Hi everyone!

Okay, I've been sitting on this chapter for a few days and I'm not sure why. But I would just like to tell you now, I have a horrible headache, so I'm sorry if I missed any spelling errors as I was editing... Well, I usually get something wrong anyway. I may have gotten better at spelling over the last few years, but spellcheck isn't always my friend either.

Anyway, I'm quite happy with how fast I seem to be getting chapters out right now. There will be a new chapter for 'Recovering Memories' some time in the next week or so. And it shouldn't take long to whip up a new chapter for 'Through the Stars'.

I have to say though that I'm a little disappointed. Didn't ANYONE notice the word play in the last chapter? He NOCKED four times. Tarander nocked his crossbow-thingie four times to kill the Doctor. Of course, the fourth one never hit him because that's when good old Jack and the Torchwood team came in. I hope someone did notice that, because I thought it was a cool little idea.

Right, but onto the story. Let's see how Rose fairs in a world full of Masters.

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A World of Masters

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It had been a little shocking to wake up and and find that all her memories were back in tact. Even more so to see Rose Tyler before her more or less glowing gold. Donna had no idea what was going on.

The last year of her memories seemed like a blur. Like she had been wearing glasses that fogged her vision. She was there, but she wasn't quite all there. And now she was back, all fixed up, it seemed. She didn't remember how that happened. She had just come to with a glowing Rose standing over top of her. And not long after, Rose had dropped to the ground, the gold tint leaving her.

She... she had seen something like that before. No, not her, the Doctor. Most of what the Metacrisis had done to her was gone, but some of his memories were still floating around in her head. Just bits and pieces, fragments. She could see it. This had happened before. Rose glowing gold, and a man – the Doctor – kissing the Time Vortex out of her.

She was like that again, and now she was back in this world. Something that should have been impossible. Something had happened in the other world. Something was very wrong. She had to get Rose to the Doctor. She vaguely remembered him being around earlier. She didn't actually see him, but her mum and gramps were acting weird. And her mother had been yelling at thin air, telling the Doctor to bring gramps back... Her granddad was with him!

Oh god. Where were they going? Something about a book. She randomly given him an odd book because she felt like it would be helpful... Oh, screw it. He had a phone, she could just call him.

"Rose, I'm going to call my granddad," she said gently. "My granddad, you remember him?" Rose was still and silent. The only movement at all was the shaking of her hands, and the tear that slipped down her nose and dripped off the tip. "He... I think the Doctor might be with him. So I'll call him, see where they are. Yeah?" Finally, Rose nodded, sniffing slightly.

Donna grabbed the phone from her pocket and dialled. After a moment he picked up.

"Donna?" came his timid voice. He sounded almost scared.

"Hey, Granddad."

"Donna!" he cried, his voice full of cheer and relief. "Are you okay, love?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm great, actually."

"Good. That's good. How's your head?"

"Better than ever," she grinned. "Granddad, where are you?"

"Erm... that's a little hard to explain, love."

"Is the Doctor with you?"

"Wh... You're not... Are you sure you're alright, Donna?"

"I'm fine, Granddad. I can remember. I can remember everything."

"Oh... well, then..."

"Yeah, I know," she laughed. "I need to get to him now. I'm with someone who really needs his help. I remember you were with him or something."

"Yeah, I am. But, um, it's going to be a little hard. We're on a spaceship. It's dead, floating just outside Earth."

"Brilliant," she said sarcastically. The Doctor better get her granddad out of there or she was going to kick his ass.

"You should see the view from here, Donna. It's incredible."

"I know."

"Um... Oh! Here he is. Hold on." Wilf's voice got fainter as he held the phone away from him. "Hey, Doctor, are we going to be able to land this thing? I mean, can we get back to Earth?"

"It may be possible," she heard the Doctor's voice in the background. "We need to get back to Naismith's mansion at some point. But for now the ship's just a little dead, and the Master is still looking for us... Hold on, who are you talking to? How are you even getting signal?!"

"It's Donna's old phone," he said. "Figured we could use it if we needed to call you, like for an emergency. But your number was gone."

"No, seriously, who are you talking to? Everyone except for us and Donna have been turned into... It's not..."

Before anyone could say anymore, Donna began to speak. She wasn't sure if they would hear her with the phone away from his ear, though. "Right, so the Naismith mansion, then? I'll see you there."

"No, wait-"

She hung up on him and turned to Rose. The poor girl was curled up on the concrete, staring blankly at the ground. Tears still ran down her cheeks, but she was horribly silent.

"Hey, I found the Doctor," she told her softly. "Well, kind of. He's up in a spaceship right now, but they're heading to some rich guy's mansion." Rose stayed silent. "You do want to see the Doctor, yeah?"

Slowly she nodded. "Yeah. I have to save him. If I don't then he'll die too. And I need to get to the TARDIS soon or I will."

"You'll what?"

"Die."

"What?!"

"Something has been happening to me. It's complicated. But I need the TARDIS to stabilise me. And if that doesn't happen in a few days I'm going to burn up. It's already started... and it's getting worse."

"Then we're going there now," Donna said determinedly. "Come on."

She helped Rose to her feet. She was rather wobbly on them, but she seemed okay for now... Considering. Donna lead her back to her house. But it wasn't until she saw figures moving around inside that she remembered what had happened to her family... hold on, how did her granddad escape it?

Quietly, she picked up some of her mothers gardening tools and handed one to Rose, motioning for her to be quiet. Together they sneaked into her house. It wasn't until she saw the figures moving around inside that she remembered what had happened to her family. She grimaced at the memory, before she bent down a quietly picked up some of her mothers gardening tools. Keeping the trowel for herself, she gave the mini rake to Rose and motioned for her to be quiet.

Together, they snuck into the her house, careful to make no noise at all. The first one they ran into was in the lounge. He was sitting on the couch in her mothers clothes, reading a book. Using some knowledge she'd retained from the Doctor's mind, she bashed him over the head in just the right spot for him to crumple to the ground unconscious.

Part of her knew that this was still technically her mother, even if she had been taken over. And she felt guilty for doing this to her.

"Sorry," she whispered. Once again, she lifted her finger to her lips, and signalled to Rose that there was another. They heard a noise from the kitchen and headed that way. This time, the man was in a purple shirt. His back was to them as he made himself a sandwich. Once again, she snuck up behind him. Hearing a slight noise, he made to turn around. But Donna waked him over the head before he had the chance.

"Right, that's them out of the way," she sighed.

"Who are they?" Rose asked. "I know that face. That man. I think he's the Master, but all these people..."

"Yeah, you're right," she said. She knew this man from the Doctor's memories too. "It is the Master. I don't know what he did, but suddenly everyone just... was him. They started shaking and turned into him. But they're supposed to be my mum and fiancé." She looked sadly down at the man at her feet one last time. "Right, come on."

She went over to the family laptop that was sitting on the table. And in less than a minute, she had pulled up Google Maps and found found the directions.

"That was quick," Rose commented.

"Fastest temp in Chiswick," she grinned. "I got it, let's go."

She grabbed the younger woman's hand, which made her smile slightly, then she picked up her 'weapon' again. They went out the back of the house and over to her new little blue car. She almost laughed when she realised that she'd subconsciously gotten a car that was close to TARDIS blue.

"Hey!" a voice shouted. Startled, they turned to see the Master in a sun-dress walking towards them.

"Shit," he muttered. "Rose, in the car. Get in the car!"

She looked over to see Rose crumpled on the ground, clutching at her head. Running over to her, she helped her up and into the car. She was almost back to her own door when a hand curled around her wrist and yanked her back. Without even looking, she swung around and smacked the trowel into his head.

Sun-dress Master stumbled backwards, his hand to his head. Growling, he lunged at her. Donna was already in the car by then, and with a small cry she slammed the door shut. As she sped away, she could see him howling in pain, his fingers broken and bleeding.

"You alright?" she asked breathlessly.

"Uunghh..." Rose let out a long, low moan. She was till holding onto her head and was starting to look rather pale.

"It's okay," she said, panic in her voice. "We'll be with the Doctor soon, yeah? He'll know what to do."

"Need the TARDIS," she hissed. "Fixing you over did it."

Donna looked at her in horror. She's almost killed herself trying to fix her head? "You didn't have to help me, Rose. You should have saved yourself. Gone straight to the Doctor."

"Uh-uh," her voice was little over a whimper now. "Needed – your help. Wouldn't have – made it anywhere – without you. And – your Granddad..." She faded out and put her head between her knees. It was a few more minutes before she spoke again. "He's coming."

"What?" Donna said in confusion. "Who-" she was going to say more, but was cut off when the car was rammed forward. Looking in her rear-view mirror, she saw a car right up behind her. The man behind the wheel was, of course, the Master. "Buggar," she muttered.

She put her foot on the accelerator and hooned ahead, the Master still following closely behind. She didn't feel safe driving at this speed, but what was she going to do? They were in the middle of the suburb. She cringed when she saw that yet another Master had joined the chase behind her.

"How many of these bloody guys are there?!"

"Everyone," Rose said, her eyes glowing slightly. "He's everywhere."

"Stop it," Donna told her. "Stop going into that... gold-y thing. You need to save energy." She couldn't lose her friend before they got there. She had to be okay.

"I can't help it. The moment is coming."

"Fuck!" Donna suddenly cried. She slammed on the breaks and they skidded for a good ten metres. Just ahead of them was a line of cars blocking the way. They had been parked tail to bumper from one houses fence to the other. She went to back up, but they were already boxed in by half a dozen cars pulling in behind them, forming another line.

"We're trapped."

Outside, one of the Masters stepped out of a cop car. He was dressed in uniform and tipped his hat slightly as he came over and tapped on the window. All around them Masters were stepping out of cars and houses.

"Alright, Donna," the Cop Master said. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way."

Donna didn't even have to consider Rose's condition to know that there was no way they would get out of this one. They literally had everyone in the world against them. Sighing, she got out of the car and looked at him in annoyance.

"And your friend."

"As you can see, she's not well," she snapped at him.

"Alright, then. We'll just have to help her."

Two other Masters stepped forward and grabbed Rose out of the car. She began to struggle.

"It's okay, Rose," she reassured her. "There's too many of him. Don't hurt yourself when there's no point."

Rose settled down, but clung tightly to the bag in her arms as if it were her only lifeline. She looked a lot like a scared, sick child holding for dear life to their favourite teddy. And Donna's heart went out to her. She had been through a lot with the Doctor, but Rose had been through worse. Around them, the Masters had varying looks of surprise, confusion and delight.

"Rose?" one said.

"Rose Tyler?" said the Cop Master. Neither answered, but Rose took a step back, fear on her face. How did he know about her? "Ah, you are! You are someone I've wanted to meet for a very long time." He began circling her. "The little girl who absorbed the Time Vortex. The little human who captured a Time Lords hearts. Oh, yes. I have been dying to meet you. Put them in the car."

They were grabbed roughly by the Masters around them. They were led over to the police car and pushed in. A pair of cuffs were snapped around Donna's wrists.

"Just in case," he said to her, giving her a look.

"Give it to me!" A Master snapped from the other side of the door. He was struggling to pull Rose's bag away from her.

"No!" Rose cried, clinging to the bag for dear life.

"What's in it?" Cop Master asked.

"Nothing. It's my stuff – Hey!" While she was distracted the other Master had snatched it from her hands. He opened it up.

"Oooh! It's bigger on the inside," he said cheekily. "Clothes, pictures, things, files... hmm..." He grabbed out the files and flicked through them. "Interesting. Very interesting. I think we'll hold onto these."

"Give them back, you asshole," she growled.

"Ooh! Miss Tyler, such language." He chucked the bag into the front seat and snatched up her hands so he could cuff them. "All yours, officer," he said to Cop Master, who was now sitting in the drivers seat.

He grinned as the door was slammed shit and grabbed the radio. "Yeah, put me through to him. I've got something he'll like." There was a pause as he was patched through. "What?" Yet another voice of the Master snapped.

"Sorry to interrupt, sir, but I've detained the Doctor's Donna. And you'll never believe who is with her."

"Someone else didn't change?"

"No, the thing is, she shouldn't even be here."

"Well, who is it?" he said impatiently.

"Rose Tyler."

There was silence down the other end of the line for so long that they all became nervous. "Bring them to me." Was the only reply.

"Yes, sir." He put the radio down and turned on his police lights. On his signal, drivers got back in their cars and cleared away. Soon they were back driving on the road.

"Where are you taking us?" Donna asked.

"To the top guy. I'm everybody, but the original me is in charge. And he wants to see you."

"Okay, that's just weird," she muttered. "But, no. I meant where are you taking is? Where is the in charge you? ...Oh god, he hasn't taken over Buckingham Palace has he? That would be so pompous and cliché."

"And why should I tell you?"

"Because I'm going to find out when we get there anyway. I want to know now. Where are you taking us?"

He sighed in frustration. "The Naismith Mansion. Maybe you'll get to see your wonderful Doctor while you're there. Then again... he's escaped. Maybe he needs a little incentive to come back." His eyes flicked over the two of them in the rear-view mirror and Donna glared at him.

Though, part of her ways happy. They were going exactly where they needed to go. If the Doctor escaped, then they could too. They could find the TARDIS and help Rose.

Rose, who at the moment was white as a sheet and leaning against the window. Her skin was so hot that it was fogging up the cold glass she rested on. She'd brought her knees up and was curled in a ball.

Donna wished she could do something to help her. Anything. Rose couldn't die. She wouldn't let her.