On the Run ♦ 007. Glimmer of Hope ♦ with captoftardis

[noblexcompanion]

Donna had lost count of how many days they had been stuck on the Shadow Hunter's planet. So far they had been shot at, chased, almost blown up - so much for disguises. So far, however, they had remained uncaptured, mostly due to an insane amount of running. A couple of days into their game of cat and mouse, Donna and the Doctor stumbled (quite

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[captoftardis]

He stared at her for a moment before sitting up, allowing her room to sit next to him. For a moment, he avoided looking at her as he played a bit more with the screwdriver before finally tucking it away in his pocket.

"I'm sorry." He finally glanced over to her, "I'll find us a way home soon." He berated himself for procrastinating, which wasn't in his nature, and brooding so much. He is the Doctor, the last of the Time Lords, or so he often had to repeat to himself as if his identity was slipping away. So a simple incident lead them further from what he had calculated. Big deal! It was time to start taking action...

[noblexcompanion]

"Nothing to be sorry for. It's not your fault." Sure, it would be easy to scream and yell and blame the Doctor for everything, but it wouldn't fix anything. She sighed and burrowed under one of his arms to rest her head on his chest. Her head over one heart, her hand over the other. She'd always been a cuddler when she was sad or scared. She'd often burrowed under blanket forts with Wilf or her dad and hide from the world.

"We'll find a way home together. Me and you, we're a team. We've gotten out of worse scrapes."

[captoftardis]

He finally relaxed and lied down, taking Donna with him. "Mm, yeah, s'pose so." Right now, he could barely remember any of their previous adventures, begging him to question whether or not this place really was sucking all the energy from him.

Lying there quietly, taking an odd comfort in having Donna so close, he listened to a few hushed conversations around him before he finally nodded off.

When his eyes flew open again, it took him a while to orient himself and figure out the time. ...Yes, there it was, in his estimation, it had been 3 hours and Donna was still practically attached to him.

For the record, trying to sneak off a cot and not wake up your best mate is a difficult task. However, he managed to do so and snuck out of the area to check on the men keeping watch. One looked like he was about to pass out, so the Doctor kindly took over his shift.

[noblexcompanion]

Luckily for the Doctor, Donna was in a state of deep sleep. It'd take a lot to wake her. She curled into the now vacant space and continued her dreamless sleep.

It was another hour or so later that warning sirens began to blaze. Tomas rushed over to the Doctor. "We've just got word, the Shadows are on the move. We've got to go, now, if we want to get a head start on them."

He quickly fell into his role as leader. It was obvious he was the force keeping this rebel group together. "Round up everything we can carry. We move out in ten!"

[captoftardis]

The Doctor moved to make sure Donna was awake and helped a few others gather their belongings as everyone was scrambling about. It was an organized chaos, to put it politely, but at least the whole thing didn't come as a surprise to everyone.

After knowing Donna could handle herself and some of the other younger people, the Doctor met up with Tomas to look out through the cracks of the doors. "We can't all leave at once. They'll pick up on us. Small groups, two's, three's; that'll be more believable."

The Doctor turned to a group of children in varying ages behind him and helped pull up their hoods to their jackets, securing them. "Keep them up, no matter what." He playfully bopped one little girl's nose with his finger.

[noblexcompanion]

Tomas split the group up into smaller groups, sending them off in various directions, all with the same meeting point. Words were exchanged, communicators switched on.

Donna was separated into a different group to the Doctor. It didn't fill her with confidence being away from him. But now wasn't a time for her to be worrying about herself, not when she had a group to get to safety.

Tomas ensured everyone else but their group was out before turning to the Doctor. "Come on, we'll take the tunnels."

[captoftardis]

"Right!" The Doctor was about to leave until he saw a small child huddled in a corner. How did she get separated from everyone else? He scooped her up and on he went, following Tomas through the tunnels before handing her off to another person.

The tunnels were dark and wet, and what exactly the water was from was a good question itself. Splashing down they went, until the Doctor paused and pushed Tomas and another person against the wall. "I hear something." And what he heard was above them, like large trucks or some such moving above. "Move slowly..." He commented, afraid that they'll have some way of finding them if they were too loud. The Doctor only hoped Donna was alright in her move.

[noblexcompanion]

It was probably for the best that the Doctor didn't ask about the water. Some things people are better off not knowing. Still, Tomas led the group slowly through the long, winding tunnels. Luckily he knew them like the back of his hand otherwise they could easily have been lost the in the seemingly endless catacombs.

Donna's group, on the other hand, were having a lot less luck. It hadn't taken the Shadow Hunters long to track them down and they were exactly the kind of folk to stop for a chat. Not when they could simply blow you up instead.

Tomas glanced at his communicator and frowned. "Group six has been wiped out." He avoided the Doctor's gaze. He didn't want to have to tell him that group six was the one he sent Donna with.

[captoftardis]

They moved a little further and an explosion could be heard. The Doctor turned his head back in the direction and realized what exactly had happened. "They blew up the warehouse." He commented almost nonchalantly

[noblexcompanion]

Tomas knew first-hand how it felt to lose your partner in one of the Shadow Hunters' attacks, so he knew what the Doctor was going through and understood his anger. At the same time he didn't much appreciate being attacked. He smoothed down his clothes. "Pull yourself together, Doctor! Look around you! You're not the only one who has lost someone!!"

A few more people started to fall in, exhausted, bloody and battered. But there was still no sign of Donna.

[captoftardis]

This was certainly a joke, right? "She's my best mate... She can't be... She's with me! I need her!" He paused to pull himself free from everyone. "I need to find Donna; she's my best mate! I can't leave her!"

He started for the door and more people latched onto him, "Get. OFF!" He brought her into this mess, he couldn't leave her! Worse yet, he couldn't do this alone. He needed Donna Noble more than ever. She wasn't dead; she couldn't die!

[noblexcompanion]

It took a lot of people to hold the Doctor back, he was far stronger than he looked. "You go out there then you're as good as dead. And for what? A corpse? There's nothing you can do for her now. You're grieving, I understand, but there are folk here, living, who need our help." Way to be a pillar of support and understanding there, Tomas.

"Calm down, pull yourself together and help us take care of the wounded. It's what she would want."