#martha jones and the tardis needs a break

[bakamoonyasf]

Layers of Scar

The Doctor was tired, his eyes stinging, his head pounding. But he kept himself upright, he had to. He looked down at Martha, a wound on her head that made him want to take her back home and keep her safe forever. It was a feeling of guilt. But Martha was stubborn and would never let the Doctor do that, she was a fighter. The fierce light in her eyes reminded him of Rose sometimes, and both his hearts would plummet.

“You good there Doc?” Martha asks him, raising an eyebrow, pulling her hair into a ponytail.

“Yeah.. great.”

She grins, grabbing his hand, “Well come on then! More places to see! You promised me we’d go somewhere fabulous next.”

He put on a forced smile, letting her drag him back towards his TARDIS. They’d just been on what was meant to be a fabulous adventure, yet as always it ended in danger and disaster. Sometimes the Doctor thought he just made bad events happen around him, then again, sometimes the TARDIS just knew where to take him.

He shook away his thoughts, stepping into the TARDIS and pressing a bunch of buttons as Martha grinned at him. The old girl made her usual whirring noises and the Doctor couldn’t help but genuinely smile as they moved through time and space.

 

Once again their adventure had gone horribly wrong – possibly the Doctor’s fault, he had seemed to accidentally angered the aliens that were trying to take over this innocent planet. It was an accident, he kept on reminding Martha, but she didn’t seem too bothered.

It scared the Doctor a little bit, how eager and prepared Martha was for all the dangers that faced him. Again, it reminded him of Rose. Oh, Rose. He missed Rose.

He squeezed his eyes shut, jolting himself back into the present moment. After all they were still on the run from furious aliens.

“Come on Doc!” Martha yelled, her brown eyes widening as she noticed said aliens appearing around the corner.

Grabbing her hand, the Doctor quickly pulled them both in the opposite direction, his hearts pounding. But soon enough they found themselves at a dead end, the Doctor almost wanted to swear (but held himself back).

Martha glanced at him, suddenly her once brave eyes filled with fear as she looked at the approaching creatures.

“You have a plan right Doctor?” She asked, her voice shaking.

It was then as the Doctor looked into her terrified eyes that something in him resolved. He couldn’t save Rose but he sure as hell could save Martha.

“Something like that,” He mumbled before turning towards the aliens, dropping Martha’s hand and taking a deep breath. “You don’t want to go any further!”

The creatures growled – the Doctor still wasn’t too sure what they were, he was almost certain some scientist had created them through hybrids – but slowed to a stop.

“I am the Doctor. The last of the Time Lords.” He said angrily, “If you want power than here it is. Have it. Take me.”

He yelled, opening his arms in welcome. The aliens tittered, considering their choice. Behind him Martha yelled.

“Doctor! What are you doing?”

He turned towards her, his eyes almost red with anger, his hearts tight with pain – not physical but emotional.

“Saving you.” He told her simply, and for a brief moment he imagined Rose was in her place. Her blonde hair falling on her shoulders and her brown eyes glittering. But Martha stood in her place, an exasperated but also horrified expression on her face.

“You can’t just sacrifice yourself Doctor!” Martha yelled angrily, “You can’t just leave me here.”

The Doctor closed his eyes, almost hearing Rose screaming to be taken back to him. He opened them again, tears now glistening in his eyes.

He glared at the aliens in front of him, taking a step closer as they began drawing their weapons.

“Doctor!” Martha screamed.

He whipped around, tears flowing down his cheeks, “Why won’t you just let me do this for you, Rose?!”

Martha stumbled back like she’d been hit in the face and the Doctor gulped fearfully in realisation.

“I-I’m-” He mumbled, but Martha just ignored him, stepping forward and glaring at the aliens.

“You back the fuck up!” She screamed, pulling out a gun from her pocket – a gun the Doctor didn’t know she had. “Or I’ll kill each and every one of you.”

 

Later, on the TARDIS, the Doctor sat solemnly in his chair. He was angry at himself, angry at himself for acting as if Martha was Rose. Because she wasn’t. They were so very different.

The look of pain on Martha’s face seemed to be seared into his mind. He wanted to go up to her and apologise but Martha had chosen to go home. As soon as they’d returned to the TARDIS she’d told him to drop her off and pick her up in a week.

He knew he could just time travel straight there and be with her now, but he also knew he needed to take some time. He needed time to make peace with the fact that Rose was gone. And that Martha wasn’t Rose. And she shouldn’t be a replacement.

Guilt churned in his stomach. He just wanted to see Rose, one last time. To see her and hold her and tell her he loved her. He never got to tell her. He could remember the words almost falling out of his lips. But then she was gone. And he’d never be able to see her again.

The Doctor almost fell apart right there, remembering Rose’s tear-stained face, and the feeling of losing her for a second time.

He shut his eyes, he needed a break. He needed help.

But maybe, just maybe, he could see her again. After all, there were years before Rose ever met the Doctor. And as long as she never saw him nothing would happen.

The Doctor glanced at the TARDIS and felt her hum disapprovingly.

“I just want to see her again… to see her happy.” The Doctor whispered, but the TARDIS didn’t respond. Maybe she needed a break from him, just like Martha.

Maybe everyone needed a break from him.

And so the Doctor pressed some buttons and shot himself out into a part of time and space where no one would find him. And there he would stay, for a week, and try to heal the layers of scar surrounding his two hearts.

He missed Rose Tyler so much. But he missed Martha too, and he knew he had to heal before he could travel with her again.

[prettyevermores]

tolerate it (part two)

( fourteenth doctor x reader )

a/n: i’m back again, i think this ending can been seen as a loophole for a pt3 but i’m not so sure if i’m gonna do one just yet.

part one

🗡️🗡️🗡️🗡️

Your Doctor pulled away from the long fifteen minutes of pure passion and emotion you two had been sharing. His hand snakes around your waist, holding you at the small of your back; he smiled down at you. He was happy to be home, back to be with you. You placed a hand on his chest, feeling his dual heartbeat letting you know that he was truly there and most definitely real. He was real and not just some severe delusion you had been trapped in. A weight had been lifted off your shoulder, a weight that was holding you down for those five years. 

Breaking the loving and comforting silence, you begun laughing and he looked at you with a puzzled expression. “Sweetheart? What’s the matter?” he asked softly, caressing his hand down your arm and an eyebrow raised.

“It’s just, I thought- I was closer and closer to loosing my mind each day you weren’t with me” You said through your joyous laughter. Despite you nearly loosing your mind and that being a serious matter.

“I’m here now, so you don’t have to loose your mind anymore” He whispered, pressing his lips against yours in a brief kiss before continuing speaking “I have someone you’ll want to see”

He dragged you out your house as you wore your usual clothes but donning your beloved bunny slippers that have seen better days. 

He was taking you across the road, to a house. But not to any house. The house of Donna Noble, one of your best friends. He knocked on her door, his hand intertwined with yours, to say you were nervous and excited to see Donna again was an understatement. You can hear her before you even see her reach the door.

“How many times do I have to bloody tell you! You don’t need to knock!” The voice of Donna Noble booming down the hallway as she walks to the door. “Just come in!” She says as she locks eyes with you. Her face turns into a big grin and you smile back widely.

“Donna Noble” You giggle as she brings you into a tight hug, the older woman holding onto you tightly as The Doctor slips past you both and heads into the kitchen. “I never thought I’d see you again Don!” You sigh happily, you have both your people again. 

After catching up with Donna again, chatting and gossiping over coffee like you two always used to do in The TARDIS kitchen. The Doctor pops his head in from Donna’s Garden and smiles at you both before talking “Are you two coming outside or what? You can’t gossip all day” He chuckles, knowing exactly what you two were doing 

“Yeah we’re coming spaceman” She waves her hand for him to go away and turns back to you with a cheeky smile. “It’s like nothing’s changed but it has. hasn’t it?” She asks you.

“Yeah, I know exactly what you mean Don” You smile softly at her.

“Now help me get all this food outside you!” She laughs, handing you with a tray of food Sylvia has cooked for everyone. You follow her lead and take the last bits outside. Then finding your place next to The Doctor on the outdoor couch at the table. He puts his arm around your shoulder to pull you close to him as he mid telling a story to Mel, Rose, Sylvia and Shaun. You notice there is a spot missing at the table, another one occupied for Wilf, Donna’s beloved grandfather. You wonder who it is. Then someone makes there way through the kitchen and into the backyard.

It’s Dr Martha Jones. The other doctor you had befriended a long time ago on your travels with The Doctor. “Sorry I’m late everyone! The traffic was awful” She spoke rushing in to give everyone a hug, The smile already on your face grew more and she hugged you and sat down opposite you.

Your sunny afternoon was filled with joy and happy memories of everyone together. You and Martha reminiscing about the time you got separated from Donna and The Doctor, nearly ending up in a war with The Hath but instead befriending an injured Hath then loosing them. 

After a while, The Doctor whisked you away back to your house, it wasn’t long before he pushed you up against your front door and smashing his lips onto yours. Your arms at the back of his neck, tangling in his hair. You swear, every time you kiss The Doctor, it gets better than the last time. This time it was magic. However, the stolen kisses you had in Donna’s kitchen were something that is told in history books. 

[nortism]

doctor who liveblog pt 18

s3 ep11 utopia

- jack harkness episode!!!!! he’s back from the war!!!

- always cardiff with these ppl

- AYYY JACKIE BOY

- uh oh the end of the universe

- oh fuck did jack die

- back from the brink of death and already flirting

- omg the doctor is a real dick 😭😭

- glad martha had someone to bond with

- yooo jack’s immortal??

- OMG THE PROFESSOR HAS THE WATCH

- OMG THE PROFESSOR IS A TIMELORD

- YANA YOU ARE NOT ALONE WHATTTTTTTTT

- omggggg he’s an evil timelord

- GET HIS ASS CHANTHO

- HES THE MASTER ?!??!!!?!!? i’ve heard of this guy

- CHANTHO NOOOOOOOOOO

- she’s still alive LETS GOOOO

- oh shit he’s in the tardis

- oh fucj he’s gonna regenerate

- why are u as a man calling another man master??

- oh no the tardis is gone, they are fucked

s3 ep12 the sound of drums

- oh they escaped that’s good

- oh he’s harold saxon

- martha i can’t believe u didn’t vote

- IS A DOCTOR

- idk why he decided that the uk was the country from which he needed to take over the world but that’s doctor who logic 😭😭

- good to see that tish got a nice new job

- oh fuck he’s killed the cabinet

- most unrealistic part of this episode is that an alien became prime minister without being part of one of the two main parties

- who’d call himself the doctor???

- wait what happened to my girl harriet jones?

- oh shit he’s gonna kill the journalist

- lucy ur husband is gay

- oh he’s a hypnotist

- FUCK THERES A BOMB

- good of him to warn her about the bomb he planted in her room

- YES THEN MARTHA’S DAD

- oh martha’s mum u fucked up

- theres a real fucked up homoerotic undertone to the doctor/master dynamic

- what did i say?

- ok i’m kinda obsessed with the master, he’s cunty as hell

- the teletubbies r pretty cool

- starting to think the time lords aren’t great

- oh fuck jack is in torchwood

- uh oh the phones r evil

- oh my poor girl 😭😭

- fucking americans

- oh shit martha’s parents

- oh no the tardis

- oh shit he just blew up the president

- i giggled

- laser screwdriver!!

- oh fuck he was behind the lazarus thing

- sorry the doctor getting old man-ified was a little funny

- OH FUXK YEAH THEYRE PLAYING VOODOO CHILD NOW THIS IS TELEVISION

- bye bye martha

- YES THEN MARTHA

- another fucking bible reference, they r loving those this season

- on one hand, it’s bad that the master is trying to end the world, one the other, cunty queer coded villains are what i come to 2000s television for

s3 ep13 last of the time lords

- this is a lot of pressure on martha, why isn’t it the immortal fucker’s job to save the world?

- ONE YEAR LATER???

- MARTHA MY LOVE

- OH YESS THE SCISSOR SISTERS, THIS IS CINEMA

- oh they’ve crucified jack harkness

- uh oh prison break

- the old man is being old man-ified again

- where’d he go

- oh jesus fuck that’s horrible

- oh this is the doctor at his most pathetic

- at least martha’s parents are back together

- WHAT THE FUCJ IS THAT IN THE SPHERE

- NO ITS THE HUMANS FROM THE FUTURE

- oh shit the professor is a snitch

- oh fuck here he comes

- OH YES THE POWER OF WORDS AND BELIEF

- OH YEAH SAVING THE WORLD WITH A HUG AND FORGIVENESS

- uh oh they telported

- yesss homoerotic fight on a cliff let’s goo

- oh yeah his wife!!!!

- i could do without the misogyny i won’t lie

- omg he fucking died

- rip king, be nicer to women in the next life

- FUCK OFF JACK IS THE FACE OF BOE

- aww the poor doctor alone again

- good on martha for knowing when to leave

- OH FUCK HE DID REGENERATE

- what

possibly controversial but i preferred s3 to s2 despite being a rose girlie always and forever. that ruled and I LOVE U MARTHA JONES

[the-time-lord-oracle]

Gazelle having a conference with several RTD-era companions in Cold Blood:

Inside the TARDIS, Gazelle was standing at the console, contacting several former companions on the subwave network. First to come on screen was Martha Milligan-Jones. "Gazelle? Good to see ya again!" she grinned.

"Likewise." Gazelle smiled. "How ya doing Martha? Everything alright with Tom?"

"Well, just got good news. I'm pregnant."

"Oh, Martha, that's brilliant news!" Gazelle grinned. "Congratulations."

Just then, Mickey Smith came on screen. "Gazelle. How's things? I'm guessin' this ain't a social call."

"I wish it was, Mickey." Gazelle replied. "Just waiting for the others to get in touch. How's life treating ya?"

"Ah, not too bad." Mickey replied. "Been a bit quiet lately. Alien seem to be givin' us a break for once."

Next to appear on screen was Sarah Jane Smith. "Hello? Gazelle? Is that you?"

"Yep, it's me alright." the Time Lady acknowledged. "Good to see ya again, Sarah Jane. Keeping up the good work, I presume? How's Luke?"

"He's fine." Sarah Jane replied. "He's off to college soon."

"Ah, kids, they grow up so fast." Gazelle smiled, remembering her own son.

Then the final contact came though; Captain Jack Harkness. "Ah, the face of a royal beauty." he said in his usual way. "Long time no see, Gaz."

"You too, flirt boy." Gazelle replied. "And you know that talk doesn't work on me, I'm a married woman."

"So, now we're all here, wos' the emergency?" Mickey asked.

"Right, down to business." Gazelle said. "Now this is gonna sound like a stupid question, but have any of you noticed strange cracks in walls lately? And by strange, I mean cracks that're shaped like jagged W's and have a glowing light coming out of them?"

The group all seemed to know what she was talking about. "Yes, I've seen one in the wall at the end of my road." Sarah Jane said.

"There's one in one of the walls of a house a few doors down from me." Martha added.

"And I've been seeing 'em all over the place." Mickey chimed in.

"Me too." Jack finished. "And since you're asking about 'em, I'm guessing they're trouble?"

"Serious trouble." Gazelle replied grimly. "You've all confirmed our worst suspicions. Those cracks are splits in the skin of the universe. You all need to be extra careful with those cracks. The smaller ones don't do much harm, they act like rifts or wormholes, but the bigger ones are very serious. They bleed out time energy that erases anyone or anything it consumes. That's why all your friends and neighbours can't remember the Dalek invasion, the time energy consumed it."

"So why can WE still remember that?" Martha asked. "Is it cos we've travelled in the TARDIS?"

"Yes, time travelling gives ya a degree of protection from the energy's memory-altering effects, but only up to a point. If anyone you know gets consumed, you'll never remember them." Gazelle said, subconsciously touching the pocket where she'd put Amy's ring box.

"But how're these cracks appearing in the first place?" Sarah Jane asked.

"An' is there any way to plug 'em?" Mickey added.

"We think that the cracks were caused by an enormous explosion that splintered all of time and space." Gazelle told them. "We still don't know what caused that explosion yet, but the Doctor's managed to recover something from one of the cracks. Maybe it'll tell us more. As for plugging 'em... if it's a small crack, then opening the crack all the way with a sonic device will cause the forces to invert and the crack to snap shut. As for the larger ones, they're trickier, as it takes stuffing them with complicated events to seal them. Sarah Jane, could ya get Mr Smith to see if he can get some more data on the cracks and try and find a way to seal them all?"

"Yes, I'll do that right away." Sarah Jane nodded.

"Meanwhile, I'd advise you all to be cautious." Gazelle told them all. "If ya see one of these cracks, stay away from it. We don't wanna lose anyone else to them."

[voluntadfuerte]

Rewatching all of Doctor Who. And I have two thoughts about Journey’s End:

I don’t like Doctor Donna. It’s Deus Ex Machina in an annoying way. And honestly, while I still consider it canon, I don’t like that part of the episode. The only upside of it is the impact it has on The End of Time (Wilfred being a companion) and The Star Beast (that whole episode). But I won’t ever interact within that span of time.

The TARDIS doesn’t need six drivers. I get that RTD wanted to make a whole “everyone in whoverse participate in driving it” moment. But it was a dumb addition. I much prefer the idea that the TARDIS does as she pleases and the Doctor is basically always fighting what she wants to land anyone. Bc the TARDIS is a sentient being on her own (she’s not made she is grown, she is alive). And she does WTF she wants. She doesn’t always do what the Doctor wants. And also that the Doctor leaves the breaks on bc he likes the noise of the TARDIS landing.

Anyways, that’s my two thoughts from RTD era. I am also ambivalent about Rose Tyler (it’s complicated, I love her but I think TenRose took too much space by the end and I’m protective of my girl Martha Jones). But anyways, any incarnation of The Doctor would be attracted to Rose Tyler. You know that Thirteen would definitely be overjoyed to see her again. Thirteen would also dig Clara Oswald. But unfortunately she didn’t even kiss Yasmin so I got no sapphic moment with Thirteen.

I’m rambling anyways RTD had ups and downs and here were my thoughts. Now going to watch the 4 specials before the Steven Moffat run. Lord help me that run was ughhh. (Btw I ship Rory/Eleven not Amy/Eleven. Eleven still sees Amy as a child)

[crollalanzaa]

There’s a reason Martha Jones is my favourite Dr Who companion and it’s her parting scene where she talks about her friend being in love with a guy who doesn’t love her back and will never love her back, and Martha is talking about her friend in reference to the Doctor because she loves him and finds him extraordinary but he’s never going to feel like that about her. So, she has a choice to stay or leave and she chooses to leave saying something like ‘This is me saying goodbye’. She gives up her exciting TARDIS adventures and life with the doctor because as wonderful as it is, she needs to move forward with her life and avoid the ghastly crash of reality when the adrenaline leaves.

This is a roundabout way of saying that I believe I’ve written my last fic. I started writing fic around fourteen years ago and for a time it was the absolute pinnacle of my existence. Obsessive but also fulfilling, I’d finally found an outlet for my creativity and the frustration I felt with everything around me. It served me well and I honestly think it gave me a sense of worth not much else has (acting perhaps?)

But the fic crash after I post hasn’t changed and although I was able to push through that with more writing or the influx of kudos/comments etc, that has become so much harder in recent times.

(Behold the wangsty pity party starts below)

From first thought to actual posting, I spent two years on one fic. (Not the last one) Two years. Not that I thought about it every day, or spent as long writing but there was a process rumbling away and the fic was as near to the vision in my head as I could have got it. And it barely scraped double figures in kudos and hits. I did receive some lovely comments and I truly appreciate that, but I look at the two years and think, ‘wow, so not worth it!’

And there’s what I call my Hirugami moment where the realisation that no one will die if I give up, makes so much sense and the relief is immeasurable. But then again, Hirugami was an amazing middle blocker and I’m not in that league.

And other thoughts rumble in my head, because a few years ago, while I wasn’t a BNF by any means, there was a thrill of anticipation when I posted. Cake or Break was a wild ride, and Icarus was wilder. (I will absolutely never forget the Christmas Day when I posted a chapter which led to IwaOi reuniting - ahhhhh good times)

However most of that has gone, and even though the comments I can get are glorious, there’s a very real feeling at the back of my head and a thousand whispers telling me not that I’m a bad writer, but that I’m an unpopular. Not necessarily an unpopular writer - I’m probably too boring for that - but an unpopular person … and I’m finding that incredibly hard to face up to. Like, there are issues with friends in rl and issues with some ppl online and there comes a point where I’m either overthinking and that’s unhealthy or I accept that actually it’s a me problem and I’m the issue. Ah well, my dog loves me. (Ends pity party. Sorry for the wank but need to get off chest.)

My problem now is I have nothing to move onto. There is the possibility of more plays, but I’m one of many auditioning for a dearth of parts. So I think about going back to my old job, but have some health issues which mean my wrists are truly fucked and you have no idea how many times you need to use scissors, or paper knives, or pick up books in a school. They’d drop off after a week.

In the end, Martha Jones was a doctor, who then worked at UNIT and Torchwood.

In the end, Martha Jones is a fictional character and I’m not.

But I’m off the TARDIS for a while because as much as I love writing, it ain’t never loving me back but moves on without me.

Here’s my dog. I love her.

[burntlikethesun]

the stolen earth/journey's end!

‘It'll just be a story. One of those Donna Noble stories, where she missed it all again.’

Such a fun finale- the fact that the show was at it’s peak, with Torchwood and The Sarah Jane Adventures having established themselves enough that they could feature in the mothership, made for such an epic storyline- it made the universe feel enormous, along with all returning characters like Harriet Jones, the Tyler fam coming back from Pete’s World – I was on the edge of my seat throughout.

The scene where the Doctor is reminded of ‘how many have died in [his] name’ with the montage of everyone from Jabe to Lynda to Chantho to the Hostess? Magnificent. Seeing the whole gang of characters stood around the TARDIS console, flying the Earth home, and hugging and screaming with joy? The most fun the show has ever been. I really don’t give a shit that you can twist it to ‘the plot was solved just by pressing buttons’ when you’ve done the ground work to make me love the characters as much as I do.

Julian Bleach is a phenomenal Davros (It wAs dAlEk CaAn!!!), Donna’s exit is heart-breaking, and that’s good thing because it’s a drama and sad things happen to good characters- Wilf declaring that he will look up at the stars on her behalf and think of him still gets me, regardless of how memed to death Ten standing in the rain has become.

Reading the Writer’s Tale you can tell how much of a strain tying all this together was, and the Metacrisis is probably the flimsiest bit of plotting, but I think it just about works, and is the best way to leave Rose’s character behind in a happy place with a Doctor she can grow old with. And it's not like it came out of nowhere, that hand had been popping up here there and everywhere since it was cut off in 2005, it was in every series, so it's not like the Doctor just pulled it out of a box when he needed it.

For 13 years I was annoyed that Mickey walking off with Jack and Martha never came to fruition in Children of Earth but in light of the allegations against Clarke this year… I’m at peace with it lol.

[torchwoodfanfests]

The Torchwood Bingo 2021 Masterpost

The masterpost for our first ever repeated fest is here! Thank you to everyone who participated in the 2021 Bingo Fest, and congratulations to all of you who got bingo! Enjoy browsing through 104 creations from 18 wonderful participants!

You can also read the fics submitted in this fest’s AO3 collection!

If one of your works should be in this post but isn’t, please let us know and we’ll add it ASAP.

@adhd-jack-harkness

FANFICTION

<3 + me = ?

Team bonding 

Five Times Sam Hated John Hart and One Time She Didn’t

John Hart, Anger 

Our Second Time Dipping Went Better

Hub goes into lockdown, Under the influence

Team Torchwood & Flowers moodboards

Plants/Vegetables

Slumber Party

Camping, Femslash, Team bonding

Alien Outfits

Clothes/Outfit

CyberSam

Anger

Ianto and Jack’s Fabulous Date Night

The year that never was

Frozen

Animal transformation

META

Sam’s perfect future

Backstory

@bashir-one-alpha

FANFICTION

Grieving (for the living)

Clothes/Outfit, Blue, Exercise

so much in love (& yet so far apart)

Immortality, Bullet wounds, Death/Dying

@celstese

FANFICTION

Home is where the Hart is

Amnesia/Memory tampering

The Cardinal

Doubles and doppelgangers

Countrycide AU

Camping

ART

Yvonne Hartman

DW crossover

Timelord Toshiko

Timelord AU

PLAYLISTS

Ianto

Hurt/Comfort, Domesticity, Bisexuality

Yvonne Hartman

Fantasy, Mission related trip, Betrayal

Jack

DW crossover, I had a boyfriend who used to do that, John Hart, Set between s2 and s3, Twelve and Frobisher confusion

Gwen

Set between s2 and s3, Family, The ghost machine/The resurrection gauntlet

John

Alien tech/Future tech, Stars, Exposed

@greendreamer

ART

Pony!Jack and Pony versions of Jack and Ianto

Animal transformation, Crossover of your choice

King Gender

John Hart, Gold

“Excuse me. Have you seen a Blowfish driving a sports car?”

Weevils/Blowfish/Hoix

The Bisexuals of Torchwood and Suzie watercolour

Bisexuality, Purple, Blue, Suzie Costello

Gray and Wynn and Wynn Reference sheet

Old friends/Chance meetings

Captain Jack Harkness

Black and White

Tosh and Sherbert

Canon character is an alien au

Shopping trip

Friendship

Naughty Time Agents get chained up for their crimes

Angry, Handcuffs

“Where the heck are we?”

Mission related trip

@haventacluewhatimdoing

FANFICTION

The Beauty Of Being A Teaboy

Neurodiversity

Nothing Like A Birthday

Surprise

How many whisks does one girl need?

Misunderstanding

The End of Time

Waiting, AU where Jack came back later

@horselover107

FANFICTION

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

Prison/Prison Break

Changing Tides

“I’m fine”, Nightmares

The Great Welsh Cookoff

Cooking, Red

Mark It With A T

Torchwood Logo

Cat’s In the Cradle

Kids

Untitled Undercover Mission

Pets

Together in the Dark

Dark

Pub Quiz

Bar/Karaoke

Untitled World Tour

Missing, Day off work

Should Stay or Should I Go

UNIT

On moving in

Pink

A Good Man

Trying to change the timeline

Beyond the Veil

Cybermen/Daleks, Paranormal powers, Future fic

Myths and Legends

Harriet Jones/Mickey Smith/Face of Boe, Soulmates, conspiracy theorists, Boeshane

PLAYLISTS

Undead Owen Playlist

Came Back Wrong

Cyberwoman

Lisa Hallett

Torchwood Outbreak

Weapons

@iantojpg

ART

Flower symbolism

Plants/Vegetables

Favorite Torchwood outfits

Clothes/Outfit

That’s okay

Dead/Death

@iantosboyfriend

ART

Geo-caching date

Date night, Exercise

FANFICTION

in a mirror, dimly (or, remembrance and other troubles)

Friendship, Amnesia/Memory tampering

what you leave behind

Torchwood One

@itneveroccurredtomeatall

FANFICTION

Look For The Light That Leads Me Home

Amnesia/Memory tampering, Time travel, Dead/Death

@my-ghost-monument

FANFICTION

(un)seized opportunities

Episode tag/Missing scene, Weddings, Yvonne Hartman

inconvenient situations 

Rhys Williams, Trapped together, Red, Missing

old refrain

Future fic, Boeshane, Summer, So, there’s two of me in the current timeline

date interruptions

Trust, Prison/Prison break, Rules

@roselees

FANFICTION

Up Under Pressure

Trapped Together

@searching-for-arcadia

ART

Actaeon

Animal transformation

@shejustcalledmeafish

FANFICTION

It’s Wrong to Take What Is Given You

Harriet Jones, Mickey Smith, Face of Boe, Rules/Bending or Breaking the Rules, Outer Space

Know Your Hearts Like My Own

Genderbend, Paranormal Powers

Stay, Sit, Squish

Pets

In for a Pound (of Flesh)

Everybody Lives AU, Sweet/Sour, DW Companion Cameo, “I’m fine”

Sharing is Caring

First Kiss/First Date

Spice of Life

Cooking

@sweet-sammy-kisses

FANFICTION

I Won’t Let Your Light Dim

Stars

Tears of Phoenix

Fantasy

Thunder and Fire

Polyamory/Consensual non-monogamy

Love Drunk

Under the influence

Blue Bird of Torchwood

Blue

@this-is-quite-homoerotic

ART

LISA/IANTO MOODBOARD

Lisa Hallett

JANET THE WEEVIL EDIT

Pink, Janet the weevil

TIME LORD!JOHN HART MOODBOARD

Memories

TOSH/RIVER MOODBOARD

Outer space

FANFICTION

ALL WE DO IS TO DIE FOR

Con-man/Grifter, Autumn/Spring, Day off work, “Bloody Torchwood!”

@toshsato

ART

jack’s pink bisexuals gifset

Pink

rhys holding anwen gifset

Rhys Williams

bi!gwen cooper gifset

Canon-compliant

jack and john parallels gifset

Con-man

FANFICTION

Love So Soft

Pets, Food

they can’t believe I made you weak

Surprise, Miracle Day

friends are something that we were (before me sleeping in your shirt)

Genderbend, Pining, Bar

giving me everything

Team TARDIS, “I’m fine”, Daleks

shorking responsibilities

Alternate universe, Water

Is It Insensitive For Me To Say

Outer space, Authority, Sweet

The End is Where We Start From

Canon-divergence, Grief, Episode tag

I Don’t Do Fake Love

Prison break, Autumn, Conspiracy theorists

@twincityhacker

FANFICTION

In the Dark

Dark

@ultraviolet-eucatastrophe

FANFICTION

Pulling strings in your heart

Dreams, Anger, Myfanwy/Untitled the dog/Steve the rat

Second hand warmth

Past conquests, Cold/Warm, Suzie Costello

Picking up the pieces

Set between s2 and s3

Gwen and Ianto's Excellent Wine Night

Mission-related trip, Meeting the family, Torchwood One

Catch like fire

Historical figure

Laid Bare

Exposed

And to be shared on this night

Werewolves/Vampires, Exercise

Countdown to Destruction

Martha Jones, The Hub goes into lockdown

[melancholydreadfuldream]

hope is blood on broken glass

Fandom: Doctor Who

Summary: The Doctor found out what happened to a former companion after they left his care.

Warning: mention of torture.

   The thing about being the companion of the Doctor is you can't stay with him forever. You would eventually have to leave the Doctor and the Tardis. You would have to try to put the pieces that is the life you have before the Doctor back on track. 

  The time the companion spend with the Doctor will change them for better or worse. They became changed by the experiences that sometimes they seek for a life that closely resembles those time with the Doctor. Like Martha who worked for UNIT, Jack for Torchwood, Sarah-Jane Smith who formed her own group, even Rose and the Metacrisis who also have a version of Torchwood in their world. They are all become a defender of Earth in their own way. 

  Some are able to somewhat returned to their mundane life and whether they were able to have a good life or not, well, the Doctor tried not to interfere or find out what happened to them. It wasn't necessary to add heartbreaks to see how they ended. But he always believe they will all be brilliant.

  But you never felt that way.

  UNIT has tons of file they collected about the Doctor and the companion he had over the years. They kept an eye on the companion from time to time.

  (yn) (ln) was a companion of the Eleventh Doctor alongside Amy and Rory. But you left him after realizing you couldn't handle your unrequited feeling for him anymore. You felt less in his eyes, not as good as his fairy-tale princess, Amelia Pond, not as brave as Rory the Roman, not as brilliant as his beloved wife, River Song. The Doctor has his own family and that does not includes you, despite his assurance.

  The last time you saw him, you had confessed your feeling for him despite knowing he didn't feel the same. For you, it might be the closure you needed to move on. 

 The Doctor couldn't say anything to you upon your confession and honestly you didn't expect him to. You had packed your suitcases, ready to leave the Tardis when he finally apologized to you. He hugged you and told you that you are brilliant and that you are one of his best friend. He didn't stop you from leaving, that hurts a little but you know it was for the best. The both of you could not handle the awkwardness after your confession. But he did tell you to call him should you need anything.

  Life after the Doctor is as mundane as you thought it would be but that is your only option. And for a while, things just doesn't work as you wanted it too and you got so sad, so depressed. It was a year later, more or less, that life gradually less painful and more bearable. You finally got a stable job and the salary is good. You are okay. 

  On 14th December 2020, (yn) (ln) disappeared. UNIT case officer on the Doctor File assumed you were back with the Doctor until a missing person report is filed two weeks later. Even then, he still think you were out there, travelling with the Doctor. It won't be the first time a companion of the Doctor is reported missing by a family member as in the case of one Rose Tyler or in your case, your work friends.

  Two years later, an FBI raid in New York revealed a strange basement on abandoned building where they found a bunch of people whom they assumed victims of human experiment considering their pitiful state. 

  The breaking news on the worldwide were talking about how these victims were actually the missing people from all over the world and they have been missing in various different years, ranging from two years up to seven years. Most of their cases has been dropped for the lack of trails of their whereabouts.

  Martha Jones has worked for UNIT for a while now and has been privy to the Doctor File UNIT has collected over the years. She has read about your file and distinctly wondered what happened to you. She had asked Kate Steward once why she didn't contact the Doctor regarding your whereabouts.

  Kate, too, has assumed the Doctor has lost you somewhere along the line of the adventure. After all, the adventures with him always consist of danger and there were many instant of the Doctor's companion files be labeled as missing or as to be assumed of the worst case scenario, dead. Also, she didn't make a habit of contacting the Doctor regarding a former companion, believing the Doctor has move on from them to new ones.

  So, imagine their surprise, when a leaked list of the victim names from the FBI case suddenly showed up on the internet with your name among them.

  Believing the case must be alien in nature, UNIT swoop in to take the case from the FBI much to their annoyance. And as Martha is charged to treat these victims, they really didn't know what to make of the case. Is it alien in nature or just plain old human cruelty?

  These victims are all malnourished, you could practically see their bones through the skins. On their arms littered many scars from oh so many injections. Their wrists were marked with the heaviness of their shackles. All of their hairs has turned silver, presumably from the experiments. They weren't responding well with the new treatments and they weren't responsive.

  You sat on your bed in your assigned room, staring blankly at the wall, unresponsive like the rest. That is until Martha mentioned the Doctor and you became hysterical, screaming and crying, scratching your skins till you drew blood. You were quickly sedated.

  Martha and Kate started to consider to call on the Doctor, believing the Doctor might have some answers in regard of your reaction of him.

  "He would want to know!"

  "Would he?" Kate asked. "Look at her."

  "I am looking! She need the Doctor!"

  "Are you sure about that?"

  "You really want to hide this from the oncoming storm?"

  In the end, Kate relented to Martha's demand to call the Doctor. 

  Kate expected that they will get the Twelfth Doctor and his current companion, Clara Oswald, but instead a young woman in rainbow striped and a hoodie appeared before them, followed by three people they assumed her new companion.

  "Martha Jones!" The Doctor smiled brightly as she went to give her a hug.

  "Doctor." Martha is still eyeing the Doctor's current body. "What an upgrade."

  "I know right?" She grinned. "Fam, this is Martha Jones, one of my best friends. And that is Kate Steward, UNIT leader." She introduced them. "They are Yaz, Ryan and Graham, my fam."

  "Fam?" Martha raised an eyebrow teasingly.

  "So what is the big emergency?" The Doctor asked.

  Immediately the mood turned sombre.

  "(yn) (ln)?" The Doctor repeated in shock after Martha and Kate explained everything to her. She glanced at your medical file and winced at what she read there. "I want to see her."

  "You will but we have to warn you, she might not react well to you, well, to the Doctor anyway." Kate said.

  The Doctor frowned. 

  7777

  The Doctor, upon reading your file, know she has to prepare herself to see you at your current condition. She tried to school her expression as she walked toward you hesitantly, knowing your fragile state. It broke her hearts to see one of her best friends ended up like this. But she has to talk to you, get some answers from you.

  She bend her knees in front of you and spoke softly to you, "Hey, (yn)."

  You didn't even look at her. You were still mostly sedated.

  "It's me, the Doctor."

  That got a small reaction from you as you flinched harshly at the name.

  The Doctor noticed this as she swallowed down hard. "I have regenerated. I am a woman now. You see?"

  You glanced at her with a hint of curiosity but it was quickly extinguished.

  "I'm sorry that this happened to you. Could you tell me what happened?" The Doctor asked gently.

  You didn't answer.

  The Doctor sighed in disappointment but as she made to move away from you, you whispered hoarsely at her. Your voice is small and filled with tremor. She nearly couldn't catch what you says.

  "Where were you?"

  "I... What?"

  "Where were you? I called you. I called you. I escaped and I called you. But you hung up. They dragged me back. You didn't come for me. Where were you? Why didn't you come for me? I waited. I waited. I waited. But you didn't come." You whispered in a broken tone. "Why didn't you come?" 

  The Doctor and everyone in the room froze at what you said.

  "Doctor?" Yaz called out. "What is she talking about?"

  "I...I have no idea..." The Doctor answered in a shaky tone. "I..." 

  And then she remembered. You did call her in her previous incarnation. He was with Clara on urgent mission when he got your call just as he was about to left the Tardis, bearing some equipment he need to save the day. He was surprised to get a call from you but he was at the times in an emergency and honestly the call was mostly static. He was busy and told you to call him back again later and hung up. He hung up. He never called you back, too busy with another emergencies.

  The Doctor blanched at the realization. Her hearts shattered with the knowledge she play a part in your misery. She could have save you. He could have save you. But she didn't. He didn't. The Doctor has unknowingly abandoned you to your fate, has not even realized you were missing.

  "I am sorry. I am so sorry." She whispered to you.

  You glanced at her blankly as you shut down again.

  7777

  "It wasn't your fault." Martha tried to convince the Doctor. "You couldn't have known."

  The Doctor is feeling numb. She tried to focus on the rest of the victims but none of them in any condition or in enough of a coherent mind to talk. Between the sorrow and the guilt, she is furious at whoever did this to you. She vowed to find them and make them pay dearly for hurting you. You were still her friend, her companion and she has a duty of care. Whoever did this to you, they better be ready to face the oncoming storm, human or alien, they will all pay.

  Martha tried to calm her down, sensing her anger at herself and at whoever did this. "What she need right now is you by her side, help her with her recovery, Doctor."

  The Doctor know Martha is right but to be honest, she is afraid to face you. She doesn't know how you could ever forgive her for abandoning you in your time of need. She knew she could never forgive herself. River was right, the Doctor really couldn't handle the damage sometimes, no wonder River always hide her pain from her husband. The Doctor really is rubbish at this.

  An alarm sounded surprising the Doctor from her lament. Martha is quick to deal with an emergency when seemingly two of the victims having seizures. When they were pronounced dead on the scene, the Doctor know she has to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible before the same thing happened to you. She will not lose you to this, not when she just found you again. And God help those who cause the Doctor to lose another companion for she will show them no mercy.

       A/N: Just a short fic to pass the time. So this fic is also about Thirteenth Doctor having to deal with the 'mess' her previous incarnations unknowingly left behind. Originally I plan to make this longer with reader in a process of recovery but died halfway after reconcile with the Doctor but I just don't have the patience to write it hence I just left it at that.

[upslapmeal]

Revolution of the Daleks

Can you believe Spyfall was just one year ago? Yeah neither.

a long time ago in a galaxy far far away....

ok Chibbs no need to remind us how long ago 2019 feels we know

ah glad to see the Big Onscreen Place Names haven’t gone anywhere

and now I wish I’d actually rewatched Resolution

you should have gone to a service station for your tea mate

how did they know he would stop at the lone tea and burgers stall anyway

eyy it’s Misfits guy

(who I’m sure has been in many other things)

water pistol dalek

well I guess even daleks have to face being replaced by a robot one day

“You built this yourself?” “Yes well I was inspired by all the times daleks have invaded London”

Chibbs’ DW is definitely a Serious Drama™️ in the way that RTD’s was soap and Moffat’s was......Moffat

I do genuinely wonder if kids enjoy/follow the more Serious Drama™️ bits

but come on Chibbs give us FUN give us RIDICULOUS

FINALLY the Doctor

hi Angela the weeping angel

I would have expected Angela to be imprisoned with some sort of watching eye to stop her moving

OH WHY

IT’S BEEN TOO LONG SINCE A WEEPING ANGEL JUMPSCARE I SHOULD HAVE SEEN THAT COMING

I wonder what that specific weeping angel did to make it worse than all the other weeping angels and deserving of space jail

yikes what happened to the peaceful ood

I see that the pting is in jail to atone for war crimes

The Doctor in jail feels a week bit ~when will my prince rescue me~

idk I feel as though I would have expected the Doctor to be trying to get out

I guess she’s using it as thinking time re: the whole timeless child jazz

did nobody ever notice the TARDIS house magically appearing on top of what I presume must have been some park overnight?

Detective Yaz

spider guy spider guy commits crimes a spider can

which unsurprisingly include tax fraud

Jack!

hiding things up his arse again, good to see nothing’s changed

THIRTEEN GOT A HUG

FINALLY

“we live in uncertain times” oh boy did Chibbs not know how hard that would hit when he wrote it

ey back with the human dalek puppets

“I had a suite with a cocktail lounge” I love knowing that this must have been during Nine’s time

“they took 7000 other offences into consideration” you were saying about Jack committing crimes to break you out, Doc?

“it’s been a tough few decades” yeah I know we’ve all had a rough 2020 you ain’t special

warm greeting from Graham - “you what?”

confrontational Yaz!

man genuine companion/Doctor conflict is something that has really been missing during Chibbs’ era

shame about the costume change though, Jack was right about it suiting her

Rose mention <3 </3

though Jack I think you’re giving the Doctor a wee bit too much credit with the whole immortality thing

interesting seeing Yaz choose to follow the investigation with Jack over sticking with the Doctor

“Being with the Doctor you don’t get to choose when it stops” unless you are absolute legend Martha Jones

I’m really enjoying this Yaz/Jack conversation

the sonic blaster!

.....when did that one dalek get a chance to start a clone farm in Japan???

loving Ryan and the Doc getting a proper conversation and how it differs from Yaz’s with Jack in how the 10 months has affected them

though let’s be honest 10 months is far from the worst the Doctor has done

“same Doctor, same Ryan, nothing’s changed” something something Ryan should have had a better arc something

this speech about change feels like something the Doctor would usually give to a companion

tbh Ryan things like purchase order numbers were bugging me too so I gotta side with knockoff Trump here

Doc if they managed to build a giant cloning facility from across the world then I’m sure they are very capable of getting to their casings

man I must have missed the daleks when I went through passport control this morning

“first the cyberdudes, now the daleks, no alien ship is safe from us two bad boys” 🤜🏻 “stop taking weird Graham” 👍🏿

Gwen Cooper <3

Ryan :’(

hug twooo

Graham :’(

hug threee

a bit of a weird exit since I’m sad to see them go but still feel as though I barely know them

especially Ryan

idk for their last episode I feel as though though the two of them should have had a lot more focus in the plot

got to do something big

hopefully we’ll still see them around, even if they’re not travelling

the benefit of this is we get more time rounding out Yaz as a character

Ryan and Graham, off you go to save the world

Grace :’(

Well as an episode this was perfectly enjoyable and it was good fun having Jack back but MAN if those two exits didn’t hit home how there’s just been something missing with the companions this era - let’s see how it goes next series when it’s just Thirteen and Yaz...and Dan Dan Companion Man.

[this-is-quite-homoerotic]

About the Year That Never Was

(Disclaimer: this is a theory I’m building up from the season finale of s3 - The Sound of Drums/The Last of the Time Lords; I haven’t put it to the test fully yet, I’d need to rewatch to see if it holds up across the board, but I needed to start putting my thoughts down. If you have any thoughts on how this works in other seasons, whether proving or disproving this, I’d love to hear it.)

Something I haven’t seen discussed (though I’m sure it has been, by many people before me, and if you have it on hand link me please) is the implicit hierarchy of characters in the Whoniverse that dictate not only that bigger main characters are generally the only ones who can defeat the big antagonists, but also that the story and perspective of characters lower down in the hierarchy are often sacrificed in favor of wrapping up the big characters’ narrative neatly. And I think the higher the Doctor values each companion correlates to how high they are on this hierarchy.

(This is made a little more complicated by the incongruency of the stakes across episodes, like having the Doctor struggle to defeat one single Dalek in some episodes, with tens or even hundreds of casualties before they succeed vs the Doctor managing to foil millions of Daleks with no or few casualties in a different episode. But I still think my point stands.)

So, for example, the Doctor, and to a slightly lesser extent whatever favoured companions they’re travelling with at the time, are the highest protagonists in the hierarchy at any given time. So Rose Tyler can defeat a Dalek with the power of human empathy, or grind millions of Dalek ships to dust by looking into the heart of the TARDIS and becoming the Bad Wolf. She’s high up on the list, maybe as high as the Doctor himself. In comparison, Martha Jones saves the world not in one moment of heroism or through alien means, but the human way, by travelling the world and telling the Doctor’s story, his point of view. And even after all that, all her hard work amounts to is freeing the Doctor from his literal cage and restoring him to his healthy young-looking body, effectively turning them back to the same situation they were in during their first confrontation: the Doctor, Martha and Jack facing the Master in the Valiant, surrounded by the Master’s lackeys. The only difference is there’s been one year of suffering in between. (And, okay, she breaks the Master’s spell by breaking the network when it’s weak or something, but by that point, the Master wasn’t relying on brainwashing anymore, he was flat out murdering tyrant by then, ruling through brute strength with the help of the Toclafane and the paradox machine.)

It’s interesting to see the role Jack gets in this whole situation: he’s basically the damsel in distress/immortal punching bag, who barely has any hand in defeating the Master (okay, okay, he helps take the paradox machine apart, but he’s been the Master’s prisoner for a year and put in a position where it’s shown his attempts at fighting back were completely ineffective, an annoyance at best). His position is during that year parallel to the Doctor’s, who was also imprisoned by the Master on the Valiant, with the difference that as soon as his agent’s efforts have been set up (Martha roaming the world telling his story), it is him, the Doctor, who is supposed to actually defeat the Master. Martha’s efforts were only so that he would be in a position to do his thing.

Now, to be fair, most stories are framed around certain main characters; there are metatextual reasons to do this and most stories rely on having main and secondary characters, this is not necessarily a problem. What I am taking issue with is how these secondary characters were written in a way which I don’t think fully makes sense, they are deprived of agency, not only in the most literal sense of not being able to physically interfere with the Master’s plans, but also by not being allowed to express what seems to me to be the rational response to being kidnapped and psychologically (if not physically) tortured for a year.

Francine shows anger, but it is quickly culled (too quickly imo). Martha shows defiance, but ultimately her sacrifice and all her efforts are setting up the Doctor to... what? Take the Master by the scruff of the neck like a naughty puppy and put him into the TARDIS? (Martha is actually the one with the most agency, so I’m not sure she belongs on this list.) And of course, Jack. Jack who the Doctor abandoned and ran from, who waited for the Doctor for over a hundred years only to discover he’d developed a gut-reaction of disgust for him to the point where he couldn’t stand to be around him because he feels “wrong”. Jack who the Master kept in chains and who the Doctor unthinkingly volunteers whenever a task needs to be done but cannot be easily survived by a mortal person.

Then the typical hierarchy is subverted in a way I found fascinating, by Lucy, the Master’s human wife (who it is heavily implied he abuses). Lucy, who was the only one to agree to be there rather than be kidnapped (though I wouldn’t be surprised if there was coercion involved) and who was likely abused by the sadist she’d agreed to marry, was a small throwaway character who takes the plunge and shoots one of the biggest antagonists of the show, despite the Doctor and his companions being right there (and Martha’s mum being talked down which I will never forgive; they really had a black woman being imprisoned and abused by a white-looking alien from a ‘’superior’’ race pass up the opportunity to kill her abuser - who was also a genocidal maniac who manipulated her and had been hunting down her daughter - because... why? Because the Doctor still likes him and wants to redeem him? Fuck that).

And then Lucy’s initiative is later punished by the narrative: Lucy is taken by the Master’s followers, imprisoned and then sacrificed to enable his return, not even in a different form. Lucy would have killed that one incarnation of the Master, not a small feat for a lowly small human character in the series, but no. He doesn’t even regenerate, just comes back the same.

I feel like this nullifies the power of having one small-to-the-story human be the one to kill the Master, and I also think that having the Doctor beg the Master to regenerate in front of all the people the Master had maimed and abused (Martha’s family, Jack, Lucy, etc.) or hunted down (Martha) for the past year was a disgrace, and everyone there should have been angry at the Doctor over it, but not a single one of them is shown even bringing it up, much less expressing being hurt or angry, which brings me back to the point I made at the beginning that the perspective and stories of those lower down are sacrificed for those at the top of the hierarchy: specifically here the Doctor and the Master. By this I mean not only that these characters aren’t allowed to touch the main antagonist, but also that they are not allowed enough agency to cross or even question the main character (the Doctor) when his actions are questionable or personally hurtful to them.

So am I forgetting some vital facts here? Am I just a salty Torchwood fan who needs to let go of her anger about how the frenemy dynamic between the Doctor and the Master was prioritised over the Doctor’s friendship with his actual companions (and also the wellbeing of all of humanity, since we saw what the Master’s plans were for Earth during the Year That Never Was)? I feel like the Doctor would not have sat idly by if it had been Rose that was being held captive by the Master instead of Jack. And this has more to do with how the writers and showrunners view the characters than anything else, do not misunderstand me: I am 100% posing this as a Doylist issue.

[aion-rsa]

Doctor Who: Previous Guest Stars Who’d Be Great as the New Doctor

https://ift.tt/2W1ERwy

It’s not unusual, in the world of Doctor Who, for the same actor to play more than one role on screen. From classic to modern Doctor Who, Nicholas Courtney, Ian Marter, Lalla Ward, Jaqueline Hill, Jean Marsh, Adjoa Andoh, Eve Myles, Naoko Mori, Vinette Robinson and more have all played multiple parts in the whoniverse. Before she debuted as companion Martha Jones, Freema Agyeman was a Torchwood employee who fell foul of the Cybermen in series two’s ‘Army of Ghosts’. Karen Gillan was a seer in series four episode ‘The Fires of Pompeii’ before she recurred as Eleven’s companion Amy Pond. Even the Doctor has had test runs. Colin Baker played a Gallifreyan commander in season twenty before taking over from Peter Davison. Peter Capaldi appeared in ‘The Fires of Pompeii’ as well as playing John Frobisher on Torchwood before taking up residence in the TARDIS.   

In the search for the new Doctor then, it makes sense to rifle through those actors the show already picked once to see who might be asked back. Continuity can be handled if need be – just do what Russell T. Davies did and make up something about spacial genetic multiplicity, or what Steven Moffat did and pretend it was all part of the Doctor’s plan to remind him to be a good man. In a few cases, the shared genetics wouldn’t even be an issue as the actor in question’s first appearance was either solely as a voice, or beneath too many layers of prosthetics to matter.

Gliding over a few previous guest stars whose current filming commitments likely take them out of the running (Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan, James Norton, Felicity Jones, Gemma Chan and Gugu Mbutha-Raw are probably all tied up…), here’s a choice selection of guest actors since 2005 who could all make fantastic, and very different, Doctors.

Chris Addison

Played: AI interface ‘Seb’, who greeted the recently deceased to Missy’s Nethersphere. Appeared in: Two-part Series Eight finale ‘Dark Water/Death in Heaven‘. Watch his stand-up and there’s a real Tenth Doctor energy about writer-director-producer-comedian-actor Chris Addison (The Thick of It, In the Loop, Veep). That probably means his time has come and gone on Doctor Who, as the show isn’t likely to want to repeat itself at this stage. Addison also has his plate full with the third series of Sky/FX’s excellent comedy-drama Breeders, but you could definitely picture him at the TARDIS console, couldn’t you?

Arsher Ali

Played: Bennett, a bookish recent military recruit to a Scottish underwater mining facility in 2119. Appeared in: Series 9 two-parter ‘Under the Lake/Before the Flood‘ Part of a large crew (initially at least) we didn’t see loads of Arsher Ali in his Doctor Who role, but what we saw was enough to convince that he has the presence and bearing of a potential Doctor. He was great as the lead in BBC’s Informer and as a conflicted journalist in the first series of The Missing, as well as in supporting role in Line of Duty‘s best series. Add all that to his breadth of stage experience and he’s a highly intriguing prospect.

Percelle Ascott

Played: Delph, a member of the Ux, humanoid aliens who live for thousands of years and have the power of telepathic inter-dimensional engineering (they can teleport planets). Appeared in: Season 11, Episode 10 ‘The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos‘. Not the only entry on this list with a Doctor Who-adjacent role in his back catalogue (see also: Anjli Mohindra in The Sarah-Jane Adventures), as a teenager, Ascott played science geek Benny in Russell T. Davies’ Wizards Vs Aliens. He was great then, but really showed his range in cancelled-too-soon Netflix supernatural drama The Innocents, where he stole the show. When he popped back up opposite Jodie Whittaker’s Doctor as the wise and conscience-led Delph, it was hard not to imagine what he might do in the Doctor’s role.

Zawe Ashton

Played: Lieutenant Journey Blue of the Combined Galactic Resistance, a solider on the Aristotle. Appeared in: the Ben Wheatley-directed Series 8 episode ‘Into the Dalek‘. A regular on ‘Next Doctor’ wishlists for some time now, Zawe Ashton is a terrific actor who came to fame as hedonist Vod in Channel 4 student comedy Fresh Meat and who’s recently been seen in Hulu’s The Handmaid’s Tale. In ‘Into the Dalek’ she played a ‘shoot first ask questions later’ soldier, but Ashton has the range for serious, absurd and very funny – in short, everything required to make a great Doctor.

Maxim Baldry

Played: Dr Polidori, a nineteenth century character who was part of Mary and Percy Shelley’s social circle. Appeared in: Series 12’s ‘The Haunting of Villa Diodati‘, about the summer Mary Shelley conceived her famous science-fiction novel Frankenstein. Baldry’s scored a role in Amazon Prime Video’s new mega-money Lord of the Rings TV series, so his dance card is likely full for now, but he’s just the sort of actor to breathe fresh life into the role of the Doctor, much in the way Matt Smith did back in 2010. He’s probably best recognised right now as Viktor, the asylum-seeking boyfriend of Russell Tovey’s character in Russell T. Davies’ future-predicting Years and Years, but the Russian-British actor has been acting in films since he was a child.

Sanjeev Bhaskar

Played: UNIT’s Colonel Ahmed, a colleague of Kate Lethbridge-Stewart in the fight against Missy’s Cybermen-from-corpses wicked plan. Appeared in: Series 8 finale ‘Death in Heaven‘. This Doctor Who role was just not enough of Sanjeev Bhaskar, an actor-writer-comedian whose role as DS Sunny Khan in ITV detective series Unforgotten has elevated him to the status of national treasure (partly because of his backpack, but mostly because of his decency and warm humour). Bhaskar is playing Cain opposite Asim Chaudhry’s Abel in Netflix’s forthcoming The Sandman series, and there’s series five of Unforgotten on the way, but wouldn’t he be great as the Doctor? As would another member of his family (see below)…

Mark Bonnar

Played: 22nd century miner Jimmy Wicks in the one with the ‘ganger’ clones. Appeared in: Series 6 two-parter ‘The Rebel Flesh/The Almost People’. No, of course they won’t let another funny, clever, slightly scary Scot with a brilliant face be the Doctor so soon after Peter Capaldi, but in a parallel universe, Mark Bonnar would make a very fine Doctor – something that hasn’t escaped Big Finish. He’s got it all (funny, clever, slightly scary, brilliant face) and frequently steals whichever show he’s in. Watch this two-parter, Catastrophe, Unforgotten series two and the brilliant Guilt (series two of which is approaching) for evidence of that.

Kevin Eldon

Played: Ribbons of the Seven Stomachs, a trader in the ‘Antizone’ obsessed with the Doctor’s “tubular” (or Sonic Screwdriver), and the voice of companion Antimony in an animated online adventure. Appeared in: Series 11’s ‘It Takes You Away‘ and 2001 webcast ‘Death Comes to Time’. It just seems a waste for the multi-talented Kevin Eldon to only play just one (or technically two, but just one on-screen) role on Doctor Who. And because his series 11 appearance was under a faceful of prosthetics, it wouldn’t even cause any continuity errors for him to come back in the role of the Doctor. Or a companion. Or another alien. Whatever it is, just give us more Eldon please.

O-T Fagbenle

Played: ‘Other Dave’, an engineer on an expedition to The Library who was eaten by the Vashta Nerada but brought back to life in the computer core. Appeared in: Series 4 two-parter ‘Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead‘ Fagbenle has recently been seen as Natasha’s fixer in Black Widow, June’s husband Luke in The Handmaid’s Tale, and as the lead character in sitcom Maxxx, about a washed-up former boy band member. The man has dramatic and comedy range, a very good American accent (not necessarily relevant here) and excellent screen presence. He’d rock the role of the Doctor.

Siobhan Finneran

Played: 17th century landlady/witch prosecutor Becka Savage/Morax queen Appeared in: Series 11’s ‘The Witchfinders‘. If the new Doctor’s going to be a woman in her early fifties, then it should really go to Jo Martin, but if she’s busy, how great would Siobhan Finneran be? The Happy Valley and Downton Abbey actor’s a treat in everything. She can be equal parts funny and imperious, and you can easily imagine her running circles around alien fiends and having a load of fun doing it.

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Tamsin Grieg

Played: the Nurse who inserts Adam’s infospike on Satellite 5. Appeared in: Series 1 Simon Pegg-starring episode ‘The Long Game’, alongside Anna Maxwell-Martin (who might also deserve a place on this list come to think about it). Tamsin Grieg would make such a good Doctor it almost makes you angry she’s never played the role. She has the dramatic chops to deliver all the world-saving speeches, and the comedic skill to give it all a sparkling light touch. She was chilling in her small Series 1 role, but it only showed a tiny portion of what she can do. Also, wouldn’t she look great in a signature coat.

Suranne Jones

Played: Idris, into whom the ‘soul’ of the TARDIS was poured, making her the ship incarnate until her body died. Appeared in: Series 6 episode ‘The Doctor’s Wife‘, written by Neil Gaiman. Perhaps a bit too similar to Jodie Whittaker to be a likely successor, but you only have to see Suranne Jones in BBC/HBO drama Gentleman Jack to know that she’s made of Doctor material. As nineteenth-century landowner and famed lesbian Anne Lister, she’s cleverer and faster than everybody else, with a fierce sense of boundary-breaking why-not-ness, and plenty of emotion. Look at most of Jones’ roles, including that of the TARDIS itself, and she’d be great in the part, especially if her regular collaborator Sally Wainwright is enticed into the showrunner gig.

Paterson Joseph

Played: the venal Rodrick, who competed against Rose Tyler in The Weakest Link on the Game Station. Appeared in: Series 1 two-parter ‘Bad Wolf/The Parting of the Ways’. Paterson Joseph was famously up for the role of the Eleventh Doctor that ultimately went to Matt Smith, and has been a stalwart entry in ‘Who next?’ lists of this sort ever since, so… this isn’t going to happen, but wouldn’t it have been great if it had? The Peep Show, The Leftovers, Noughts + Crosses actor and Big Finish voice artist is currently showing off his commander chops in BBC One submarine thriller Vigil.

Ralf Little

Played: Steadfast, one of the few crew members of an off-world colony ship who weren’t murdered by nano-bots. Appeared in: Series 10 episode ‘Smile‘. He’s currently solving baroque murders on a fictional Caribbean island in Death in Paradise, but none of that lot ever last long, which could free Little up for another spin in the TARDIS. Little has been a familiar face on British TV for years, after playing feckless teenager Anthony on The Royle Family and starring in a BBC Three sitcom that spanned the entire noughties, but now a little older, with plenty of experience under his belt, it could be Ralf Little’s time.

Susan Lynch

Played: Pilot Angstrom, a competitor in an intergalactic race who meets Thirteen on her second ever adventure. Appeared in: Series 11 episode ‘The Ghost Monument’. You don’t need telling why Susan Lynch would make a great Doctor, just watch any decent British drama from the last decade and she’s in it, showing you. From Save Me to Unforgotten to Happy Valley to Killing Eve to any number of TV and film roles, she’s a scene-stealer who can play mystery, tragedy, power… everything the role calls for.

Daniel Mays

Played: Alex, the unwitting foster dad of a Tenza-in-human-form son, George. Appeared in: Series 6 episode ‘Night Terrors‘ written by Mark Gatiss. RADA-trained Danny Mays can do comedy, drama, has some serious dance moves, and was a Line of Duty guest star, so we know he’d have no problem at all learning the Doctor’s long speeches. If the TARDIS wanted to cast a Gallifreyan Doctor by way of Essex, he’d be top of the list.

T’Nia Miller

Played: The General, Military Commander of the Time Lords, in their Twelfth Regeneration. Appeared in: Series 9 finale ‘Hell Bent’. The Years & Years and Foundation star played a Time Lord in her Doctor Who debut and can even already tick ‘Regeneration’ off the to-do list. Miller clearly has the bearing and gravitas required of the Doctor, looks great even in impractically massive armour, and was the absolute stand-out in Netflix’s 2020 horror series The Haunting of Bly Manor. If they could work out the continuity for a reappearance, she’d rock the role.

Lucian Msamati

Played: Guido, the father of Isabella, a new enrolment at Rosanna Calvierri’s school for girls. Appeared in: Series 5 episode ‘The Vampires of Venice.’ Since appearing in this 2010 Doctor Who episode, Msamati has gone on to appear in major series, from Game of Thrones to Gangs of London and His Dark Materials. He’s an experienced stage actor too, who’d be sure to bring dramatic heft to the role of the Doctor.

Anjli Mohindra

Played: the Scorpion-like Queen of the Skithra, a species that relies on other species for their engineering. Appeared in: Series 12 episode ‘Nikola Tesla’s Night of Terror‘. Anjli Mohindra already has a long history with Doctor Who, having appeared under layers of prosthetics and make-up in Series 12, provided the voice of the Mechanoid Queen for animated Time Lord Victorious series Daleks!, and playing the recurring role of Rani Chandra from series two of The Sarah Jane Adventures. Would that preclude the Vigil and Bodyguard star from stepping behind the TARDIS console in the top role? Nah.

Sophie Okonedo

Played: Elizabeth X of The United Kingdom aka Liz 10 of Starship UK. Appeared in: Series 5 episodes ‘The Beast Below’ and ‘The Pandorica Opens’. One of our finest actors, Sophie Okonedo not only played the future queen opposite Matt Smith and Karen Gillan in Doctor Who, she was also the voice of the Shalka Doctor’s companion in the BBC’s ‘Scream of the Shalka’ animated webcast, way back when. She’s currently starring in Amazon’s Wheel of Time adaptation and voices the key role of angel Xaphania in His Dark Materials, so probably has too full a plate to step into the TARDIS, but casting her as the Doctor would be a no-brainer.

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Tom Riley

Played: Robin Hood. Appeared in: 2014 Series 8 episode written by Mark Gatiss ‘Robot of Sherwood’. Tom Riley played a legendary genius and multi-hyphenate over three seasons of Da Vinci’s Demons so taking on the role of the Doctor wouldn’t really be a stretch. The actor is currently playing Augie in HBO/Sky drama The Nevers, which started life as a Joss Whedon-created supernatural fantasy before the showrunner left the project after the first six episodes.

Danny Sapani

Played: Colonel Manton/Runaway (depending on your perspective). Appeared in: Series 6 episode ‘A Good Man Goes to War’. The River Song/Melody Pond revelation overshadowed much else that happened in ‘A Good Man Goes to War’, but nonetheless, seasoned Brit actor Danny Sapani made an impression as enemy of the Doctor, Colonel Manton, who conspired with Madame Kovarian to kidnap Amy and Rory’s baby. Sapani’s enjoying a long career on screen and stage, with stand-out TV roles in Penny Dreadful, Harlots and Killing Eve, as well as the upcoming part of Captain Jacob Keyes in video game adaptation Halo.

Amit Shah

Played: Rahul, brother to missing person Asha Chandra, both victims of Tzim-Sha. Appeared in: The Series 11 opener ‘The Woman Who Fell to Earth‘. A skilled comedic actor who has a habit of stealing scenes, even in serious supporting roles like this one, or last year’s turn as a doctor experimenting on children in His Dark Materials, Amit Shah would be a great surprise to find in the TARDIS. Experienced but not yet a household name, there’s a Matt Smith vibe about this one. Revive him as a companion, at the very least?

Peter Serafinowicz

Played: the voice of alien warlord The Fisher King (though the character’s screams were provided by Slipknot front man Corey Taylor). Appeared in: Series 9 episode ‘Before the Flood‘. Likely not the photo of Peter Serafinowicz his Nan keeps on the mantelpiece, this is the villain he voiced in a Series 9 two-parter. It’s Serafinowicz out of the make-up and prosthetics though, who’d make an intriguing prospect as the Doctor. Great voice(s), great face, serious presence, humour, loads of experience… what else do you need?

Nina Sosanya

Played: Trish Webber, mother of Chloe Webber, the little girl endowed with the psychic powers of an Isolus. (And in Big Finish audio adventure ‘Aquitaine’ Captain Maynard’). Appeared in: Series 2 Olympics episode ‘Fear Her‘. A regular RTD collaborator, with previous roles in Casanova and Wizards Vs Aliens as well as Doctor Who, Nina Sosanya is a joy to see in any cast, which must be why she’s (thankfully) in everything. She’s great in comedy (Good Omens, WIA, Staged, Nathan Barley) and in drama (Last Tango in Halifax, Killing Eve, His Dark Materials, Little Birds) and would no doubt make a very convincing centuries-old two-hearted big-brained Time Lord. Get her a statement coat and get her in the TARDIS.

Meera Syal

Played: Dr Nasreen Chaudhry, the scientist in charge of an ill-fated deep drilling mission in a Welsh village. (As well as voicing audio stories and audiobook Borrowed Time). Appeared in: Series 5 two-parter ‘The Hungry Earth’ and ‘Cold Blood‘. Actor-writer-comedian Meera Syal, CBE, had a fair crack of the whip in Series 5 Silurian two-parter, but would always, always be welcome back for more. As well as comedic talent, she has the dramatic presence, brains and stature to play the Doctor. Her husband Sanjeev Bhaskar (see above) will just have to fight her for the role.

Joivan Wade

Played: Bristol graffiti artist Christopher Riggens aka Rigsy. Appeared in: Series 8’s ‘Flatline’ and Series 9’s ‘Face the Raven‘. Joivan Wade is currently starring as Victor Stone in Doom Patrol for the MCU, so it may be a while before he returns to the UK, but his two appearances in Doctor Who proved him to be a charismatic talent who’d energise the TARDIS if welcomed back.

Harriet Walter

Played: British Technology Secretary and later, Prime Minister Jo Patterson. Appeared in: Series 12’s ‘Revolution of the Daleks‘ (as well as voicing the role of Beatrice in audio story ‘The Boy That Time Forgot’). Having a Dame in the TARDIS would be quite something; that Dame being Harriet Walter would be off the charts brilliant. Just look at her – the face, the voice, the hard-to-define quality that means the moment she opens her mouth, everybody shuts up and listens. Harriet Walter, stage and screen star of Killing Eve, Succession, The Crown, Downton Abbey and so much more, would make a very fine Doctor indeed.

Marc Warren

Played: Elton Pope, co-founder member of LINDA, a group of humans who meet to swap stories on their encounters with the Doctor. Appeared in: Little-loved Series 2 episode ‘Love & Monsters‘. A very familiar face on British screens, with regular roles in hits including Hustle, Mad Dogs, The Good Wife and The Musketeers, there’s always been something about Marc Warren that makes you think he’d make a really great alien. See him as The Gentleman in Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, or Mr Teatime in The Hogfather, and you’ll agree. Top Doctor potential.

Gemma Whelan

Played: the voice of loads of characters for Big Finish audio adventures, but never (yet) on screen. Appeared in: ‘Ninth Doctor Adventures’, ‘Dalek Universe’, ‘Counter-Measures’ and more. Always a treat wherever you find her on screen, actor-comedian Gemma Whelan is best recognised as warrior leader of the Iron Islands, Yara Greyjoy in Game of Thrones but she’s been great in Killing Eve, Gentleman Jack, Upstart Crow, The End of the F***ing World, and recently, a killer episode of Inside No. 9. If Doctor Who is looking for another late-thirties Yorkshire lass to take on the Doctor’s mantle in future, go Whelan or go home.

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Doctor Who Series 13 will air on BBC One and BBC America this autumn.

The post Doctor Who: Previous Guest Stars Who’d Be Great as the New Doctor appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/3CC4kfL

[thirtysomethingloser92]

Chapter 1.

 Masterlist/ Warnings.

                                                   Prologue.

Being told that you were the soulmate to one of the most dangerous beings in the universe wasn't really what you expected it to be.

It was pain and heartbreak. It was pain knowing that they could be so much more. You've seen it in their eyes, you've felt it in the way they tenderly caressed your face, but it was heartbreak in the way they chose not to change.

It started what seemed like a whole different lifetime ago. Back when it was just you, The brown haired man you knew as The Doctor and Martha Jones. There was a constant ache in your head and an itch that ran through your body that you just couldn't scratch. It had been there for just over a year and it had medical experts baffled.  

It wasn't until Harold Saxon, The Valiant, and the appropriately named 'Year that Never Was', did you find out what was really going on. You saw the madness in his eyes when they first laid eyes on you, the way his face lit up with glee as if he had spent his whole life waiting for you.

You were told that a Soulmate bond was such a strange concept, a rare concept, and for two completely different species to be bonded was almost unheard of. The Doctor looked at you like you were a science experiment.

The Master didn't hurt you.

Not physically anyway.

His touches towards you were tender, as if he was going to break you. Around him, you felt like your whole being was being broken down to be remade in such a blissful way. His was assertive with you, but not in a way which you feared. He was kind to you in a way he never was towards anyone else.

It wasn't in the way he touched you, never sexually. Maybe it was the subtle things, the way he always smiled at you, made sure to assert his dominance around others that you were his and no one else’s.

Not Ever.

You despised him, you despised his actions.

He made you watch as he beat Lucy- the woman he called his wife-, he made you watch as he tortured Jack- leaving him in shackles only to die over and over again-, and Martha's parents. He made you stand at the window and watch as he decimated whole countries.

"This world will be your empire," He whispered in your ear, his hands on your bare shoulders, "I promise you that,".

Afterwards, as he lay dying in The Doctor's arms, you couldn't help the tear that fell down your cheek. It felt as if there was a hole slowly growing in your chest. You decided later that you weren't sad The Master had passed, you were sad for The Doctor. You were sad for what little of home he was losing.

As the years went on, you had met The Master another 4 times.

"Get out of the way" The Master pushed you aside, you could see the anger in his eyes as he stepped towards the Time Lord President. His eyes met yours for a moment, "I'm doing this for you only," He stated simply before turning his eyes forward, a bolt of lightening hurling from the gauntlet on his hand, "YOU DID THIS TO ME! ALL OF MY LIFE! YOU MADE ME! ONE! TWO! THREE! FOUR!" *()*

"How long do I have?"

You looked over at the previous incarnation of The Master, his hand holding his side, blood slowly trickling through his fingers. His eyes met yours for a moment, glaring as a small smirk touched your lips. "Oh, I was precise. You'll be able to make it back to your TARDIS, maybe even get a cuppa. Although, you might leak a little," Missy explained, putting him into the elevator in the middle of the forest and making her way back to you.

"And then, regenerate... into you" The Master snarled, disdain lacing his voice.

You watched the scene in front of you, blood falling from a laceration on your cheek, your shoes scuffed and dirty; you were tired, so beyond tired, but you knew that Missy needed you. She went behind her own previous regeneration's version to help you. She went against everything she knew to prove that she did love you. "Oh... because he's right. Because it's time to stand with him. It's time to stand with her," Missy nodded her head towards you, "She's our soulmate and she's everything good in this universe. We love her. It's where we've always been going, and it's happening, now, today. It's time to stand with the Doctor," Missy laced her fingers through your own and pulled you towards back towards the treeline, towards the battle field and the Cybermen, her eyes never glancing away form the exit in front of you both, but you could see the smile on her painted lips.

"No. Never. MISSY! I will never stand with the Doctor!" You could hear The Master shout from behind you. You spun around just in time to watch The Master shoot Missy with his sonic screwdriver, a sense of glee crossed his face as your shouted out her name and ran towards her, tears falling down your face as you fell to your knees beside her.

"Don't bother trying to regenerate. You got the full blast. You see, Missy, this is where we've always been going. This is our perfect ending. We shoot ourselves in the back," The Master stated simply, laughter echoing throughout the area.

Missy let out a long laugh as she looked at your tear stained face, you gripped her hand, trying to reassure her that it was okay, that you were there and you weren't leaving her.

All around you, you could hear the mixed sounds of both their laughter, male and female, while you softly pleaded for her to try and regenerate. For her to come back to you.

Until the final breath left her lips.

That was what lead you up to now, standing in the middle of an empty plane looking at the dark-skinned man. A large grin crossing his face as he stared at you. It was almost a manic type glee on his face, the same type of look he had on his face when he first saw you all those years ago.

How did you not notice this earlier? All the signs were there. The itchiness, O's reluctance to touch you but at the same time, needing to be as close as possible to you, the headaches, the comfort you found in his presence.

But it had been such a long time since you had been in The Master's presence that you almost forgot what being in it felt like. You had finished mourning the woman who had died and you thought that it would be the end of it.

But clearly it wasn't.

Not now, not when you were standing face to face with the villainous Time Lord.

"And finally the human. My soulmate. I've waited a long time to finally meet you," He stepped closer to you, making you take a step back, "I've waited eons to meet you. And now I finally have you," His eyes narrowed slightly, "But this isn't your first time meeting me, is it?"

"I've met you plenty of times before," You commented, "Shame about the circumstances," You looked behind you at The Doctor who was still looking at The Master in shock. "But there was an O at MI6. C was talking about him," Ryan stated simply, moving out from the aisle of seats, stepping closer to Yaz.

The Master gave a small chuckle, "Yeah. A man very close to my heart.," He paused for a moment and reached into his breast pocket, "Well, in my pocket, actually. Do you want to see him? It's always good to keep a backup of one's work. Tissue compression, it's a classic. Oh,"

He smiled as he showed the little tiny humanoid figure in the matchbox. You opened your mouth in shock, stepping forward. You felt The Doctor's hand on your shoulder, keeping you close to her.

"Ambushed him on his way to work for his first day. Shrunk him, took his identity and set myself up in MI6. Surprisingly good staff canteen," The Master turned to you as he threw the matchbox to the side, "I have had a lot of fun," He smiled, bouncing slightly and clapping his hands together like a child.

You shook your head, taking a slight step back, "You absolute sick son of a b-" You were cut off by The Doctor's voice. "I need to warn Barton!" She yelled before turning to you, "Stay here and keep an eye on him," She pointed over to The Master before turning on her heel and moving back towards the cockpit, "What? He's not here," She yelled, quickly moving back towards you.  

Graham, Ryan and Yaz rushed towards The Doctor, pushing past you and pushing The Master into a seat. You stood beside him, momentarily blocking him in. Your headache was getting worse, making you press the heels of your palms into your eyes and rub them.

A small chuckle came from beside you, "Headaches?" You looked over at the offending voice, "Oh, I've had headaches for months now. You know, you could solve all our problems if you would just grab my hand. The bond between us will be sealed and it wont hurt anymore" The Master raised his hand, waving his fingers at you.

"Over my dead body," You said simply, moving towards the others.

You watched nervously as The Doctor tried, and ultimately failed, to defuse the bomb sitting in the cockpit. You turned behind you to see The Master standing there, smirking at what he thought was his victory.

"Where's Barton?" Yaz asked him, moving to stand next to you.

"Called away before takeoff. By me! Stick with me, Yaz, cos I control... everything. Even these guys" The Master whistled and clicked his fingers turning around and grinning at the sight before him.

Molding form the aircraft around you, two light figures came to stand in front of you. Your chest clenched painfully before turning back to The Master, "This plane crashes, we all die. Including me," You stated as if that would make him stop.

The Master laughed, "Yes!" He narrowed his eyes for a moment, "Wait, no. I already have plans for you," He forcefully grabbed your hand and pulled you towards him, making you shout in pain. You could see the wincing on his own face as the bond snapped into place.

It was like fire and ice rushed through your veins and burned your head. It was like drowning and dying over and over again. The pain made you fall to your knees and clutch your head, The Master just looked down at you, watching with a smirk as the bond began to work.

You could feel pain. The same pain you felt from the Valiant when your bond was first established, but it was so much more painful, so much more embedded. You felt like you were suffocating. Time seemed to slow down as you were pulled up to your feet by The Master, his hand keeping a painful grip on your upper arm. You tried to struggle against him but you felt weak, like it was taking all your energy just to keep yourself from succumbing to the pain in your mind. "Got you, finally," You heard whispered beside you as you were pulled from the crashing aircraft.

[doctorwhohopezine]

Happy Fic-Rec Friday!!

This weeks recommendations are non-Thoschei and are from our server!

Step On In - Notjodieyet

At a Festival of Ladders on an alien planet, the TARDIS breaks down, forcing the Doctor and company to seek accommodation somewhere else.

The hotel room doesn't quite have enough beds.

Characters: Bill Potts, Twelve (12), Nardole, Missy

Rating: T

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27824776

Whatever You Need - FoxesOwlsandBumblebees

When the Doctor is at their very worst, Nardole tries his best to help them. If only he knew what it was that was bothering them... Set post-Husbands of River Song

Characters: Twelve (12), Nardole, the Doctor’s TARDIS

Rating: G

https://archiveofourown.org/works/29176212

Ship-Shape - Raindropsonwhiskers

An alternate ending to The Ghost Monument, where the Doctor opens the TARDIS doors and gets a rather enthusiastic greeting

Characters: Thirteen (13), Graham O’Brien, Ryan Sinclair, Yasmin Khan, Idris

Rating: T

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27532939



Just Act Natural - OneOfThoseThings

Donna promises to get the Doctor to Martha’s wedding. It’s no problem. Really.

Characters: Ten (10), Donna Noble, Martha Jones, Thomas Milligan, Sylvia Noble

Rating: G

https://archiveofourown.org/works/28854273

Thee Recursive Series - krebkrebkreb

When you've lived long enough, a lot of things stop being surprises.

Other things... Not even the Doctor and Jack Harkness have lived long enough to be prepared for them.

Except they should be, shouldn’t they? It’s all happened before.

Characters: The Doctor/Jack Harkness, a range of other characters

Rating: T and G (please check individual fics)

https://archiveofourown.org/series/2209011

Back to the Brax - GingerGoldRose

Romana had been fighting a war she can't win for over thirty years. She had lost many friends along the way, including Irving Braxiatel and now The Doctor. With her last stronghold surrounded, it seems certain that she is going to be killed by daleks. So when her time-traveling friend, Rose Tyler, drags her and Leela back to The Doctor's laboratory and Romana is offered to go back in time and change the future... She literally jumps at the chance. Romana just hopes she is up to the challenge to both save the future and to face Braxiatel.

Characters: Eight (8), Irving Braxiatel, Rose Tyler, Romanadvoratralundar, Leela, Andred, Narvin

Rating: T

https://archiveofourown.org/works/27169187/chapters/66356105

In the Wind - Picnokinesis

The Doctor leaves her companions in Sheffield to go off on her own – only to crash on a desert planet in a remote part of space, concussed, her TARDIS broken and no way to get home.

Characters: Thirteen (13), the TARDIS

Rating: G

https://archiveofourown.org/works/23918071/chapters/57512863

Please do check out these wonderful fics and have a wonderful a day!

[saiilorstars]

The Beginning of Everything

Ch. 27:  The Vortex Butterfly

// Story Masterlist //

Fandom: Doctor Who

Pairing: 10th Doctor x Female OC

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

Chapter summary: The final battle against the Daleks is coming to an end and with it comes the Vortex Butterfly. People are lost and those remaining are still fractured. When it's all over, Renata and the Doctor must decide what to do with themselves.

As soon as the new Doctor had figured out what the Daleks planned to do, he set to work with the tools he had in the TARDIS. He'd been working fairly fast considering the enormous pressure there was to get things right and working.

"Doctor - or whatever you name is - what are you doing!?" Gabby was so tired of watching the man circle the console without uttering a word to her or Donna. For all they knew, he could be making a toaster.

"This is our only hope!" the Doctor promised her and made a nod at his device that was coming together. "A Z-Neutrino biological inversion catalyser."

"Yeah, Earth-girls remember?" Donna nearly tapped the side of his head to make a point.

"Davros said he built those Daleks out of himself. His genetic code runs through the entire race. If I can use this to lock the Crucible's transmission onto Davros himself…"

"It destroys the Daleks?"

"Biggest backfire in history," the Doctor grinned mischievously.

"That's great," Gabby was truly grinning from ear to ear, but she raised her glowing purple hands to bring up another matter they hadn't truly solved yet. "Now what do I do about this!?"

The Doctor wearily eyed her hands. "Keep 'em...away…"

Gabby wasn't remotely amused. "Am I going to die like Renata? Is that what this is? You said I'm the Cosmic Butterfly and that Renata is the Vortex Butterfly, but what does that mean really? What can I do with this? Will it kill me?"

"I don't - I don't know the implications it'll have on your biology," the Doctor admitted. "But right now it might be a really good weapon against the Daleks." Gabby wasn't really sure how to feel about being a 'weapon' against alien threats. "And as for Renata? The energy inside her is far too strong, it could be killing her as we speak."

Gabby gulped and glanced at Donna. What could either of them do from where they were? Gabby didn't know the answer but she knew that she had to do something to save her. Ever since they met, Renata had done nothing but try to keep Gabby safe. Even when things were terrible, Renata always strove to keep Gabby out of harm's way. Gabby couldn't - and wouldn't - let that happen. She had the power in her fingertips to stop it, to at least help. She didn't care if it would contaminate her too or if it would kill her. The Doctor may be right in that she was a weapon they could use against the Daleks.

"What do I need to do?"

The Doctor eyed her for a second, deciding whether or not she was being honest and if she could actually do it. She gave a nod as if she'd read his mind.

"You draw your power - so they say - from your emotions, from what you feel. Take all of that and focus it on what you want to do."

Gabby nodded fast, her eyes wandering around the room. Right now all she could think of was Renata and the Doctor. They were both in such terrible danger and even then Renata was getting the worst of it. Her energy was swallowing her whole and just the thought of Renata dying terrified Gabby - she felt her world would crumble.

Flames began to rise from her fingers and when she noticed it, she knew exactly what to do.

~ 0 ~

Renata had gained a better sense of balance again, but it didn't stop the deep fatigueness she felt. Her energy - the vortex, apparently - had stopped randomly bursting from her but every now and then it would still burst. Even if they weren't strong explosions, she could still feel it bubbling inside her.

She touched the prison wall around her and watched its ripples mix with her golden energy. "Maybe...this isn't all bad," she whispered so that the Doctor could hear. "What if I use this - whatever it is - to our advantage?"

"Don't do anything, I'm begging you," the Doctor was so tired of asking her the same thing. He was afraid that each time the energy burst from her, it would be the last one she would be able to endure. "Just...just sit." Renata shook her head but before she could verbally refuse, they heard a familiar voice coming through a comms in the room.

"This is Martha Jones representing the Unified Intelligence Taskforce on behalf of the Human Race. Can you hear me?"

Renata stumbled forwards, her face hitting the wall not so kindly. "Martha! Is that really Martha!?"

Martha Jones finally came to appear in a screen for them. "This message is for the Dalek Crucible. Repeat: can you hear me?"

"Martha?" the Doctor could smile enough to see she was alright and unharmed, so far.

"It begins as Dalek Caan foretold," Davros announced, but neither the Doctor nor Renata paid him attention.

"The Children of Time will gather... and one of them will die!"

"Would you stop saying that! Put me through!" ordered the Doctor.

The communication became a two-way and Martha seemed relieved to see them again, although she immediately got concerned over Renata's frail appearance. She paid very bit of her attention to Rose, considering her priorities. "Ren? What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing, just get to the point," Renata made a gesture as best as possible.

"State your intent," Davros commanded Martha and Martha was happy to do so.

Martha raised her hand to show she held a strange key. "I've got the Osterhagen Key. Leave this planet and its people alone, or I'll use it."

"Osterhagen what? What's an Osterhagen Key?" the Doctor inquired, a bit offended that he had no idea what the thing was when UNIT created it. They were supposed to inform him every now and then.

"There's a chain of twenty-five nuclear warheads placed in strategic points beneath the Earth's crust. If I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart."

The noise that came out of Renata was piercing. She was appalled at such a creation. "What do you mean!? Martha Jones! Are you insane?!"

Martha was in a visible struggle with her duty and her morals, but she didn't stop until she got everything out that she needed to say. "The Osterhagen Key is to be used if the suffering of the Human Race is so great, so without hope... that this becomes the final option."

"That's never an option!" yelled the Doctor.

"Don't argue with me, Doctor," Martha snapped, further surprising him. "Cos there's more than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these twenty-seven planets for something, but what if it becomes twenty-six? What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?"

Rose had to admit where she saw a good job, because not just anyone could threaten the Daleks with such good content. "She's good." Of course neither the Doctor nor Renata would agree with her.

"Who's that?" Martha finally gave Rose the decent attention to be interested in her.

"My name's Rose. Rose Tyler."

Martha froze but her eyes immediately found Renata's. The Time Lady gave a confirming nod, but she made it clear that she was just fine with it.

Suddenly, the screen divided itself into two squares. Jack's face flashes next to Martha's and he was holding a peculiar necklace in hand. Sarah Jane, Jackie Tyler, and Mickey Smith were right behind him.

"Captain Jack Harkness calling all Dalek boys and girls!" Jack exclaimed rather loudly with a grin that promised greatness. "Are you receiving me? Don't send in your goons or I'll set this thing off."

Now it was Rose's turn to nearly fall over. "He's still alive!?" she squinted her eyes though when she saw Jackie behind him. "Oh, my God, that's- that's my mum!"

"And Mickey," the Doctor added. "Captain, what are you doing?"

"I've got a Warp Star wired into the mainframe. I break the shell... the entire Crucible goes up."

The Doctor looked between Martha and Jack - and those behind Jack - as if they'd all gone mad, and perhaps they had. "You can't! Where did you get a Warp Star?!"

"Wrong question," Renata shook her. "I can't believe they have the courage to do that - wrong courage, but...courage nonetheless." Although it honestly startled her that these humans had the boldness to do what not everyone could.

"It's mine, Doctor," Sarah Jane spoke up. "We had no choice, we saw what happened to the prisoners."

"Impossible. That face... after all these years…" Davros seemed truly surprised to see Sarah Jane on the screen.

Sarah Jane couldn't say the same. Her eyes narrowed on the man - creature - and a cold glare took her over. "That's been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith. Remember?"

"Oh, this is meant to be. The Circle of Time is closing!" Davros exclaimed. "You were there on Skaro at the very beginning of my creation."

"And I've learned how to fight since then. You let the Doctor go or this Warp Star - it gets opened!"

"I'll do it," Jack raised the Warp Star a bit more and tweaked it to prepare it. "Don't imagine I wouldn't."

"Now, that's what I call a ransom," Rose chuckled, feeling just a bit more on the optimistic side. The Daleks wouldn't let their precious plan fall to bits if they could help it.

"And the prophesy unfolds," Davros said, pulling Rose out of her thoughts to notice the Doctor's downcasted gaze.

"The Doctor's soul is revealed! See him! See the heart of him!" Dalek Caan cackled deliriously, taunting the silent Doctor.

"Oh shut it you tin can!" Renata unexpectedly snapped. She knew exactly what they were trying to do to the Doctor and even if she was trapped inside a prison cell, she wouldn't allow it.

"The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor," Davros wheeled himself closer to the Doctor who refused to look up from the ground. "You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this."

"What the - no!" Renata shouted again, more furious than before. "No one makes people into anything! You change them, yes, but their core remains the same."

The Doctor could appreciate her attempt to make him look better but he knew what he was, he always knew. Wherever he went, destruction followed. Even Renata herself had been caught in his trail. He gave her the worst ultimatum back on that horrible night before his wedding, and made her miserable for the rest of her lives. And after her...he couldn't even count the lives he'd destroyed because he turned them into people who didn't care for their own lives. They would use themselves as bait, go farther than they ever would because they met him.

It was all true.

And even if Renata tried to sweeten the darkness, he couldn't believe it. She shouldn't have to waste her breath - which was already numbered - on him. "Renata-"

"No!" she snapped at him without a single second of hesitation. "You are many things, Doctor, but I'm not letting these murderers bring you down with them! As if!" The golden Vortex began to dance around her body again, growing stronger the angrier she rambled on. "These humans-" she made a quick gesture to the screen where she had a good captive audience, "-are trying to save their world by any means necessary, even if it means destroying it! And yes, they are completely wrong!" She specifically looked up at the screens, making sure that each and every one of them looked her in her hard eyes. It was as if their mother was giving them a lecture, and it was a strange feeling for those who hadn't even met her. "But they made their choices! Not the Doctor!"

"Ren, calm down," Martha could see the light around her friend's body starting again.

"NO!" Renata frantically said. "And stop telling me to calm down! I'm not calming down! I've had it!"

"You make nice speeches, Time Lady-" Davros began but she wasn't quite finished yet.

"-my name-" she pounded a fist against her prison wall, "-is Renata! Learn it because as soon as I get out of here, I'm going to end you!"

"Renée, enough!" the Doctor turned to her. His anger had finally broken through his seal of silence but even though a part was directed at her, it wasn't for the same reason. He wouldn't let her further destroy her morals for him. Not her.

"There is no point in denying the truth," Davros insisted. "Already, I have seen them sacrifice today for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman who fell opening the subwave network."

"Who was that?" the Doctor asked, momentarily curious of who else he could've destroyed that he wasn't remembering. That's how many...he couldn't even remember all of them!

"Harriet Jones," Rose answered quietly, closing her eyes when she remembered the terrible way Harriet had died after opening the Subway network for them. "She gave her life to get you here."

"How many more? Just think," Davros called to the Doctor again, nearing his prison hold. "How many have died in your name?"

"Doctor, don't," Renata knew that he was going to start thinking about the people he'd lost along the way. He just would. He was too guilty to ever forget them like that.

And as he realized before, the Doctor lost count along the way. He remembered many faces, each dying to save him and whoever else happened to be around. He always tried making the tough calls but someone always wanted to be brave - to prove themselves to him that they were just as brave as he was - and it always resulted in death. It followed him because that's who he was, that's who he was at his core. He could never stay still and people around him paid the price for it.

He barely held himself together once the weight of it truly fell over his shoulders, but the Daleks had won: they'd broken him. They made him face his reality and made him look at himself.

And Davros knew it too. "The Doctor... the man who keeps running, never looking back, because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you... yourself."

"STOP!" Renata screamed and released the brightest energy she had yet to reveal. Her fists pounded endlessly against the prison walls, one after the other and stronger than the previous.

"Renata!" the Doctor swore he could see cuts against her fists from the constant hits against the wall, but she just wouldn't stop. "Renata!"

She cried and banged the walls with everything she had. The Vortex wouldn't fade this time either - it was actually cutting through the walls. The Daleks had prepared for the Doctor alright, but not the Vortex Butterfly.

"It's the Crucible... or the Earth!" Martha called when she felt it was the right time to really tighten the Daleks.

But the Daleks had other plans. They teleported Martha and Jack, along with everyone else who had tagged along. They all dropped into the Vault without their threatening weapons.

"Don't move!" the Doctor was quick to shout at them. "All of you, stay still!"

"But Renata!" Martha had gotten up from the floor fairly fast and ran towards her friend who was still crying against her cell.

"No, Martha!" the Doctor helplessly banged against his own prison hold to stop the woman.

Renata's cell cracked with the Vortex seeping through until it finally shattered. The force of it blew Martha back, throwing her body onto the floor. Renata's own body fell forwards after the blast. Jack only went to Martha because she was closest, but it didn't keep the Doctor from yelling for Renata to wake up. He crashed his body against his prison, much like Renata had, until his head got woozy from so many hits.

"Doctor, you have to stop that!" Rose called to him when he looked ready to pass out.

"You will all surrender," a Dalek warned the group as it and a few other Daleks came towards them.

Jack looked back at Sarah Jane, Mickey and Jackie, nodding for them to stay down. There was no winning now. Renata, however, slowly blinked awake. She scanned the area in her spot, without moving, and decided to wait for the right moment.

"The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor and his children all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek... the time has come!" Davros' voice practically shook with excitement. "Now...Detonate the Reality Bomb!"

The knobs of the Reality Bomb started working again, giving the twenty seven planets their strong glow.

"Davros, you can't!" the Doctor crashed his body one more time against his prison hold. "Just listen to me! Just STOP!"

"Nothing can stop the detonation! Nothing! And no-one!"

Renata had barely flexed her left hand when she and the others began to hear a familiar, but completely impossible, wheezing noise. She'd been feeling so tired but now there was a small spot, somewhere inside, that felt a bit different. It was small but it sparked something...

The TARDIS appeared, looking as if nothing ever happened to it. It was the only thing that stopped the Doctor from repeatedly hurting himself against his prison. "But that's…"

"Impossible," Davros barely contained his shout.

The TARDIS settled into a nice spot and opened its doors, letting out a blinding light that could rival Renata's. The new Doctor bolted from the TARDIS with his device ready to go.

"What - don't!" the original Doctor cried despite not knowing - at that moment - how there was another copy of him.

Davros got over his shock and acted fast. With one pointed finger, he put a stop to the new Doctor's plan with a jet of electricity. He collapsed on the floor, not seriously injured but there would still be bruises.

"Activate holding cell," Davros instructed and a brand new prison hold appeared around the new man.

"Doctor!" Donna rushed out next and immediately saw the lost device on the floor. She snatched it before anything else could. "I've got it! But I don't know what to do!"

Donna became the next victim. The same electric jet of energy hit her and blew her against the TARDIS.

"Destroy the weapon!"

The Doctor called for Donna but there was no response from the woman, wherever it was she landed.

"Wait, how come there's two of you now?" Rose couldn't stop blinking. It was as if she was trying to see if blinking fast would erase the second DOctor.

"Human biological metacrisis. Never mind that, now we've got no way of stopping the Reality Bomb."

"Wouldn't say that." Gabby appeared out of the TARDIS with a strong purple glow around her and a pair of two swirling, purple butterfly wings behind her. She didn't take a second to think about the consequences, she just acted. She thrust her left hand forwards and shot directly at Davros. A streak of purple butterflies swarmed their way towards the man.

"Attack!" he cried before the butterflies could read him.

"NO!" the Doctor went into another state of panic. The Reality Bomb was back on and now they also had to watch Gabby die all over again?

Gabby brought her wings over her body as a shield - how that happened, she wouldn't be able to explain - but the same wings, only in purple, flapped in front of her. In her mind, there was only one thing: save her friends.

Renata was finally back and she had an icy cold glare on her face, despite the warmth she felt from the Vortex emanating around her. "Not her!" her voice would make anyone wince, and it did. "You-" her wings flapped to create a force of wind laced with golden energy, "-stay-" flap!, "-away-" another flap, "-from her!" Golden swirls fired from her wings and hit the incoming Daleks.

"Detonation in twenty rels! Nineteen…" the Supreme Dalek's voice began to echo through all the rooms in the Crucible.

"Renata!" the Doctor vainlessly called for her. He was terribly scared for her and for the planets. He didn't know whether or not to be ashamed of the fact he couldn't decide which scared him more. "Renata, stop!"

But Renata, whether she heard him or not, thrust one hand after the other and split as many Daleks as she could. Gabby followed in her footsteps and cut through the Daleks that would near her. The Vortex Butterfly had come to life and was going to do whatever it took to keep her loved ones safe. Beautiful golden flames surrounded around her, contrasting the darkness she felt inside her knowing the battle that was upon them. She led the Cosmic Butterfly, her faithful companion, into the land of battle. One powered by the Vortex and the other by cosmic energy, the Daleks would never stand a chance.

"Exterminate!" Renata could hear dozens of them but she felt an incredible surge of power that she wanted to take full advantage of.

"Nine... eight... seven... six…"

Donna blinked awake and, like Gabby and Renata, she immediately knew there was something different about her. A heavy load of power dropped on her, but not in the same way as it had on Renata and Gabby.

"What is going on!?" Martha breathed in at the sight of her best friend taking down Daleks like there was no tomorrow while doing it with butterfly wings.

"The Vortex Butterfly and the Cosmic Butterfly are born," Dalek Caan laughed loudly enough to go over the streaks of energy. "But can they survive?"

"Shut up!" the Doctor practically bellowed at the deranged Dalek.

"Five... four... three... two... one.."

The entire group waited, even both Renata and Gabby had finally stopped once the Daleks in the Vault were dead, to see the end of all creation. They were mighty confused when nothing of the sort happened.

"Oh... closing all Z-Neutrino relay loops using an internalised synchronous back-feed reversal loop!" Donna triumphantly, and rather confidently, flicked a switch from a control panel. "That button there!"

"Donna, you can't even change a plug!" the Doctor didn't know what was going on but he couldn't stop smiling. She looked absolutely at home working the controls.

Donna winked at him. "Do you wanna bet, Time Boy?"

"You will suffer for this!" Davros warned her, but Donna scoffed.

"Sure!" she went for another switch on the control panel and electrocuted Davros. "Oh...! Bioelectric dampening field with a retrogressive arc inversion."

"Alright Donna!" Rose laughed.

The Vault opened its doors to let more Daleks in. Renata raised her hands, taking aim, and prompted Gabby to do the same.

"Bring it," Gabby flexed her fingers. The energy around her was amazing. She wasn't in pain and even though she couldn't control it all so well, she just knew that this could be used for good, not murdering as the new Doctor had said. Plus, she was thinking differently too and she didn't know what that meant! It was as if her brain had opened to new ideas, to new possibilities - different angles to look from!

"I got it, ladies!" Donna called from her spot and somehow powered down the Daleks' blaster-guns. "Weapons non-functional!" She smirked at everyone's confused stares. "What? Macrotransmission of a K-filter wavelength blocking Dalek weaponry in a self-replicating energy blindfold matrix?"

The Doctor's mouth had fallen open in honest, thorough, shock. "How did you work that out? You…"

"Time Lord. Part Time Lord," the new Doctor said a d for a brief moment they shared a silent, knowing look between them.

Donna didn't notice it. Why would she? She was having the time of her life saving the world - worlds! "Part Human! Oh, yes! That was a two-way biological metacrisis. Half Doctor... half Donna!"

"The Doctor-Donna…" Renata realized, thinking back to the Old planet they visited a while ago. "It was just like the Ood said." She turned her head at the Doctor, her Doctor. "It came true." He knew what she was trying to say: if they got that bit right then her prediction was going to come true as well.

He shook his head. Never.

"Holding cells deactivated!" Donna cheered for herself as the holding cells disappeared.

As soon as he was free, the Doctor dashed for Renata. He was about to hold her - or attempt to hug, whichever one felt better - when her wings flapped menacingly.

"Don't touch me," she warned him.

"Ren-"

"-the job is not done. More are coming," Renata turned away from him, head tilting towards the closed doors at the end.

"Ren?" Martha was back on her feet thanks to Jack. She cautiously approached Renata but the Doctor barred her from getting too close. There was something else in Renata's face that he couldn't figure out yet. "Renata? It's me, Martha. I-I can't say I understand very well what all that-" she made a gesture at Renata's wings, "-is but you're not okay. You must be exhausted. You should let me take you into the TARDIS."

"No," Renata said flatly. "I want to put an end to them, all of them."

Gabby wobbled on her feet, for the first time feeling a bit weak from the energy she'd suddenly garnered. "Maybe...it wouldn't be a bad idea…"

"Oi! Doctor!" Donna called to the original from the control panel. "Could use some help!" She already had the metacrisis Doctor with her, but a third set of hands would end things much quicker.

"Stop them!" Davros ordered the remaining Daleks inside.

Donna had other ideas. She clicked a button on the panel. "And spin!"

The Daleks advance.

Renata turned her head at the spinning Daleks, revealing a fury she'd been hiding. The energy was making her let it go. "No spin, just die!" she screamed and fired upon the closest, spinning Daleks.

"Renata!" Martha tried reaching for her but the Doctor was faster and yanked them both back.

"You can't touch her! That's the Time Vortex around her!" he nodded to the dancing, golden flames around Renata's body.

Renata desisted with the measly Daleks spinning around them. She set eyes on the biggest threat of them all: Davros. She stalked towards him, leaving her footprints in Vortex power on the floor. "YOU!"

Martha didn't waste time and shoved the Doctor after her. "Stop her before she gets killed!"

The Doctor quickly glanced at Donna and saw she was busily working with his metacrisis copy then glanced at the others to see them coming out with their own weapons against the Daleks. Gabby was the only one unattended, but Martha practically read his thoughts.

"I've got her!" she rushed for Gabby but remembered she couldn't touch her. Although the more Martha studied the girl, the quicker she realized Gabby's power wasn't as strong as Renata's. Her purple glow came and went, almost as if it were trying to face but Gabby was clinging to it. "Gabby? Gabby, you need to put that energy away!"

"I can't!" Gabby clutched her head. "I-I thought this new mind was great but now I feel like a computer that's overloading. The power... it's a lot."

Martha could only imagine. "Listen, you just have to stop-"

"-I can't! I need to help Renata! It's beyond me, it's an instinct!"

"You're connected," Martha blinked and quickly glanced at Renata. Renata was hell bent on getting Daleks, and now Davros, and it seemed she had a pull on Gabby too. The butterflies were connected in some way.

Near the TARDIS, Jack had gone in to collect his and Rose's guns in case they ended up needing them when they escaped. The others, including Rose, took to pushing away any spinning Daleks that managed to get too close to Donna and the TARDIS. Donna had the metacrisis Doctor working like mad to get all the planets home.

"Activate magnetron!" she ordered.

"Stop it at once!" Davros attempted to go for Donna when Renata struck just in front of him.

She moved to stand right in front with one hand extended forwards, bathed in Vortex energy that was waiting to be released. "You stay right where you are."

"The Vortex Butterfly will murder on her first day?" Davros seemed more bemused than afraid.

"I'd be doing the world a favor," Renata balled her fist, finally letting the rage out that she'd bottled up for years. "No one would miss you."

The Doctor was horrified to hear that logic and much more that it was coming from Renata. He was helpless as he looked between her, Gabby and Donna working madly to get the planets back in place. All three of his companions were changed because of him. He'd ruined them just like everyone before them. And it broke his hearts all over again. They were weapons, just like the Daleks told him. It was his curse and they had to live with it while he could only watch.

Not Renata. He couldn't bear watching her betray her own morals. She was always so sweet, so protective, even when she harbored deep secrets it never changed who she was at her core. "Renée! You can't do this!"

There was a sour smile on Renata's face. "Why not? Really, Doctor, who would give a damn? They're the ones who ruined our world. They murdered everyone. But now I have the power to end them, to pay them back with the same coin."

"Renata, I know where you're coming from. I've been there," the Doctor promised her. He thought of the first Dalek he met right after the Time War. The first Dalek that might have changed. In that time he could care less if it was a safe Dalek, if it had become best friends with Rose and gotten a new perspective on life. He wanted to see it dead, just like all the other Daleks. But Rose reminded him that even though everything was gone, he was still there and deserved a chance to live.

"Renata, you always said that you wanted to go home, that-that you would do anything to go home…" he started again but it was difficult to get out when he could see how each word of his punctured Renata's hearts. "But this isn't it. This won't get you home and it won't bring home back. Renata I'm sorry but... it's gone." Renata's face scrunched harder the more he drilled it into her head, drilled reality into her head. "Gallifrey is dead and going on a murder spree won't do anything to change that. But listen, you have people here too. You have Martha, you have Donna, you have me and you have a young girl who looks up to you. And right now, she's in pain because she's trying to help you."

Renata blinked, for a second coming out of her dark moment, and slightly glanced in the Doctor's way. He was desperately trying to show her a struggling Gabby who was barely able to stay on her feet. Martha and Mickey were trying to bring her towards the TARDIS but the girl refused, saying things about helping her.

"You see?" the Doctor caught onto her temporary moment of lucidness to finish making his point. "I think you're temporary connected and she feels like she has to help you."

Renata returned her attention to her threatening hand. Davros wasn't close to her anymore but all it took was one shot, one shot, and it would be enough to end him.

"It breaks my hearts that I can't bring your family back. Because I would, if there was any way that I could I really would." The Doctor tried stepping closing to her, hoping that he was getting through to her once and for all. "They're gone. Everyone's gone."

Renata started to shake and sniff until it turned into gentle a cry. The golden energy around her body died within seconds. She lowered her threatening hand and brought it against her mouth to cover her sobs. "Oh God, what am I doing?"

When the Doctor knew it was safe, he pulled her into a hug and let her shake and sob for a few minutes. She needed it.

By the control panel, Donna and the metacrisis Doctor were almost done working.

"We got it, Doctor! Ha!" Donna laughed as she watched each planet return to their rightful place.

Rose and Jack came by to see their progress, though Rose's gaze often fell on the original Doctor with Renata.

"Is anyone gonna tell us what's going on?" Jack asked them.

"The Doctor - the original - poured all his regeneration energy into his spare hand," Donna explained rather fast, sounding a lot like the Doctor, "I touched the hand and he-" she nodded to the metacrisis Doctor, "-grew out of that, but that fed back into me. But, it just stayed dormant in my head 'til the synapses got that little extra spark, kicking them into life. Thank you, Davros! Part Human...part Time Lord. And I got the best bit of the Doctor. I got his mind!"

"So there's three of you?" Sarah Jane wandered over at the explanation.

Even Rose was wearing the same face of surprise. "Three Doctors?"

"I can't tell you what I'm thinking right now!" Jack looked away for the same reason. It was then that he saw the original Doctor and Renata finally making their way to them. "Doc! Donna just explained how there's three of you now!"

"Great," the Doctor was walking slowly with Renata. He checked behind him to see Martha and Mickey were able to bring Gabby along.

"Donna, you were so unique that the timelines were converging on you," Renata managed to smile, though it was a tired one. "Human Being with a Time Lord brain."

"Very special," Gabby added. She was looking better too now that her link with Renata was lowering because the Time Lady's murderous endeavors stopped.

"But you promised me, Dalek Caan. Why did you not forsee this?" Davros turned his chair to Dalek Caan in new flourished anger.

Dalek Caan giggled knowingly.

"Oh, I think he did," the Doctor said when he figured it out. "Something's been manipulating the timelines for ages... getting Donna Noble to the right place at the right time."

"This would always have happened. I only helped, Doctor."

Davros didn't want to believe that his entire plan had failed and much more that it was always going to fail. "You...betrayed the Daleks?"

"I saw the Daleks. What we have done throughout time and space. I saw the truth of us, Creator, and I decreed 'no more'."

"Dalek...on our side?" Renata would act more surprised if her facial features would allow it.

"Heads up!" Jack called when he saw the Vault doors opening up.

The Supreme Dalek had descended to the room. "Davros, you have betrayed us."

"It was Dalek Caan!"

"The Vault will be purged! You will all be exterminated!" the Supreme Dalek sent a death ray towards a central column, causing sparks to fly.

Jack had another thing to say. "Like I was saying, feel this!" He blasted the Dalek to smithereens with his large gun.

"No!" the metacrisis Doctor exclaimed when he saw the central column had been destroyed with the Supreme Dalek's ray. "We've lost the magnatron! And there's only one planet left!"

"And let me guess," the original Doctor began, "It's Earth?" both the metacrisis Doctor and Donna nodded their heads. "We can use the TARDIS. I'll do it." He brought Renata into the TARDIS and Martha and Mickey came in shortly afterwards with Gabby. "Renée, don't move! Got it?"

Renata had been sat in the Captain's chair and this time she didn't argue with him. She nodded her head instead. "I think the Butterfly is done."

The Doctor cocked his head to the side, disliking her choice of words but time was short. He ran to Gabby next. "Gabby? How we doin'?"

"Better, thanks," she smiled much more easily than Renata. "I think...I think I got a little less than Ren. I-I touched Donna when she touched your, uh, your hand…"

The Doctor paused to think about it for a second. "You must have activated your power via the metacrisis, but you didn't intake the same amount of Donna. It kitck-started the dormant energy of the Block Matrix from Zhe's gallery."

"But why am I not affected like Renata?"

"Renata's mutation was kick-started by Dorothy Bell and her Osiran powers. Plus, every Time Lord carries a bit of the Time Vortex inside them, you don't. You're human. You just have the Block Transfer connection."

"Oh, is that it?" Gabby sarcastically quipped.

"But you'll be fine - you and Renata will both be fine," the Doctor promised then ran for the console. He would get them sorted once they finished sorting this first. Everything would be just fine, just fine, because-

There was a strange commotion coming from the outside, it sounded like screaming. He hurried back outside and saw the shrieking, exploding Daleks from the screen Davros originally had for them.

"What've you done?!" he shouted in horror at his counterpart.

The new Doctor didn't seem that perturbed with the fact he had just slaughtered millions of Daleks in one go. "Fulfilling the prophecy." There was a wildness in his eyes that genuinely scared the original Doctor. "Do you know what you've done? Now, get in the TARDIS!" he roared and pointed the man for the blue box.

The metacrisis Doctor did so but he knew there was nothing more to do. It was already done. The Crucible would explode in minutes.

"Everyone! All of you inside, run! In, in, in, in, in!" the Doctor hurried along the remaining companions into the TARDIS. The Vault went up in flames but despite that, the Doctor knew Davros was still around. If he didn't come, he'd explode as well. "Davros? Come with me! I promise I can save you!"

"Never forget, Doctor - you did this!" Davros voice echoed through the room. "I name you, forever, you are the Destroyer of Worlds!"

The Doctor stayed in his spot for a minute, frozen as he concluded that everything was right. He was a destroyer.

"Doctor!" someone called to him from inside the TARDIS. It snapped him out of his thoughts and brought him right in.

The console was actually crowded - a strange sight for someone who usually travelled alone or at least light - with all his companions trying to gather sense of what they'd just gone through.

"And! Off we go!" he went for the console, starting the TARDIS up. Soon as he did, the group rocked to a side.

"But what about the Earth? It's stuck in the wrong part of space!" Sarah Jane said as if anyone would forget that small detail.

"I'm on it!" the Doctor promised as he worked the console. He got in contact with Torchwood as fast as he could. "I want you to open up that Rift Manipulator - send all the power to me!"

Afterwards, he called up Sarah Jane so that they could get in contact with her son, Luke, and her advanced computer Mr. Smith. He gave them another instruction and once it was set in motion, he rushed around giving each of his companions a control to work on the console. It would be a many-people drive!

Renata could see everybody crowded over the console with the same gleeful smiles on their faces. Her hearts warmed at the sight of all those people who were able to gather together because of the Doctor. She only knew two of them but she only needed to know the Doctor to know that every single one of them were amazing. She closed her eyes and took in a quiet breath. It almost looked like she was taking in her last breath, which was immediately pulled the Doctor towards her.

"Renata!" he scurried up to her seat with such a pale face that Renata would've laughed if she could.

"I'm okay," she said in a frail voice. "I'm just...so tired."

"I know, I know, I'm going to bring you to the medbay and-and we'll do all the testing and-"

Renata brought a hand up to his mouth, quieting him down in a second. Her kind, tired eyes told him she'd already made a decision. "I think I know where I need to go."

The Doctor was puzzled with her. Where could she want to go that wasn't the TARDIS? It hurt just to imagine her not around.

She seemed to have read his mind, or at least part of it anyways. She drew her hand away from his mouth and smiled rather sadly. "You'll be fine. You'll have someone back." Her eyes flickered past him so he followed it to Rose.

He wasn't quite sure how to feel about that.

~ 0 ~

Landing back on Earth - that'd been brought back to its rightful spot - felt like a dream for the humans. Sarah Jane couldn't wait and ran out first. She laughed at such normality of the park they were in. It didn't even look like there'd been a massive Dalek invasion 10 minutes ago.

The Doctor came peeking out a few seconds later, but not without Gabby shoving him to the side afterwards.

"We're back on Earth! We're back!" she cheered excitedly. Sarah Jane and the Doctor shared a small laugh as the girl spun around.

"Looks like your doing a lot better," the Doctor noted with a relieved smile.

Gabby was about to nod when a spree of purple butterflies sprang from the top of her head. It made her freeze mid-spin with wide eyes.

Once more, there was a small laughter between the two on-lookers.

"We'll need to work on that," the Doctor said.

Gabby decided to start laying low for now and returned to them. "I...did not mean to do that."

"I still don't understand that," Sarah Jane chuckled behind a hand. "But I imagine this will not be the last time we see each other." She glanced at the Doctor with a biggened smile. "You know... you act like such a lonely man. But look at you! You've got the biggest family on Earth! And you even managed to find yourself another Time Lord - lady. I'm so happy for you." She hugged him and missed the sad smile on the Doctor's face. "Gotta go now!" she pulled away with new excitement. "He's only fourteen! It's a long story. And thank you!"

"I like her," Gabby announced when Sarah Jane ran off.

"Yeah…"

Gabby brought a hand to her chest suddenly, making a face like something was bothering her. When the Doctor noticed it, she explained, "It's really weird. I go back and forth with this. One moment I'm okay and then the next I feel so heavy, like-like I just have to release, you know?"

"Like Renata," the Doctor nodded quietly. He presumed it was the same situation as Renata, only Gabby's energy amount was less than what Renata had.

"I-I should go see how she's doing," Gabby said after she'd managed to get through her small moment. She walked into the TARDIS at the same time both Mickey and Jack emerged.

"Ren, you should sit," Martha was in the middle of saying when Gabby joined them.

"I'm not a baby, Martha Jones. I'm quite older than you," Renata spoke ever-so-calmly and - Gabby had no idea how in such a bad moment - gracefully too. Renata had finally gotten up from her chair and was attempting to walk a couple steps.

Martha rolled her eyes and followed after Renata, arms ready to catch her in case she fell. "You just expelled some weird butterfly powers."

"Time Vortex, thank you very much," Renata turned around slowly to face Martha.

"How did that even happen?"

"A series of events, I'm afraid. We visited an art gallery that used a Quantum Sphere for Block Transfer Computation and infected me and Gabby."

Martha blinked and quickly looked at Gabby, but the girl raised her hands. "I didn't get the worst," she said and Martha sighed. That much she could tell.

"I was further infected - contaminated - by a different alien race, the Osirans," Renata went on. "And my body just never healed."

"And she wouldn't let the Doctor keep running tests on her," Donna came over with a long gaze on Renata.

"Surprise, surprise," Martha folded her arms and gave her best friend a disapproving look.

"Oh don't start, none of you," Renata pointed a finger at each and every one of them. "I don't want to hear it."

"Ren, will you be okay?" Martha's question did make Renata stop just as she was continuing to walk. "Like...like will you…?"

Renata turned back again and softened at Martha's concern. "I don't know," Renata admitted. She didn't want to lie to Martha. "But I need to go somewhere to figure out what I want."

Martha's stomach churned because , knowing Renata, knowing what had just happened, there was no telling what Renata would 'want'. Without saying a word, she walked up to Renata and hugged her really tight. She didn't say it but Renata knew. Just in case...Martha wanted to say goodbye.

"I'm sorry for how we got to know each other," Martha pulled away with a teary face. "I'm sorry I read your diary-"

"-forget about it," Renata nodded. "I burned that thing a long time ago. You were right. I couldn't live in the past. Elek is gone…" she exhaled a shaky breath, "The Assessor is gone, my family...everyone's gone. Maybe living in the past is the reason why I've never been happy." It was why she would rather end things now then keep living like that. She just didn't know how to do either.

"I know you can be happy," Martha smiled her best one. "You have to want it." And that was the thing: Renata didn't know what she wanted.

"See you around, Martha," Renata smiled warmly.

"...yeah," Martha knew that was still up in the air. Still, there was nothing left to do but leave.

"Martha," Renata called just as the woman reached the door, "If you could do one thing for me...get rid of that Osterhagen key, please? I understand why the humans would create something like but it would just break the Doctor's hearts if it continued to exist. Do that for him, will you?"

Martha knew that by extension, she'd be doing Renata her last wish too. "Of course," she promised and walked out.

"Uh, Renata?" Rose gently called to the Time Lady after Martha left.

Renata saw the woman was a bit feeble, almost afraid. Still, Renata felt like whatever Rose was going to say, it would be better if the Doctor was there too. She had a hunch about what it was and Renata didn't want Rose to have to repeat herself.

"Let's just wait a moment, okay?"

Rose nodded but she was biting her lower lip nervously. She needed to get something off her chest now.

~0~

Bad Wolf Bay.

The next stop for the TARDIS was a breezy, cloudy beach.

Jackie was disgusted of the place as soon as she recognized it. "Ugh, fat lot of good this is! Back of beyond, bloody Norway! I'm gonna have to phone your father. He's on the nursery run."

"You have a baby?" Gabby had come out after her and the metacrisis Doctor.

Jackie nodded proudly. "Had a baby boy!"

"Ah, brilliant! What did you call him?" the metacrisis Doctor asked.

"Doctor."

That made the man stop in his Sandy tracks. "...really?"

"No, you plum. He's called Tony!"

Gabby laughed while the Doctor frowned. Jackie Tyler was too funny!

As soon as Rose stepped into the familiar beach, she was puzzled. She didn't understand what she was doing there again. "Hold on, this is the parallel universe, right?" she asked just as the rest followed out of the TARDIS.

"You're back home," the original Doctor said.

"And the walls of the world are closing again...now that the Reality Bomb never happened. It's dimension retroclosure." Donna smiled proudly of herself. "See, I really get that stuff now."

Rose didn't understand - well, she might. Her teary eyes flickered between the Doctor and Renata. "Is this my punishment? For letting the Daleks through the cracks?"

"Of course not," Renata said softly. She was honestly surprised just like Rose. She didn't think the Doctor would actually choose to bring Rose back to her own world, but once Renata figured out the extent of his plans...she couldn't say that she disagreed. "And I'm sorry I put that idea into your head. This was not your fault, Rose. You had a good heart and the Daleks took advantage of that. This is not a punishment."

"Never," the Doctor agreed. "I would never do that to you.

"But you still want me to stay here! After all that time I spent trying to find you! I'm not going back now!" Rose was in full blown tears that were a mix of frustration and confusion.

The Doctor stepped towards her, hoping to catch her down so she could truly listen to what he needed from her. She always listened, after all. She was very good at that. And it did him so well. That's why only she could do what he needed her to do. "But you've got to. Because we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him." Offence slipped out of the metacrisis Doctor as soon as the gazes turned on him. "He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own."

"You made me!"

"Exactly, you were born in battle - full of blood and anger and revenge." The original Doctor turned his attention back to Rose. "Remind you of someone?" Rose would not entertain that answer.

"Yeah, her!" the metacrisis Doctor spat and pointed at Renata. The Time Lady was shocked but, after a few seconds she realized he was absolutely right.

"No, leave her alone!" the original Doctor snapped so aggressively that, without his notice, Rose came to her own conclusions.

"He's right," Renata put a hand on the Doctor's arm, calming him. "I murdered Daleks and I would've nearly had Davros if you hadn't stopped me." She swallowed hard and withdrew her hand from his arm. "I always said I was a terrible person. This just solidifies it."

"Absolutely not," the original Doctor insisted that they were both wrong. "You were on your own for 56 years after the Time War. You never got the chance to heal...not like I had someone." He looked at Rose with a new sense of urgent plead. The blonde had cleaned up her tears but others were still pooling in her eyes. "She and him are me when we first met and you, Rose, made me better. Now you can do the same for him."

"And you for her," Rose whispered, eyes catching Renata's shameful lowering gaze. She could understand that, but it didn't mean she was happy about it, not when she realized the truth. It was the truth she'd been blinding herself to ever since she got to their world. The gentle touches, the ferocity to protect each other, the whispers between them…

"You love her," she whispered, crestfallen.

Both the Doctor and Renata froze. They wouldn't look at each other but neither could say that their hearts hadn't stopped for a second.

"Rose, I need you to do this for me," the Doctor said, going on as if nothing had been said. "You're the only one I trust."

Rose wasn't shaking her head, but she couldn't nod either. "He's not you."

"He needs you. That's very me."

"If I may?" Donna cleared her throat and raised a finger. "He's trying to give you something as well. Because you're right, these two-" she spared the Doctor and Renata a soft smile, "-have something complicated but something nonetheless, whether they want to admit or not." The pair's flushed faces confirmed each of Donna's words. "But him…" Donna nodded over to the metacrisis Doctor, "He's from before - the hand? - he's from your time."

Rose side-glanced the metacrisis Doctor, looking him over to see if Donna was telling the truth.

"I look like him and I think like him... same memories, same thoughts, same everything," the metacrisis Doctor stepped towards her. "All from our time together. The only difference is that I've only got one heart."

Rose seemed to stumble back a few steps. "Which means?"

"I'm part Human. Specifically the aging part. I'll grow old and never regenerate. I've only got one life...Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you. If you want."

"You'll grow- grow old at the same time as me?"

"Together."

Rose placed a hand to his chest to confirm what he was saying. One heart.

She glanced back at Renata and the Doctor.

"One of us should be happy," Renata smiled lightly, albeit a bit sad herself.

The TARDIS made an odd noise, pulling everyone's attention for a moment. Time was running out.

"We've gotta go. This reality's sealing itself off," the Doctor said. Renata nodded in agreement. "Forever."

"But it's still not right," Rose wanted to insist but there was something inside her telling her that this was already over. It just hurt to accept it.

"I think we should say one more thing," Renata stopped the Doctor beside her from turning away. "Thank you. Doctor, did you ever say that to her? Because she did a wonder on you."

The Doctor couldn't help playfully roll her eyes, even Rose was smiling just a tiny bit.

Renata drew in another shaky breath. "You have a healing ability, Rose, that no one else has. I would've liked that for me after I got out of the Time War. He's right," she crossed gazes with the metacrisis Doctor, "I'm just as bad. And having both of us in the same world will do no one any good. But if he stays here, you can help him. And Rose, you can be happy. Happy...something not everyone can be. Take this opportunity and be happy."

Rose stared at Renata for what felt like the longest minute for the latter. She had tilted her head, truly studying the Time Lady. "You're not bad. You're just hurting." And as she said those words she realized that the two were right. She was like the Doctor and if that was true then so was the metacrisis Doctor. "And you need help…" she drew in a breath, letting reality finally come to them. "I understand. But I just...I just have to know one thing, just one. When I last stood on this beach on the worst day of my life... what was the last thing you said to me?"

The Doctor gave a small nod, but it was too hard to go back to that time full of pain. He didn't want to add on more, more heartbreak. "I think...I can let him answer that. After all, it was my answer too."

Renata tried turning for the TARDIS, but in doing so she nearly fell. The Doctor grabbed her by the waist and decided it was best to keep a hold around her. And he concluded that he would much rather hold her right now, making sure that she was okay. Still, he wanted to look back one more time at Rose for goodbyes. She seemed to know his intentions and gave a nod.

"Goodbye," she managed to say through tears.

"Goodbye," he returned. He gently pulled Renata towards the TARDIS and do Donna brought Gabby along as well.

Rose despondently watched the TARDIS disappear, that is...until she felt the metacrisis Doctor slip his hand through hers. He watched her with such fondness that, whether or not she wanted to, a smile worked its way across her face. She couldn't say that all was lost this time.

~0~

"There you go," the Doctor brought Renata straight for the Captain's chair again while Donna piloted the TARDIS (her skills were mighty better as well, it appeared). "Let's try to sit for a while, okay?"

"No," she said, already attempting to get back up. "I want to...be there…"she purposely looked past him to Donna.

He became silent. He knew what she meant.

"You know," Donna was saying to Gabby, "I thought we could try the planet Felspoon. After Renata is better of course. Just 'cos. What a good name, 'Felspoon', you know? Apparently it's got mountains that sway in the breeze. Mountains that move. Can you imagine?"

Gabby shook her head. "Nope! But I'd love to see! Actually, I'd like to stop by and see my family first. See how they're doing after all this.

"Oh yeah! Sure! Course we can do that!" Donna chuckled and moved the controls to get them to New York. "You know, Doctor, you could fix that chameleon circuit if you just try and hotbind in the fragment links and superseding the binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary..."

Gabby blinked in shock at the sudden repetition. She looked quickly to the Doctor and Renata but neither of them seemed that surprised, or worried. In fact, it almost seemed like they knew. But knew what?

"Binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary-" Donna sucked in a huge breath to stop herself. "I'm fine!" she laughed it off. "Nah, never-mind Felspoon. You know who I'd like to meet? Charlie Chaplin. I've heard he's great, Charlie Chaplin. Shall we do that? Shall we go and see Charlie Chaplin?" she grabbed the console phone, going fast for some reason. "Shall we? Charlie Chaplin? Charlie Chester, Charlie Brown. No, he's fiction, friction, fiction, fixen, mixen, rixten, brixton-" she doubled over in pain and so the Doctor hurried to help her.

"What's happening?" Gabby stared at Donna, full of concern. Donna was holding her head like something was throbbing.

"Donna, do you know what's happening?" Renata gently called. She was moving to stand up and since there was no point in arguing, Gabby decided to help her.

Donna looked at Renata then the Doctor, knowing exactly what they meant but she just didn't want to admit it.

"There's never been a Human-Time Lord metacrisis before now. And you know why," the Doctor hated to see Donna close to tears, especially when she'd been so ecstatic minutes ago.

"Because there can't be," Donna barely managed to say the words without crying. She gently moved away from the Doctor's hold, as if doing that made it not real. "I want to stay…"

Gabby's eyes widened. Why would Donna say something like that? Why wouldn't she able to stay?

"Donna, look at me," the Doctor said but she wouldn't. "Donna, look at me."

Donna finally looked at him but it was with a certain defiance in her eyes. "I was gonna be with you... forever."

"I know…"

"The rest of my life...travelling... in the TARDIS. The Doctor-Donna. With Renata, and Gabby…"

"Donna," Renata moved towards them with Gabby's help but the moment Donna realized what would come next she backtracked in horror.

"No. Oh, my God! I can't go back! Don't make me go back!"

Gabby blinked away tears at how terrified Donna was. She didn't understand a lot but she did know that Donna was nearing the end of her life in the TARDIS.

"Doctor... please. Please, don't make me go back!" Donna resorted to begging. She couldn't leave everything behind to be that simple, non-important Donna again.

The Doctor neared her whether she wanted him or not. "Donna. Oh, Donna Noble. I am so, so sorry. But we had the best of times. The best."

"No! No!"

"Donna, I'm sorry but thank you," Renata took her turn, feeling tears in her eyes as well. "Thank you so much."

"Donna I'm sorry, I'm…" Gabby couldn't put her words together, but she was sure that Donna knew what she wanted to say. She knew what they all wanted to say: goodbye.

No one was listening to her!

"I am entitled to my choice!" she cried.

"Donna if we don't you'll die!" the Doctor almost snapped. "And I have lost too many people to add you to the list. The world cannot live without Donna Noble. But I promise you, I swear, that things will not be the same. You will not forget that confidence. You will know your worth. Goodbye."

"No. No, please! Please! No, NO! No!" Donna's pleads were silenced the moment the Doctor put his fingers against her temples. Everything she lived went into rewind, all the way until the first moment she met the Doctor…

And it all disappeared.

~0~

With tears, the group brought Donna back home for the final time. They'd placed her in her room then went into the living room to explain to Wilf and Sylvia what happened to Donna.

"She took my mind into her own head. But that's a Time Lord consciousness," the Doctor was explaining. "All that knowledge - it was killing her."

"But she'll get better, now?" Wilf asked hopefully. He was relieved to see both the Doctor and Renata nod together.

"I had to wipe her mind, completely. Every trace of us or the TARDIS... everything we did together, anywhere we went... had to go," the Doctor said grimly.

"All those wonderful things she did…"

"I know. But that version of Donna is dead. Because if she remembers, just for a second, she'll burn up. You can never tell her. You can't mention us, or any of it... for the rest of her life."

Sylvia found it impossible. "But the whole world's talking about it. We traveled across space!"

"It'll just be a story. One of those Donna Noble stories, where she missed it all again," the Doctor managed to smile with nostalgia. Donna Noble, missing a story, would be the theme of her life.

"But she was better with you," Wild tried to argue when Sylvia cut in.

"Don't say that-"

"No, she was!"

"You should be proud of her, though," Renata spoke for the first time since arriving. Both Wilf and Sylvia had noticed the woman's pale complexion. "There are worlds out there, safe in the sky, because of her. There are people living in the light, singing songs of Donna Noble, a thousand million light-years away…and they will never forget her. While she can never remember." It wasn't the ending that Donna deserved at all. Just thinking about it brought fresh new tears to her eyes.

"And for one moment... one shining moment... she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe," the Doctor sighed lightly.

"She still is," Sylvia responded curtly. "She's my daughter."

"Well then maybe you should tell her that once in a while," Gabby quipped. She knew first-hand what it was like feeling worthless in the eyes of your family. She'd worked endlessly at her parent's restaurant and the laundromat, letting life slip away. But when her parents finally told her to do what she always wanted to do, just like she always dreamed of, it brought an indescribable feeling. Everyone needed that, to know they were worth something

Sylvia lowered her gaze and didn't say more. A few seconds later, they heard Donna coming down the stairs. The trio of travelers stiffened when she came in, completely oblivious to their presence.

"I was asleep, on my bed, in my clothes, like a flippin' kid!" she exclaimed with her phone in hand. "What did you let me do that for?!" It hurt more when she spared them the tiniest glances. They were no longer important to her. "Don't mind me. Donna."

"John Smith," the Doctor rose from the couch, prompting Renata and Gabby to do the same.

"Ren," Renata left it short just in case.

"Fernanda," Gabby said and earned herself a brief glance from Renata and the Doctor. Did she forget to mention to them that she had a middle name?

Donna shook each of their hands but almost out of sheer politeness.

"They were just leaving," Sylvia said, eyeing them with a 'you better do it' look.

"My phone's gone mad! Thirty-two texts, Veena's gone barmy, she's saying planets in the sky - what have I missed now?" Donna shouted and turned to leave, but not without a vague "Nice to meet you".

"Like I said, you should go," Sylvia sternly told the trio.

"We will," Renata stumbled to walk up to the woman and she swatted the Doctor's and Gabby's helping hands. "But you mark my words: you better not undo the confidence Donna has built up. The Doctor made sure to leave that part of her intact. Because Donna at least deserved that. She may not be able to see us but we will be keeping an eye on this house, on Donna and if I find out that you are belittling her again I will come straight for you!" Golden flames briefly sprouted from her body, finishing the job of terrifying Sylvia.

The Doctor gingerly brought her back beside him, but he silently applauded Renata. A good scare oughta put Sylvia in her place.

~0~

The trio found that it'd began to rain outside, coming along with thunder to finish the grim night.

"Ah... you'll have quite a bit of this. Atmospheric disturbance. Still, it'll pass," the Doctor explained to Wilf who'd accompanied them to the doorstep. "Everything does…" he turned to Wilf and shook a hand with him. "Bye then, Wilfred."

"Goodbye," Renata went next then Gabby.

"I'll watch out for you," Wilf promised but ended up worrying the Doctor.

"You can't ever tell her!"

"No, no, no. But every night, Doctor... when it gets dark... and the stars come out... I'll look up. On her behalf. I'll look up at the sky and think of you all."

The Doctor was touched of such a thing. "Thank you." He brought Renata down the front porch step and walked slowly with her, despite it being pouring.

Gabby took the lead with a sprint and opened the TARDIS doors for them. The pair came in eventually, now soaking wet. Gabby watched them slowly make it to the Captain's chair and she followed them but there was something she wanted to say that she didn't know how to word well.

She didn't know when it was appropriate to talk after... everything. Donna's forced departure was sure to be something that no one would be getting over soon. Donna had been a part of their small space family. Plus, Donna had been like a confidant for Gabby about all their space travels and what that did to them sometimes. Gabby realized that now there would be no other human - someone like her - to remember those memories. Donna had come first to the TARDIS but it seemed like Gabby would be the one to stay until the end.

"Um, Doctor? Renata?" she began with a soft call. The Doctor had pulled the TARDIS into the Vortex, making the box give a gentle shake. "I, uh, I... I'd really like to see my family. Just for a bit…"

"-of course, Gabby," Renata smiled at the girl. It was natural for her to want to see her family after what happened.

"If you want to stay for a while, that'd be fine too," the Doctor added.

"I don't want to stop!" Gabby exclaimed, wanting to leave that loud and clear. "I don't want to stop anytime soon! I just...I'd like to explain to them what it is I'm really doing. I want to be honest with them."

"Sounds good," Renata smiled but barely contained a groan. Her hand moved to her stomach.

Gabby watched sadly as the Doctor hurried to Renata's side. "Are you going to be okay, Renata?" she asked, sighing.

"Well, no regeneration energy right now so...not dying...for now," Renata scrunched her face. "I don't really know if I'll make it out of the woods, as you humans say. But I think I know where I have to go." She looked specifically at the Doctor for that bit, knowing that it was something he'd been trying to avoid ever since she brought it up earlier. "And I have to stay there for a while."

~0~

Zhe's gallery remained exactly the same as when the travelers first left it. No one was allowed up in her private moon but this time but this time, Zhe herself was down in the gallery when the travelers arrived. She came to greet them as soon as someone alerted her of the wheezing box. However, she knew instantly that something had happened for the Doctor was grim as he and Gabby helped Renata walk out of the blue box.

"What has happened?" she inquired as soon as they were face to face.

"Long story, could I please get a chair?" Renata smiled as politely as ever despite the pain that was rippling through her.

Once Zhe brought them into her office, where Renata could rest on a whole couch to herself, the Doctor began to explain everything. He started with the contamination that began the last time they visited the gallery, and how Renata was further infected with foreign nanonites from Dorothy Bell and the Osirans, then finished it with the Vortex Butterfly bit. He threw in Gabby's own manifested powers.

To say Zhe was in shock would be an understatement, but she wouldn't let that derail her from helping in any way that she could. "I'm sorry my Quantum Sphere did that to you - to both of you," she looked between Renata and Gabby. "I-I thought they would've just faded away."

"It's not your fault," Gabby said. "If anything, it's on me. If I hadn't let your apprentice touch me then neither me nor Renata would've been infected in the first place."

"Hey - no!" Renata was quick to interject. "No one is to blame, except myself. Let's be honest, this is just my punishment for the things I've done in the past. But Zhe, the reason I'm here is because I need to ask for a favor."

Zhe nodded, already agreeing no matter what. "Anything."

"I don't know why but...I feel like this place is the only place where I can be at peace for a while. I need to expel more of this energy, learn to control if I'm not going to die. Your art gallery - your private moon - there's no danger there if I unexpectedly combust. Can I stay, please?"

Zhe's eyes flickered to the Doctor and took note of the deep pain on the man's face. He wasn't at all for this idea but he was doing it for Renata because she wanted it. "Of course, Renata. You are as welcomed here as the Doctor is. You can stay for as long as you need to."

"Thank you," Renata nodded. She glanced at the Doctor as well and figured they might as well get it over with. "Can I just speak to the Doctor alone for a moment?"

"Yes, of course," Zhe nodded. She gestured for Gabby to follow her out. "We'll be outside if you need anything."

"Thank you," Renata watched them leave and when they were gone she finally let herself sigh as deep as an ocean was. She was so tired and if she didn't get to close her eyes in the next five minutes perhaps death would come for her then.

"Renata, you don't have to leave," the Doctor approached her on the couch. "If it's because of what happened before all the Daleks...I would never make you leave."

"It's not just that, Doctor," Renata shifted a bit to better face him. "I meant what I said about this energy thing. If I'm not going to die anytime soon, then I need to learn how to control this and can you imagine if I let it all out inside the TARDIS? All that extra vortex energy will not be good. And you know that, don't you?" the Doctor didn't say anything but his lowered gaze answered for him. "Besides, can you honestly look at me and not feel just a tad of anger for what I did?"

As if to test her theory, he gazed up and looked into her eyes. He wanted to say 'of course not' so badly, but then he remembered her lies...and her so many lies. He didn't want her to leave, nor did he want anything to happen to her, but he was a bit upset too. He was rightfully upset.

Renata smiled so warmly at him, just like Zuriah would. When she reached to touch his face, the Doctor instantly felt the same warmth he used to feel back in their early days. It finally made sense to him why she was so familiar to him, why he so easily fell for her as John Smith. It was why it was incredibly easy to make a choice between her and Rose.

"I love you, Gala," the words just slipped from his mouth before he could even think of it. There was a flutter of Renata's hearts when she heard her true name come from his lips. It'd been one of the most sacred rules they had broken by learning each other's names without being married. But she had loved the way her name sounded on his lips, even now the feelings stayed the same with the same level of love. "Meeting you all those centuries ago was the best thing that happened to me."

"Even though it led to so much heartbreak?" she tilted her head, fresh tears coming to her eyes.

"I would rather go through all that than to have never met you." He took her hand off his face and held it between his two hands. He gave her palm a soft kiss then looked at her again, needing her to understand that he was being 100% honest with her. Yes, he could trade that all in and spare himself the pain he felt losing her and learning that she had been travelling with him all this time. All this he would take just to see her again. That was what Martha had been trying to get him to understand before all the mess happened. "Getting the community service was the beginning of everything. I met the sweetest, kindest girl on that first day. It was the beginning of my greatest adventure - my riskiest - and it was the end of any hope of a life without her. She yelled a lot-" Renata chuckled with her blushing cheeks, "-but she had the best hearts on Gallifrey. Renata, you have a golden soul."

"I don't think I do," Renata's smile became a sad one. "I've done very bad stuff."

"So have I."

"But there's no darkness inside of you. You have always been a golden soul and I don't think that's ever going to change. So please listen to me when I say that despite everything that's happened, I don't want to lose you a third time." The Doctor took a seat next to her, never letting go of her hand. "I lost you once when you said no to running away, and then I lost you again after the Time War. I am not interested in losing you this time around."

"You would really want to...to be with me?" Renata blinked fairly fast out of genuine surprise but also because of the tears that wanted to stroll down from her eyes.

"My sweet Gala, of course. But I know that you're not ready, and perhaps neither am I just yet, so you take your time here. Rest, train, relax. And I will work hard to try to find a cure or something to help you. I'll come around every day to make sure you're okay." He'd much rather stay with her on the planet but he knew well that she wanted to be alone. "And when time passes, maybe you and I...we could, you know…" he trailed off with high hopes that she would nod her head at him.

She chuckled. "I'd...I'd like that." Martha's first words to her, after discovering who Renata truly was, came back to her mind. It was time to move on from her husband. "I mean, to be honest, I don't really know how to...be happy, in a sense. But maybe I can learn with you."

A great big grin came to the Doctor's face. He kissed her hand again then pulled her into a tight hug. Renata welcomed it fast and hugged him as tight as possible.

"Take care of Gabriella for me, okay?" she mumbled after a moment. "I don't want anything to happen to her, nothing like Donna."

The Doctor agreed when he drew away from her. "Nothing. I'll be over-protective to the point she'll want to vent to you about me. But I swear that no one will touch a hair on her head."

"I trust you," Renata smiled.

"Well, alright then…" he awkwardly looked around once he realized the time to go was now. "I'll, um...be on my way, then." Renata nodded. "Here." He pulled out Martha's cellphone from his inside pocket. "I'll answer anytime you need me, I promise." He stood up from the couch and backtracked to the door. "I'll be back, Renata."

"I know," she nodded. "And I'll...be here, working on myself." The Doctor smiled one more time before heading out and when he did, Renata once again had to exhale like she'd been holding in her breath.

A few seconds later, Zhe came in. "The Doctor and Gabby are on their way out."

"Yes, I know," Renata wearily blinked.

Zhe came around the couch and bent down in front of her. "Can I offer you something?"

"Some advice wouldn't be bad."

"Well, alright then. What do you need advice for?"

Renata pursed her lips together and let herself think about everything in her lives that she'd regretted, the unhappiness that came with it - the pain - and she turned her head to the side. "What do you do when you love someone so much but...you just don't know how to be happy?" Zhe blinked in confusion. "Why is that even though I have a wonderful man waiting for me, I still want to...die?"

Zhe went into shock and after a few minutes of processing, she became worried.

"I want to die," Renata's whisper was the last noise to be made in the room for a good while.

[duran-duran-less-official]

Doctor Who major companions (2005-2018) ranked by qualifications.

(I was inspired to make this list after it occurred to me that Bill Potts is the only companion we have seen actually attending university.)

At the top of the list, we have a tie between Martha Jones and Rory Williams, both of whom are fully qualified medical professionals, and both of whom provide a comical contrast to "The Doctor" who is neither qualified nor particularly academically gifted. Would pay good money to see an episode where these two meet working in the same hospital.

After a rocky start to her life as a highschool dropout called Mels, then later as a notorious war criminal surpassing even Adolf Hitler, River Song started afresh and successfully completed enough academic qualifications to become a Professor of Archaeology who would later go on to investigate famous and noteworthy historical shipwrecks, burials, artifacts, and other remains.

Clara Oswald worked as a teacher at Coal Hill for much of her time on the show. Whether she got the job due to plot shenanigans, or she cheated by using the TARDIS to get plenty of extra study time in, or it just never came up, we must assume she successfully completed a degree and gained QTS status.

Yasmin Khan works as a police officer, albeit one who has apparently been on probationary training for upwards of a year at the time of this post's writing. Among the various criteria for becoming a police officer in the UK Sheffield, you need to prove that you have completed or are going to complete a degree. I wonder what kind of degree it was.

Bill Potts, coming in 6th on the list, is the only person we have seen actually attending a university (barring a single interview featuring River Song). Though she got in through the generosity of a teacher with a very odd kind of tenure, rather than passing an entrance exam, she was shown to excel in all her coursework once her curiosity was properly applied. At the time of her death and subsequent immortality, the degree was apparently still in progress.

Though little has been shown of Ryan Sinclair's private life, he has demonstrated a reasonable understanding of mechanical engineering, which he gained through undertaking an NVQ. This qualification is apparently still in progress.

It's a little difficult to rank people based on qualifications when you run out of degree-havers, but Donna Noble has the most apparently varied work experience, being able to touch/type 100 wpm and being employed in multiple temp jobs, to the extent that she could reasonably pass for a health and safety inspector and, so she claimed, sort all the paperwork in an office blindfolded.

Though she is the first companion on this list who is unable to drive, Rose Tyler has other qualifications, such as a bronze medal in gymnastics. As a friend of The Doctor, she was found to be experienced enough in the mechanics of time travel to join an organisation attempting to break the boundaries between dimensions.

As a known con-man, Jack Harkness cannot be trusted on the subject of any qualifications he may or may not have achieved. Nevertheless, he has apparently been a Time Agent at some point, and was considered qualified enough on that basis to lead Torchwood's Cardiff division.

Though there is little evidence to suggest she was that much better off in her academic life than her "childhood friend" Mels, Amy Pond at least managed to convert her time with the Doctor into various marketable skills, including various modelling contracts, writing magazine articles for ideal travel destinations, dressing up in sexy costumes, inventing a whole new set of parents...

As an almost entirely patchwork assembly of humanoid body parts, Nardole has no qualifications - not even basic English schooling - however, he is fully licensed by legendary war criminal River Song to kick The Doctor's butt.

Graham O'Brien worked as a bus driver, but is now retired. Since we are not going by current employment but by qualifications, we must concede that he has years of experience, and furthermore he has a driver's license. Nevertheless, he is the least qualified person on this list for anything.