The woman took Donna into the centre of the circle of mirrors while Luna walked around the outside.
"We don't know how the TARDIS works exactly," Luna began, fiddling with a computer. "But I know enough to scrape off the surface technology… Enough to show you what the creature looks like anyway," She finished, offering Donna a kind smile.
"It's a creature?" Donna asked, alarmed.
"Just stand here." The woman told her.
"You might want to get out of the circle there Petal. "
"Yeah, sure, whatever…." The woman replied, walking over to stand by her side.
"Can't you stay with me?" Donna asked her.
"Don't worry Chick," Luna said walking to her side.
"You might want to get out of there Soldier."
"I'm gonna have to respectfully ignore that Captain." She replied, winking at Donna.
"The radiation…"
"Oh come on… I've been playing with radiation since before it was discovered here on Earth. Now, Captain, if you wouldn't mind." The Gideon finished, grabbing hold of a grateful Donna's hand.
"Ready?" the Captain called. "And…activate."
The machine began to whirl and the lights around the circle began to snap on, one by one.
Donna screwed her eyes shut.
"Open your eyes, Donna."
"Is it there?" Donna asked.
"Yeah it is… Open your eyes chick and look at it."
"I can't." Donna said, shaking her head.
"It's a part of you Donna." Luna explained calmly. "Look."
Donna slowly opened her eyes to stare at the creature's reflection in the mirrors. It was a huge black beetle on her back. She gasped in horror and tried to spin around but the hold on her hand stopped her.
"It's okay." The woman began. "It's okay, it's okay-calm down. Donna? Donna? Donna!" Donna stopped staring.
"Okay." The woman said.
Donna took deep breaths, looking at the beetle with trepidation. It took up most of her back, it's pincers nuzzling her hair. Upon closer inspection, she realised that it wasn't actually causing her any pain. it was just sitting there like a back pack, clicking away quietly.
"What is it?" Donna asked, just barely staying calm.
"We don't know." The woman said.
"It feeds off time." Luna began explained, rubbing Donna's shoulder soothingly. "By changing time. By making someone's life take a different turn, like, er…meetings never made…children never born…a life never loved. But with you, it's… Well, it made an entire parallel universe."
"But I never did-anything important." Donna said, frozen with fear.
"Yeah, you did." The woman told her. "One day, that thing made you turn right instead of left."
"When was that?" Donna asked.
"Oh, you wouldn't remember." The woman told her. "It was the most ordinary day in the world, but by turning right, you never met the Doctor and the whole world just changed around you."
"Can you get rid of it?" Donna asked.
"We can't even touch it. It's in a state of flux."
"You liars!" Donna said furiously, surprising them. "You told me I was special! But it's not me! It's this thing! I'm just a host!"
"No, there's more than that." The woman said calmly. "The readings are strange. It's…it's like reality's just bending round you."
"Because of this thing!" Donna insisted.
"It isn't chick. We're taking separate readings from you and it and they've always been there, since the day that you were born."
"This is not relevant to the mission." The captain to them.
"I thought it was just the Doctor we needed." The woman told Donna.
"But I was wrong." The woman said. "We need both of you."
At this, Luna glanced down at the floor in sadness.
"He never comes back for me…" The woman looked at her, knowing the truth but not wanting to speak it.
"The Doctor and Donna Noble. Together. To stop the stars from going out." The woman continued.
"Why?" Donna shouted hysterically. She was shaking with fear and sheer confusion.
"What can I do?"
Donna half glanced at the beetle again, but she couldn't bring herself to look directly at it again.
"Turn it off." She whimpered. "Please."
"Captain." Luna said quickly.
"Power down." The captain called.
As soon as the lights were down, Luna wrapped her arms around Donna and pulled her into a consoling hug.
"It's…it's still there, though." Donna said shakily. "What can I do…to get rid of it?"
"You're going to travel in time." The woman told her, staring at the pair of embracing women.
The woman took charge, quickly explaining to Donna what she needed to do while shoving her into a thick green jacket covered in dozens of wires.
"The TARDIS has tracked down the moment of intervention, Monday the 25th, one minute past ten in the morning." She told her. "Your car was on Little Sutton Street, Ealing Road, but you turn right heading for Griffin's Parade. You need to turn left. That's the most important thing. You've got to go back and turn left. Have you got that, Donna? One minute past ten. Make yourself turn left, heading for the Chiswick Highroad."
"Keep the jacket on at all times." The captain told her. "It's insulation against temporal feedback. This will correspond to local time wherever you land." She continued, pointing to the digital watch Luna was strapping to her wrist before handing her a bottle of water. "And this is to combat dehydration."
"Really?" Donna said sarcastically as she was led to the edge of the circle. "Who would've thought?"
"This is where we leave you." The woman told her.
"I don't want to see that thing on my back." Donna said quickly.
"You won't." the woman told her. "The mirrors are just incidental. They bounce chronon energy back into the centre which we control and decide the destination."
"It's a time machine." Donna said, awed.
"It's a time machine." She agreed.
"If you could?" the captain said.
The woman smiled at Donna encouragingly and gave her arm one last squeeze. Taking a deep breath, Donna stepped into the circle, leaving Luna watching her.
"Powering up." The captain called.
The machinery burst to life once more and the lights snapped on.
"How do you know it's going to work?" Donna asked.
"Hmm?" the woman said. "Oh…yeah…we-we don't. We're just…we're just guessing."
"Oh, great!" Donna said, laughing apprehensively.
"Just remember, when you get to the junction, change the car's direction by one minute past ten." The woman warned.
"How do I do that?" Donna asked.
"It's up to you." She replied.
"Well, I just have to…run up to myself and…have a good argument." Donna said.
"I'd like to see that!" the woman said, laughing.
"Activate loadstone." The captain called.
A switch was flipped and the lights began to blink.
"Good luck." The woman called.
"I'm ready!" Donna called back.
"One minute past ten." She reminded her.
"Because I understand, now." Donna said. "You said I was going to die, but you mean this whole world is going to blink out of existence. But that's not dying because a better world take its place. The Doctor's world. And I'm still alive!"
"That's right, isn't it?" She said. "I don't die? If I change things, I don't die? That's…that's right, isn't it?" she asked.
"I'm sorry." The woman said, looking back at her.
"But I can't die!" Donna protested. "I've got a future! With the Doctor! You told me!"
"Activate!" the captain yelled.
The lights reached full intensity and strong wind blew against Donna.
Spark flew from everywhere.
And they she was gone.
Donna reappeared on crouched down in the street wearing the thick coat covered in wires; it appeared to be a typical day. Standing up, she looked around, hardly able to believe what she was seeing. Smiling, she threw her arms up in the air, laughing as she span around.
"Hold on..." she said. "But this is…I'm not…This is Sutton Court! I'm half a mile away!" She shouted, turning her face to the sky before glancing down at the watch on her wrist.
9:57
"Four minutes?" she said, horrified. "Oh, my God…"
She took off running.
Donna and Sylvia walked down from their house to the car.
"Jival, he's called. Jival Chowdry?" Sylvia said as they got into the car.
"He runs that little photocopy business." Sylvia continued. "And he needs a secretary."
"I've-got-a job." Donna told her, rolling her eyes.
Donna ran down the street as fast as she could; she struggled desperately to catch her breath though she didn't dare to stop running.
"H.C. Clements is in the city." Donna said, clicking her seat belt. "It's nice. It's posh. So, stop it." She snapped, turning the key in the ignition.
Donna paused by a lamp post for a second to check her watch before carrying on running.
A black SUV drove by them as they waited at the crossroad.
"It won't take long." Sylvia said. "Just turn right."
Donna was sprinting down the road, gasping for air.
"I'm going left." Donna said, fed up. "If you don't like it, get out and walk."
Donna's legs were aching and heavy but she still pushed on, forcing herself to run faster.
"You think I'm so useless." Donna said, raising her voice.
"I know why you want a job with H.C. Clements, lady." Sylvia said, mockingly. "Because you think you'll meet a man…"
Donna stopped, gasping, and checked her watch again.
9:59
"I'm not going to get there." She whispered.
You're going to die.
She saw the black SUV driving up the road.
"…city executives don't need temps, except for practice." Sylvia finished.
The turn signal blinked left.
"Yeah." Donna said. "S'pose you're right."
She turned it to right.
Donna gazed at the approaching SUV.
"Please." She whispered.
She stepped out in front of it.
Having a few seconds, the driver slammed on her breaks and pulled the wheel violently to the right, causing the SUV to roll over.
In the background, a woman screamed.
Donna and Sylvia heard the screaming in their car.
"Can you hear that?" Sylvia asked.
Donna opened her eyes to see that she was unharmed.
Looking around, she noticed the crushed SUV a few feet away from her.
Reacting quickly, she ran towards the car, laying on the floor to see if she could find the driver though it appeared someone else had already helped her.
"Hold on!" he yelled, carrying a limp woman in his arms. "Back up!"
"Oi!" a taxi driver called. "Get a move on!"
Donna and Sylvia watched as traffic began to build up to the right of them.
"The traffic's stopping." Donna pointed out.
"Something must have happened!" Sylvia said.
Donna ran up to the woman, recognising the thick mane of crimson curls cascading over the man's arms as he cradled her.
"Oh my god! Luna!" she cried, touching the young woman's face though she didn't respond. "Luna please, answer me!"
"Doc-tor," Luna whispered quietly as her head limply fell back, her eyes closed and her skin pale.
"I'm so… s-sorry," she sobbed, touching the woman's cheek. As she stood there, crying over the woman who meant so much yet so little to her, the blonde woman approached.
"Tell him this:" she said. "Two words." She leaned forward and whispered the words into Donna's ear.
Donna stared at her, confused, until a wave of dizziness overcame her.
Suddenly, Donna collapsed onto the floor.
Donna looked at the traffic with distaste.
"Well, that decides it." She said. "I'm not sitting in a traffic jam. I'm going left."
She switched the signal and turned left.
The fortune teller stared at Donna, her eyes full of fear.
Donna stood and looked at the beetle twitching on the ground, clicking away feebly before it died.
"What the hell is that?" Donna demanded
"You were so strong." The woman said, terrified. "What are you? What will you be?" she whimpered quietly before scrambling out of the tent.
A moment later, the Doctor walking in with an excited looking Luna following him.
"Everything alright?" he asked mildly while Luna babbled excitedly about this necklace the Doctor had bought for her though it was lost on Donna; she just stood, staring at them as if she hadn't seen the pair in years before throwing herself at them.
"I'm so glad to see you!"
"Hey, hey, hey… It's only been half an hour." The Doctor said, hugging her back with a smile.
"I am so sorry Luna… Oh my god.. Thanks for everything." She mumbled into Luna's hair, hugging the Gideon so tight that she struggled to breathe.
"Its fine babes, don't worry about it. You can borrow my clothes anytime you like."
The Doctor sat at the table, poking and prodding the beetle with an unburned incense stick while Luna sat at the other side, staring at Donna while she explained what had happened.
"I can't remember." Donna told them. "It's slipping away. You know like when you try and think of a dream and it just sort of…goes."
"It just got lucky, this thing." The Doctor said, pointing at the beetle. "It's one of the Trickster's Brigade. Changes a life in tiny little ways. Most times, the universe just compensates around it, but with you…" He looked at her proudly. "Great big parallel world!"
"Luna said something similar." Donna said. "I mean, that version of Luna did anyway… It was so strange Lu. You were a soldier working for UNIT."
"Looney, working for UNIT? Now I've heard it all. Ha, she can't follow orders."
"Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence there Theta."
"Sometimes I think there's way too much coincidence around you, Donna." The Doctor said, thinking to all she had told them. "We met you once. I met your grandfather. Then we met again. In the whole wide universe, we both met you for a second time.…It's like something's binding us together."
"Don't be daft." Donna told him. "I'm nothing special."
"Oh, but you are. You're brilliant."
"And she said that." Donna murmured.
"Who did?" the Doctor asked.
"The woman." She replied, straining to remember. "I can't remember."
"Well, she never existed now." He told her.
"Now, but she said…the stars…she said the stars are going out." Donna told them.
"Yeah, but that world's gone now. No more soldier me or dead Doctor," Luna soothed her.
"No, but she said it was all worlds." Donna insisted. "Every world. She said the darkness is coming, even here."
"Who is she?" the Doctor asked, his attention caught now.
"I don't know." Donna told him.
"What did she look like?" the Doctor asked.
"She was…blonde." Donna remembered.
"What was her name?" the Doctor pushed.
"I don't know!" Donna told him.
"Donna, we need to know her name."
"I don't know, you always referred to her as 'Petal'… that's all you ever called her. But she told me to warn you. She said…two words."
"What two words?" the Doctor demanded. "What were they? What did she say?" Donna hesitated.
"Bad Wolf." The Doctor's eyes widened.
"Well, what does it mean?" Donna asked.
The Doctor leapt to his feet and raced out of the door, pulling a dazed Luna behind him.
Outside, everywhere they looked, were the words 'Bad Wolf'.
Over and over again.
They ran to the TARDIS and every word and phrase was replaced with 'Bad Wolf'.
The Doctor wrenched open the doors and they ran inside though Luna stopped in the middle of the console room; the warm orange light had been replaced with a light the shade of blood.
"Doctor, what is it?" Donna demanded. "Luna? Will someone tell me what's Bad Wolf?"
The Doctor stood beside Luna, breathing heavily.
"It's the end of the Universe." He told her.