I have not come into ownership of Doctor Who since the last update.

If anyone's reading, please leave a review and let me know what you think.

Donna had wanted to comfort the Doctor, who clearly was in some kind of state of shock and panic, but he was adamant that she find his screwdriver, which he had dropped somewhere at his feet. Though she could see her surroundings now, it was still terribly dim, and she was searching on her hands and knees. It had been only a minute or two, but she was getting worried—more about the screwdriver than the Doctor at first.

But when she found it after several minutes of groping around, and returned to his side, it was clear that there was something terribly wrong. He was breathing deeply, trying to conceal his panic, and doing a rather shoddy job of it.

"Oi," she said, grasping his arm once again, but this time to offer him some sort of comfort rather than use him for stability, "what's wrong?"

"Donna," he said, and hesitated, as if he hated what he was about to say. "You need to get me out of here."

She gaped at him. Out of all things… she never would have expected him to say that.

He seemed to sense her astonishment. "Please, Donna."

"I don't understand. Tell me what's going on."

"There is something… parasitic… living in these caves. So little is known about them that they don't have names. But one of them's made me its host and now I've lost my sense of sight. I'm blind."

Donna stared. He was facing her, but she couldn't see well enough to tell whether his eyes were trained on her. "Blind?" she breathed.

He surged to his feet so suddenly that she let out a little "meep" of surprise. "Let's talk while we walk. Lead me, because I can't see anything. You have the screwdriver?"

Clutching it to her chest, still at a loss for words, she nodded.

"Donna!"

"Yes," she said, mentally kicking herself.

"Then use it for light. Come on, we need to get out!"

He sounded urgent, and she instinctively obeyed, letting him grasp her arm, even though leading the Doctor just felt wrong.

"Okay, Doctor, level with me—what are we in for?"

"We? Nothing, as far as I know. You're perfectly safe. It only went for me."

"Why?"

"The superior senses of a Time Lord." He chuckled mirthlessly. "It needs only one." There was a pause. "Welllll… I'm fairly sure. It's a hive sort of thing."

"Run that whole thing by me again… it's draining your senses?"

"Stealing them, yes. I'm guessing the order is based on which ones you wouldn't expect to notice straightaway. I'm sure I lost my sense of taste hours ago. And the caves haven't smelled musty in a while."

Donna wrinkled her nose, for a shameful moment feeling a bit of envy. "They haven't?"

He shook his head.

"All right, so taste, then smell, makes sense… And it's already impossible to see in a dark cave. In general, this is a great place for something like that to live."

"Exactly!" There was a slight pause, and he asked, sounding anxious, "Any sign of an exit yet?"

"Not that I can see," she answered after a quick scan.

"Please move faster," he urged, and she complied, though she was already taxing herself, especially after their long trek. She tried not to let on.

"So, do they steal senses, because… they haven't any of their own?" she asked, trying to understand.

"I believe so."

"Then how did they know we were here?"

"Well it's obvious that they have to have some kind of sense, probably like my…" He trailed off, as if suddenly low on energy, and Donna didn't press him. She knew what he was referring to anyway.

They kept moving, and it seemed to Donna that it was getting easier and easier to make out their surroundings, but the Doctor never indicated that he could see a thing. He was so quiet it worried her.

After several minutes of silence, she said, partly to break the quiet and partly because she was really wondering, "It seems like such a pointless cycle. For something to evolve to not have senses of its own, but with the ability to steal 'em from others."

The Doctor grunted as he tripped slightly for the umpteenth time. Donna grabbed his arm with both hands to right him, and they kept moving. "Good point… Brilliant, in fact. I wish I could give you a good explanation. But sometimes things just don't make sense."

She sighed, acquiescing. "Guess half the beauty of the universe comes from things that don't make sense. Most of the time though, it's more than a slight inconvenience." Forgetting for a moment that it was hardly bright enough to distinguish facial expressions, she glanced in his direction, as his rather recent experience on Midnight reminded her of its existence.

"I'd be lying if I said I weren't fascinated by this, though," he said, and Donna could hear the grin in his voice. Either he hadn't made the same connection she had, or he hadn't been quite as affected by the episode as she'd thought. "I can't hold something like this against such a unique creature. It's just doing what it was equipped by nature to do."

"By taking away what nature has equipped others to do," Donna huffed.

The Time Lord shrugged—and suddenly stopped dead in his tracks. "Give me my screwdriver," he said, reaching out before him.

She obeyed instantly, and he took it, his movements clearly familiar to him. Ignoring the fact that he couldn't see its light, he pointed it upwards, and Donna followed it with her gaze.

She probably wouldn't have noticed before, but there it was—a visible source of light, though she could not quite tell how it was getting in. It just seemed brighter in a certain corner of the cave's roof.

"There," he said, turning the screwdriver off. "You see it?"

"Yes."

"They're so close. If we get out through there they'll be a stone's throw away."

Donna wanted to hug him with relief, but she refrained. They weren't out of the woods yet. Or… caves. Hah. Hahah.

She realized she was going a bit loony, a result of a combination of the last six hours and her current immense relief.

"Does it look like we can climb up?" the Doctor asked.

Donna bit her lip. "Not really."

"Then…" He trailed off. After a moment, much to Donna's surprise and confusion, he plopped down on the cave floor Indian style and squeezed his eyes shut, massaging his temples with his fingers.

She left him to do what he did best—be enigmatic. And they stayed like that for five more minutes, ten, twenty. She lost track after a while. It was getting more and more difficult to think through her hunger. And she was becoming painfully more aware of the thirst as well.

Her thoughts turned back to the Doctor and his plight. If he'd already lost taste, smell, and sight, then next was probably hearing. What was going to happen when he couldn't hear? Donna herself didn't know much sign language, though she was sure that he did. How would they communicate? He'd be completely helpless…

Donna wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle that.