Components

Elements n. 10. Components: a constituent of a whole or one of the parts into which a whole may be resolved by analysis: Bricks and mortar are elements of every masonry wall.

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Donna crouched, shivering, under the fallen tree in the little ditch, frozen in fear. The soldier-clones were long gone, dragging their captive Rose back to the Naismith mansion, and silence had descended on the forest once more.

What do I do now? What can I do? I'm nobody. I'm not a soldier, or a hero. I'm nothing. I'm just a book shop owner, mother of three. Sure, I used to run around with the Doctor, but I was just his sidekick. I never saved anyone or stopped anything. I'm nothing. Regardless of what I told Grandad this afternoon. I was just tagging along with Rose. She's the superhero, not me. Not me.

She pulled herself into a little ball of misery and started to cry. December cold seeped up into her frame from the icy ground, and made her shiver even harder. Her family's faces danced through her head, staring at her, and her imagination painted them reaching out to her, calling to her, asking for help, but she couldn't move. Mike stood in front of her, his eyes filled with pain – and then he turned away, defeated. She reached out after him, crying out his name –

– and woke with a start, her hands scrabbling in the dirt, her own voice ringing in her ears. Fury suddenly washed through her, driving her out from under the tree and onto the bank. Fury at herself, fury at the Master, fury at fate.

So what are you going to do, Donna Noble Smith, just lay there and die, while the Master takes over the world? Are you going to just sit by and let him find your family and kill them? She gasped as the awful word crossed her mind – until then, she hadn't quite allowed the inevitable consequences of the Master's victory to sink in.

She took a deep breath and stood up straight, shaking her head. Not while I'm alive, you won't. I don't know what I can do, but I swear on my family, I'll figure out something. She took another deep breath, fighting off fear and inadequacy, repeating it to herself fiercely. I'll figure out something.

First off, redhead, is getting out of these woods and over to where the action is. And she started walking shakily towards the distant lights, brushing the dirt off her clothes as she went, smearing a little of it into her face as she wiped off her tears and deciding to leave it for camouflage.

The Naismith estate was perched on a hill overlooking the picture-perfect English countryside, a high brick wall surrounding the house and outbuildings. Donna worked her way around the wall, hiding in the shadows, until she came to the ornate front gate. She crouched under a bush for several minutes, watching for guards – but none came around. Well, I guess if the everyone in the whole world is him, as far as he knows, there's no need to mount a guard, is there? Still, she kept to the shadows as she dashed up to the house as quickly as she could.

Working her way around the back, she found a small door into the lower reaches of the house, and snuck in, finding herself in a dark cellar. She made her way through a series of storerooms, looking for a way up, when she heard small noises coming from the next room. Peeking in, she damn near screamed at the sight of two green-skinned, spiky aliens, dressed incongruously in ordinary lab coats, tinkering with some equipment.

Her gasp alerted them to her presence, and they whirled around, gaping. The realization of each other's non-Mastery – and therefore, potential ally status – hit all three at once. The aliens quickly gave Donna the rundown, as they knew it, including the fact of their inability to escape just then, as the Master had locked out their transporter; that was what they were trying to fix. They also confirmed the presence of three prisoners above, the last time they had snuck up to look.

Sighing in relief at that news, she asked them to show her the way to the Gate room, and the three of them quietly crept upstairs. "But we're not going in there with you," Addams whispered fiercely. "There's nothing we can do. We're just salvagers." They had no weapons to offer her, either – everything of potential use there was up in orbit. Donna nodded, and edged towards the half-open side door.

Crouching down, practically on her belly, she kept her head as close to the floor as she could as she peeked around the door. The first thing she noticed was a pair of glass booths on the far side of the room, with Mike and Rose sitting morosely inside each one. She stifled a sob at the sight of her apparently unharmed husband, then tore her eyes away and continued her surveillance, taking in but not really paying attention to the clusters of equipment here and there. She caught sight of the Doctor sitting in a chair to her left, held at riflepoint by a guard, then, further away near the left end of the long room was a cluster of four Master clones working on some equipment.

Suddenly aware of the silence behind her, she looked around and confirmed that the aliens had left. Some allies you lot are. Thanks a lot. Still, they'd gotten her there. She shrugged and turned back, just as one of the Masters – the original, from the way he was acting – ordered everyone to stand back, and bent over the metal cube he'd been working on, putting on the final touches.

She stayed frozen in place through the next mind-blowing minutes, as the drums and the blinding light heralded the arrival of the Time Lords, whose leader, obviously an ancient enemy of the Doctor's, traded sneering barbs with the other two. The Doctor's brief description of the horrors about to descend from the hellish globe suddenly filling the skylight chilled her – yet again – to the bone. When Mike stood up with the pistol – she recognized her Grandad's gun immediately – she blinked; she hadn't seen him get out of the booth. She almost cheered – but then he turned it on the Master behind him.

"Michael. No, don't. Don't do it. Oh, please, god, no," she whispered. She gathered herself up, ready to burst in and add her voice to the Doctor's pleas for her husband's soul, when the two of them turned towards Rassilon. Their eyes slid sideways – and the look of shocked, despairing recognition that crossed both their faces stopped Donna cold.

She glanced quickly to her right to see what had caught their eye, and saw the profile of the kneeling Time Lady, staring achingly back at them, tears coursing in high relief from Donna's side view. Who is she? Donna glanced back just in time to catch Mike's lips moving, and her heart broke for him as she read the word: Mother. Oh my god.

Suddenly, the tableau broke, as the Doctor took the pistol from his twin and shot at the equipment behind the Master, apparently breaking the connection that had brought the invaders across the void. Roaring out of nowhere, the sudden wind caught the door out of Donna's grasp, flinging it wide. No-one noticed her crouching there, and she hunkered lower, turning her head away from the wind to catch the sight of the light beginning to contract, sucking the Time Lords back into their hell. The wind had knocked most of them over, and Donna stared incredulously into the eyes of her husband's mother only a few feet away – she'd fallen forward rather than back. She was crouching on all fours, simply staring, slipping away. Her tragic, fearful eyes tore at Donna's heart.

Without conscious thought, Donna launched herself forward, stretching her hand out toward the Time Lady, who reacted a second later, automatically reaching with her own – but she was being pulled back. Another lunge, and their hands met, clutching for dear life. Donna felt herself being sucked forward into the retreating light, and cried out, wordlessly.

And then two strong arms were suddenly around her waist, pulling her back. Her hand almost lost its grip, but she flung her other hand out and added it to the connection, and simply hung on as hard as she could. And then another pair of masculine hands came from the side and grabbed on to the older woman's, too.

Suddenly, the light and wind were gone, vanished from one second to the next, leaving four people to collapse gasping on the floor. Donna looked around, exhausted, and found that the arms which had held her back belonged to the Doctor, while the hands that helped her hold on were Mike's – and he was still holding on. The look on his face said he never wanted to let go again.

The Time Lady raised her head, astonished, indescribable joy suffusing her face. She glanced backwards, seeing only smashed equipment, and then back to the others there. "I'm alive. I'm alive!" she whispered. Fighting back tears, she looked back and forth between the two men. "Doctor? How can there be two of you?"

"It's a long story," whispered Mike, an uncertain smile trying to fight the tears.

The Doctor finally managed to move, bringing his arms from around Donna's waist and sitting, hard. His lips tried to form the word Mother, but couldn't – centuries of formal habit denied the familiarity. "Lady Toshana?" he finally managed.

She looked fully at him – and the storm broke. Suddenly the three of them were in each other's arms, still kneeling on the floor, reunited at last.

Donna sat back, smiling, still astonished at herself. "I did it. I did it!" She took a deep breath, letting the wonderful feeling of accomplishment wash over her soul, knowing it was something she could hold onto forever. She wasn't a superhero, but she'd saved a very precious life, and given a priceless gift to her husband and his brother. It wasn't just me. Each one of us were part of this. The wonderful feeling of being part of the team again, missing for so long, made her heart sing.

Then she looked up, past the hugging trio to the isolation booths, as the sound of an alarm – growing stronger ever since the wind had died – finally pierced her consciousness, and her smile melted swiftly away. "Doctor? Don't you think we should get Rose out of there?"