Chapter Three – Donna's Fate

The Tardis continued to whoosh and whirl as it returned to a steady rhythm.

Rose Tyler kept a tight hold on the Doctor as she accepted the fact that they were gone now. There was no going back to her former life with her mother and the parallel world.

"It's ok, I understand Rose." Donna said from where she stood beside the console.

Rose looked up at her as she wiped her tears away, The Doctor keeping a comforting arm wrapped around her.

Donna looked more like her normal self now as she spoke. "Having to let go of something like you just did. A former life which you knew you couldn't live in forever and be happy with."

She was right, Rose knew she couldn't go back. She had been alone on that world. Jackie hadn't had it as bad because she kind of had her husband back and Pete kind of had his wife back. Despite the fact that they were parallel versions of the people each of them once knew and loved. Yet they had started a whole new beginning together. Mickey on the other hand had become more of a friend rather than the boyfriend he used to be. He'd accepted that too, because he could easily see how much pain Rose had been in all that time and he hadn't tried to encourage her that they could have a life together. And Rose couldn't have carried on living like that because the pain of loss and detachment to the most important man in her life would instantly return and she wouldn't be able to settle or be happy.

"You were right you know." Said Donna "About how you used to be just like me. I mean once upon a time we both had normal jobs and probably going to end up like every other woman with our own families and living every day just like every other one. But after we met the Doctor, we found a better way we could live. A life full of adventure and each day different from the last."

Rose smiled a bit now. "Yeah, once you start travelling like this, it's impossible to let it go afterwards. Because it's so fantastic." She looked up at the Doctor "And you are the best part of all, because there is no one else in the world who can compare to you."

The Doctor smiled now as he gave her a small squeeze but still said nothing.

Donna smiled too. "Well now it's going to be even more exciting to have you travelling with us too Rose. I totally disagree with the old "twos company" saying, in my personal opinion "Twos company, threes a party!"

Rose laughed lightly feeling her mood getting happier by the minute. "Yes, I felt the same when Jack started travelling with us and then when Mickey occasionally joined us."

"Well, you were always the most special Rose, because he never stopped thinking of you. Half because of what he told me when I first met him and from what I can see in his memories. It was so heart-breaking for him and he even told Martha the same when he started travelling with her and as you saw today, she knew of you too and how much you meant."

Realizing something, Rose turned back to the Doctor. "Yeah, actually that's quite a change from how times used to be. Like when we met Sarah-Jane."

He finally responded and said "I felt ashamed not having mentioned any of the others before. So, I decided from now on I wouldn't act like I had always been a loner."

Rose smiled properly now. "Thanks, lovely to know that…" she couldn't think of how to end that sentence but he didn't need her to.

"I know." He said and the two of them shared another hug.

Rose smiled to herself as she clung to him.

"Well, I think we should start thinking of where to go next." Said Donna. "Clearly a lot has happened today for all of us and I feel what you need Rose is another fun adventure. Then we can get back on track to where you left off. What do ya say?"

Rose nodded "Yes, I agree." She walked up to the top of the slanted ramp so she was now at the level of the console and the Doctor slowly followed to join her side as they faced Donna.

"So Rose, where do ya wanna go? A specific place or backwards or forwards in time?"

For once Rose found that she couldn't decide. "Oh, you choose first Donna and I'll choose the next one after that."

"Ok then," said Donna who looked down to study the console screen for a moment. The she took on that voice which was a perfect imitation of the Doctor. "I thought we could try the planet Felspoon. Just because, what a good name, Felspoon. Apparently, it's got mountains that sway in the breeze. Mountains that move. Can you imagine?"

"Sounds interesting." Said Rose.

"And how do you know that?" Asked the Doctor, his voice taking on an oddly blank tone.

"Because it's in your head. And if it's in your head, it's in mine." Donna replied sarcastically.

"And how does that feel?" Again, the Doctor's tone when he spoke was blank and emotionless.

Curious now, Rose turned to look at him and to her surprise she saw that his face had become grave and his eyes were fixed Donna as though he was anticipating something. Rose was about to ask him but Donna's response came first.

"Brilliant! Fantastic! Molto bene! Great big universe, packed into my brain."

It was starting to sound strange to hear Donna now talk exactly like him. Rose began to wonder if this would be something that would be easy to get used to after a while. It was baffling enough to see that duplicate of the Doctor on the Dalek Crucible. But Rose was still confused by The Doctor's strange behaviour. Did he know something they didn't? And again, Donna's voice interrupted Rose's thoughts.

"You know you could fix that chameleon circuit if you just tried hot-binding the fragment links and superseding the binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary." She let out a small gasp before saying quickly "I'm fine." With an amused smile as though, nothing had just happened.

Now Rose was staring at Donna too. What had just happened? Why had Donna said that word again and again as though she was stuck on a loop? But then Donna started speaking really fast and Rose's concern escalated the more she listened.

"Nah, never mind Felspoon. You know who I'd like to meet? Charlie Chaplin. I bet he's great, Charlie Chaplin. Shall we do that? Shall we go and see Charlie Chaplin? Shall we? Charlie Chaplin? Charlie Chester. Charlie Brown. No, he's fiction. Friction, fiction, fixing, mixing, Rickston, Brixton." Donna gasped again but this time in pain and she doubled over gasping for air, her hand braced against the console, the other against her temple. "Oh my god!"

"Donna!"

Rose started to hurry forward but The Doctor stopped her with a hand on her shoulder and stepped over to Donna himself, his face still grave as he looked down at her. "Do you know what's happening?" he asked.

Donna slowly stood up again but not looking at them "Yeah."

"There's never been a human Time Lord metacrisis before now. And you know why."

"Because there can't be." Donna replied looking as though she was on the brink of tears. She turned back to the console and activated a few switches. "I want to stay." Her voice was becoming tight.

The Doctor stepped over and leaned in towards her "Look at me. Donna, look at me."

Rose stepped a bit closer too and she could see that the Doctor was also starting to look sad. And at that moment Rose remembered something. It was a memory from long ago, when she had opened the heart of the Tardis and looked into the time vortex before she absorbed it into her head.

The Doctor had told her everything not long after what had actually happened. Because Rose had no memory of what had occurred until she had woken in the Tardis before her original Doctor had regenerated. Apparently, Rose had become the Bad Wolf itself and been given the power to destroy the entire Dalek fleet and the Dalek Emperor. However, since she was human, her mind had not been strong enough to hold all that power for long. As her head had started to burn, the Doctor had saved her life by taking the power out of her and into his own head. But doing so had caused him to suffer the deadly consequences instead and he'd had to regenerate to save his own life.

So was something similar must be happening now to Donna? With a Time Lord mind inside her head, was it probably all too much for her human brain to handle? As she reached this conclusion Rose looked up and realized she had been so deep in her thoughts that she had not been paying much attention to Donna and The Doctor. As she now looked, Donna's tear-filled eyes suddenly went wide and she began pleading and begging the Doctor who was now holding her upper arms.

"No. Oh my god. I can't go back. Don't make me go back. Doctor, Rose, please, please don't make me go back."

Rose wanted to say something but she felt as though a hand was round her throat and she was frozen where she stood. It appeared her theory was right, but what could they do? Was the Doctor going to do what he did to her all that time ago. Would he die to save Donna? She could feel her tears coming back.

"Donna." The Doctor said in a gentle warning but his voice took on a softer edge. "Oh, Donna Noble. I am so sorry. But we had the best of times. The best."

Donna's tears fell and so did Rose's at the same time. Did this mean there was nothing the Doctor could do? But what did Donna mean about going back? Back to where?

"Goodbye" He whispered softly with the unmistakable sound of heartbreak.

Rose's heart lurched as he raised his hands to hold Donna's temple with his fingers. He was doing something, but it couldn't have been something good because Donna started pleading again so desperately, you'd have thought she was literally begging for her life. "No, no, no. Please. Please. No. No."

Rose clamped her hands over her mouth as Donna let out one final "No!" and passed out into Doctor's arms. He held her in a tight hug, but her arms hung limp.

"Donna!" Rose cried. "Doctor, what did you do to her?"

Turning to face her he said sadly "I saved her life. You can probably guess what was happening to her Rose. You had something similar happen to you once. Remember what I told you?"

Her blood froze to ice. So, it had been too much for Donna's mind to handle.

"You took it out of her, didn't you? Just like you did to me, you've returned her back to normal again. But does that mean? Oh, my god, are you going to have to regenerate again?!" she asked starting to panic herself.

He shook his head, "No Rose, this was different. There was only one way I could save her life, but it wasn't like the way I saved you. I can't explain it right now because we need to get her home."

Still holding Donna in his arms, he instructed Rose which leavers to push and buttons to press. Rose did as he asked, as it seemed to be important. She stood and waited as the Tardis console whirled once again.

Author's Notes
Hello There Readers!

So here is Chapter Three. I know this chapter is very familiar to what we know happens. But this fanfic is the way I wish it had gone if the Doctor had let Rose come back so I have kept it close to the original. Donna's story is sad and I will admit that she wasn't one of my favorite companions, but she was brave and great in her way. Especially when she saved the planets at the end of Series 4.

But please stay tuned and leave a review and Favorite/Follow the fanfic.

Kind Regards
LouisaJane007