A/N: I am ssssooooooo sorry! This is over a month late, and I had this chapter ready and everything, but unfortunately I was struck by illness, where I could barely stay awake for even five minutes (i won't bore you with the other details).

So, I've written a few more chapters, but I still have to type them up, so expect a few more to be up in the next three days :)

Feel free to rant and rave at me and wave your laser screwdriver at me if it makes things better, or ask me stupid questions on my formspring account - oh, and I'm also working on another fic too! It's called Two Before Subject X, and it's another/different spin to how the Doctor meets this companion.

DISCLAIMER: If I really owned Doctor Who, would David Tennant really be free to wander the Earth as he pleases? No, I didn't think so.

FORMSPRING - Go on, ask me a question!If you dare, that is... .me/ValeBarrowman

Stretching her arms out like an overfed cat might, Belle pulled the duvet from over her head whilst propping herself up against a bank of pillows. Mulling over her dreams and nightmares, she absentmindedly stroked the sleeping Doctor's head, as unfamiliar memories rose to the surface.

"Aren't you a beautiful boy?" Rose cooed, kneeling on the grass to stroke a tubby tabby that seemed to be harassing a cardboard box.

The Doctor smiled as he took long strides across the lawn. "Thanks, I've been experimenting with backcombing – oh." His face fell, taking in the sight before him with disdain.

Oblivious to the Doctor's horror, Rose continued to stroke the ginger cat. "I used to have one just like you – what?" She said innocently, as she took in the Doctor's face.

"No I'm not really a cat person. Once you've been threatened by one in a nun's wimple, kind of takes the joy out of it." The Doctor sniffed, watching happily as the cat, deprived of the attention, stalked towards the cardboard box.

The Doctor twitched slightly, murmuring softly as he buried his face into the surface of the bed.

Come to think of it, why was she in the Medical Bay?

Confused and disoriented, she shook her head, as a bundle of emotions threatened to consume her.

Anger? Happiness? Misery? Confusion? Revenge?

Screwing her eyes shut and blinking furiously, Belle counted to ten, her lips curving in a smile as she felt the torrent of feelings slip away. Opening her eyes, she jumped slightly as the Doctor's own inquisitive brown eyes stared deeply into hers.

"You okay?" He said softly, and she shifted her gaze away from him. Making to get up, he seized her wrist, pulling Belle back towards him.

"What's wrong?" The Doctor asked gently, in the way she knew too well, the voice that sounded so innocent, yet had you pouring out the truth within seconds.

Keeping her lips tightly sealed, Belle pushed back off the bed, heading briskly for the door.

Wracking his head for another effective method, the Doctor perched on the recovery bed, his eyes locked on Belle.

"Why were you stroking my head?"

Damn. That one word circled her mind, battering her brain for doing something so stupid. True, she hadn't known she was stroking his hair, but honestly…

"Belle? C'mon, Belle, you know you can tell me anything, right?"

She laughed inwardly at the Doctor's words. Yeah, because 'Oh, sorry, my telepathic abilities are slipping out of control and I can see into your mind' wouldn't cause any complications at all now, would it?

"It's nothing, just asleep." She said casually, moving again.

"Belle, stroking someone's head isn't sleeping…" The Doctor said lowly, and Belle turned to face him, eyes ablaze.

"I didn't mean to, okay?!" She yelled, her body going limp as the tension deflated suddenly.

"Sorry, I just kinda… Oh it doesn't matter." Belle sighed, walking out of the room, leaving behind a concerned Doctor.

"You okay?"

The Doctor's voice broke her thoughts as he sat on the pier beside her, watching as she stood, staring out at the foam-crested waves that crashed relentlessly at the low wooden platform that they rested on. Rain ran in rivers down her skin, soaking her thoroughly, the thin material of her dress clinging to her and making her slim figure even more delicate.

"Belle?" He asked, pushing himself to his feet and standing next to her, watching warily as she stood precariously close to the edge.

"They're so strange, Doctor, so strange." Belle whispered softly, the waves carrying her voice, distorting and warping it until it became lost in an ocean's game of Chinese whispers.

"What are strange, Belle? Tell me exactly what it is that's strange."

"Everything, everything I know and everything I've ever known, everything that I will know and everything that I won't know." She whispered again, staring unseeing into the twisting of the waves, another lost soul drowning in the depths of the unknown.

"The dreams, the nightmares. I see worlds beyond the imagination, see terrible creatures, see angels and demons and everything in-between. I can see the fire and ice, the rage and the calm, the chaos and the order."

The Doctor frowned slightly.

"How do you see these things? Are they memories or stories? Are these your memories? You said you couldn't remember much, maybe they're returning?"

"Memories, so many memories, it's just…"

"Just what, Belle?" He encouraged softly, placing an arm around her waist.

"The memories, memories of others, never of mine. Never mine! Cats and nuns and Daleks and metal men and scar-healers…"

The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "But you've never seen any of them, except from the Daleks…"

"Home. Burnt, gone, nothing. Fire and darkness and anger and blood, so much blood…"

"No." He said firmly, wrapping his arms around her.

She turned to face him, her eyes shining violet, long tendrils of hair framing her face as the wind whipped at it wildly.

"But don't you see? The drums never end, and the drum master is returning. They beat inside of me, inside of you, and I am the darkness and the fire and the blood made flesh. I am the embodiment of Gallifrey's destruction, and I will become its uprising. The revenge and the anger, the ashes of a new dawn, and humanity will walk no more. The day of humanity is over, the new era of the Time Lords has risen."

The Doctor faltered, stepping back slightly. "No… Gallifrey can't come back, it's locked! The entire Time War is time locked! It's impossible!"

"Impossible for one, but not for two, and the drum master will return. The drums, can't you hear the drums? The shadows are moving, the shadows are coming, a shadow will fall across this blasted earth, and it will become the new realm of the Time Lords!"

"You're just ill, Belle, ill. Come on, we'll go back into the Hub, get warmed up, go to sleep and forget about this, yeah? That sound good?"

"No! Don't be afraid, Doctor. It won't harm you!"

The Doctor stepped back again, slowly edging back towards the Hub. "What have you done with Belle? Who are you? I demand that you tell me who you are, in parlay with the Article 26 of the Shadow Proclamation!"

"Your words are meaningless! They are child's play, as is this universe. I am above the Proclamation of Shadows itself, never have they had reign over me! Don't run, Oncoming Storm, it was you who made all this possible! Gallifrey reborn!"

"How can you even know all of this? Just exactly who are you?!"

"I am the unknown!"

"TELL ME WHO YOU ARE!" The Doctor roared, rushing forwards to meet her fiery gaze.

"Two before Subject X!" She cried, before gasping and clutching at her head, her face contorted in pain.

The Doctor only just managed to catch Belle's unconscious body before she hit the water.