing against her cheeks.
"They pushed her head right into a wall," Donna offered by way of explanation, wincing at the memory. "She went out right away, I thought they'd bloody killed her," she grimaced, and The Doctor stiffened at her words.
"Don't worry 'bout me, Doctor, M'tough." Rose promised, offering him a small smile, and The Doctor simply sighed, but offered her a smile in return.
"Believe me Rose, I know."
Rose's eyes flickered open slowly, wincing at the sight of the bright lights of the TARDIS med-bay. Ah, had she… fallen asleep again? Her head felt much better, admittedly, and she slowly sat up, touching where the injury had been, relieved to feel that there seemed to be nothing there. Carefully, she swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, testing her balance.
She felt fine, she SEEMED fine.
Rose couldn't quite remember everything that had happened, only bits and pieces, but she could only assume The Doctor had given her something to help with the concussion. She walked out of the med-bay, resting her hand against the wall to feel the reassuring hum of the TARDIS beneath her fingertips.
She headed down the corridor, stepping out into the console room, looking around in confusion to see that it was empty. Another hum from the TARDIS lit up the view-screen, displaying The Doctor and Donna outside in the snow, talking with one another. Surprise rose up inside of her, but Rose turned to the doors, quickly making her way over towards them.
"Merry Christmas." She heard Donna tell The Doctor sincerely, and she couldn't help but smile. So much for hating Christmas, then.
"Hope you weren't thinking of leaving without a goodbye," She piped up as she opened the door, and Donna's expression lit up in response as Rose shot her a playful grin.
"Rose! You're okay! God! I was worried!" She lunged forward, wrapping Rose up in a tight hug, and Rose could only laugh in response, returning the embrace tightly.
"Takes more than that to keep me down," She promised, and Donna pulled back, holding onto her shoulders with a grin in response.
"I was just about to ask Donna what she was going to do now that this is all over," The Doctor informed her, lightly pulling on his ear, offering Rose a small smile. Rose tilted her head, looking at Donna in obvious curiosity.
"Not getting married, for starters." Donna replied drily, before shaking her head. "And I'm not going to temp anymore. I don't know. Travel. See a bit more of planet Earth. Walk in the dust. Just go out there and do something."
"Well, you could always..." The Doctor trailed off, glancing at Rose for a moment, who nodded her head once. Ah, of COURSE she wanted Donna to come with them… she'd liked her from the start. "Come with us."
"No."
The rejection stung, though The Doctor supposed it shouldn't have. She was hardly the first person to refuse to come with him, and he glanced down quickly. Rose's face had fallen quite obviously, and she was gazing at Donna in what he could only describe as dismay.
"Okay."
"I can't."
"Why not?" Rose blurted out, her eyes wide, and The Doctor looked at her before glancing back at Donna. "We'd love to have you – I bet you'd love it on the TARDIS. Seein' other planets and different times… It's amazin'."
"Yeah, but really... Everything we did today. Do you live your lives like that?" Donna asked, shaking her head with a small, sad smile on her face. The Doctor shifted uncomfortably.
"Not all the time." He insisted, and Rose nodded her head in agreement.
"Trouble's just the bits in-between," She quipped, and The Doctor smiled faintly, before glancing back at Donna, who didn't look convinced.
"I think you do. And I couldn't."
"But you've seen it out there. It's beautiful." The Doctor pointed out, and Donna shook her head.
"And it's terrible. That place was flooding and burning and they were dying, and you were stood there like, I don't know, a stranger. Rose was glowing like she was full of those particles, her eyes shining like the sun! – And then you made it snow. I mean, you both scare me to death," She admitted, and Rose wrapped her arms around herself, unable to stop herself from feeling a little hurt.
"It's just… complicated." She muttered, biting down on her lip slightly. "Are.. are you really sure?"
"I am. Tell you what I will do, though. Christmas dinner." Donna told them both, and immediately, both Rose and The Doctor were shaking their heads. "Oh come on."
"Thanks, Donna, but I'm not really sure I'm ready for a family Christmas," Rose admitted, and The Doctor inclined his head in acknowledgement of her words.
"Besides, I better do another check-up on Rose, make sure she's actually okay, and sort out the whole… glowing… thing." His jaw tightened slightly, and Rose averted his gaze from him. Donna watched them both for a moment, before she sighed.
"Am I ever gonna see you two again?" She asked, and The Doctor offered her a more genuine smile.
"If we're lucky."
Rose moved forward again at that, wrapping Donna up in one more a tight hug, before she pulled back from her, smiling warmly.
"Thanks for everything, Donna."
"Thanking me? I'm the one who should be thankin' you two!" Donna waved her hand slightly, letting out a laugh, and shook her head. "Go on, get out there and go save planets and rescue orphans or whatever it is you two do."
The Doctor couldn't help but crack a smile at that, pushing open the door to the TARDIS as he spoke. "Good luck, Donna Noble. Be… magnificent."
"I think I will, yeah." Donna replied, and Rose couldn't help but smile broadly at the note of confidence in her voice. She offered her one final wave, before she headed into the TARDIS, The Doctor following behind her. He shut the door, and the pair of them moved over towards the console. Rose pressed her hands against it, and The Doctor didn't speak again until he flicked a few switches, sending them into the vortex.
Now that it was just the two of them, Rose couldn't help the nerves that were building up inside of her, and she stared at her hands, trying to keep her breathing even.
"...Right then, Rose Tyler. I think we need to talk."