Fic: What Are You? 1/1
Story: What Are You?
Author: wmr
wendymr
Characters: Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor
Rated: G
Spoilers: Turn Left (you have been warned!)
Disclaimer: All RTD's, and brilliant it is too
Summary: She's only Donna Noble. Nothing more than that. Why won't anyone believe her?
With very, very many thanks to
aibhinn and
dark_aegis for BRing, brainstorming and being there :)
What Are You?
“What are you? What will you be?”
The woman’s terrified of her. Absolutely bloody scared out of her wits! As if that... that dream, or whatever it was, wasn’t bad enough, now she has some fake fortune-teller, the sort who scams tourists all day long, running from her as if she’s got...
What? Something on her back?
But she did have. It’s there, wriggling about on the floor.
But that woman put it there, right? So why’s she so scared? What has she seen? What the hell’s going on?
The Doctor’s there suddenly, and relief makes her giddy. She runs to him - he’s alive, oh, god, he’s alive! - and hugs him hard, ignoring his surprise. He’s here now. Everything’s back to normal, no more weird stuff. Cause, after all, she’s only Donna Noble, and who pays any attention to her when the Doctor’s around?
***
“Sometimes I think there’s way too much coincidence around you, Donna.”
Oh, bloody hell, now he’s scaring her too.
He’s supposed to be reassuring her, and he was, up until he said that. Poking away at that beetle thing, telling her what it was, what it did, at least he was taking her seriously. Believing her story, the story that’s fading from her mind as quickly as she can tell him about it, about a weird alternative past where she turned right instead of left and the whole world was almost destroyed.
And now, what? He’s not gonna freak out too, like that charlatan fortune-teller, is he?
No - instead, he’s freaking her out, going on about meeting her twice and how likely is that in the whole universe, as if she’s some kind of intergalactic stalker or somehow hypnotised him to bring him back to-
“Maybe something’s binding us together.”
What?
And, more important, why? Why would it matter? Why would anyone except her care whether she’s with him or not?
All right, maybe she can see now why her meeting him in the first place was important. After all, she’s seen what could have happened if she hadn’t, though it’s insane to think that she’s the only person who could have done that. Any one of hundreds - thousands - of stupid, gullible women in wedding-dresses could have made him stop. Stopped him dying.
“I’m nothing special.” And she’s not. She’s not. She’s just a temp. Or she was, until she went on that mission of hers to find the Doctor. Now she’s... what? Donna Noble, Time-Traveller? Donna Noble, the Doctor’s Companion? Donna, the Doctor’s friend.
“You’re brilliant,” he tells her, and maybe in some ways she is. She’s helped him, she knows that. Saved him, maybe, in a few small ways and one or two not so small. But it’s only through using a bit of common sense and understanding, right? It’s not like she’s ever done anything really brave. Not like she’s saved the world or anything. Not like Martha Jones did. Or Rose, who saved the universe but got pulled into a different one.
But, yeah, that blonde woman, whoever she is, she said Donna’s brilliant too. And what else?
Something else. Something that terrified her, even as she refused to believe it. Because how could it be true of her? Her, the useless ex-temp who couldn’t even get a job?
“You’re the most important woman in the whole of creation.”
She’d wanted to believe the woman was just having her on. Winding her up, saying things to make her co-operate and help her with whatever her mad scheme was. But the woman, whoever she was, had been right about so many things...
Including one huge thing. “You’re gonna die.”
Because she did. And the woman was there with her then, too.
The most important woman in the whole of creation.
The idea of it, and the look in the blonde stranger’s eyes when she said it, calculating and yet kind of pitying at the same time, makes her shiver. The Doctor doesn’t notice - he’s poking at the beetle again - and she’s glad. No way she’s going to tell him about that.
Not because he’d laugh at her - oh, god, if only she could believe he would! Then they’d laugh together and they’d forget all this weird nonsense about her being special or scary or anything like that.
No, she can’t tell him because he’d take it seriously. He’d believe it. Like he already seems to believe that there’s some deeper reason why he met her twice.
It’s just daft. He’s being daft. Just like that stupid bloody fortune-teller, seeing stuff that’s not there. That woman’s no more a psychic than those blokes off the telly that her mum loves to watch. She’s only Donna Noble. Ordinary Donna Noble, one-time temp, now the Doctor’s friend. Nothing more than that. Why won’t anyone believe her?
All the same, it’s a relief when he gets distracted by those two words the blonde woman said. Bad Wolf. Because now he’s not focusing on her any more.
It’s even more of a relief when they’ve left the tent, left that fortune-teller and the beetle thing behind, even if things get suddenly surreal, more terrifying with those two words written everywhere they look. Because now it’s not about her. It’s about something else. Someone else.
Yet she still can’t shake it off. All this time travelling with the Doctor, and nothing’s got her quite as scared as she is now. And not just because the Doctor’s scared too.
Is it really about Bad Wolf, whatever that means? Or is it her after all?
What are you? What will you be?
She’s got no idea what the fortune-teller was talking about, but right now it feels as if she’s not Donna Noble any more - or, maybe, as if there never was a Donna Noble in the first place.
What are you?
What is she? The woman who saved the Doctor’s life... or the one who’s about to destroy it once and for all?
Of all the questions she can't answer, that one terrifies her the most.
- end
Author: wmr
wendymr
Characters: Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor
Rated: G
Spoilers: Turn Left (you have been warned!)
Disclaimer: All RTD's, and brilliant it is too
Summary: She's only Donna Noble. Nothing more than that. Why won't anyone believe her?
With very, very many thanks to
aibhinn and
dark_aegis for BRing, brainstorming and being there :)
What Are You?
“What are you? What will you be?”
The woman’s terrified of her. Absolutely bloody scared out of her wits! As if that... that dream, or whatever it was, wasn’t bad enough, now she has some fake fortune-teller, the sort who scams tourists all day long, running from her as if she’s got...
What? Something on her back?
But she did have. It’s there, wriggling about on the floor.
But that woman put it there, right? So why’s she so scared? What has she seen? What the hell’s going on?
The Doctor’s there suddenly, and relief makes her giddy. She runs to him - he’s alive, oh, god, he’s alive! - and hugs him hard, ignoring his surprise. He’s here now. Everything’s back to normal, no more weird stuff. Cause, after all, she’s only Donna Noble, and who pays any attention to her when the Doctor’s around?
***
“Sometimes I think there’s way too much coincidence around you, Donna.”
Oh, bloody hell, now he’s scaring her too.
He’s supposed to be reassuring her, and he was, up until he said that. Poking away at that beetle thing, telling her what it was, what it did, at least he was taking her seriously. Believing her story, the story that’s fading from her mind as quickly as she can tell him about it, about a weird alternative past where she turned right instead of left and the whole world was almost destroyed.
And now, what? He’s not gonna freak out too, like that charlatan fortune-teller, is he?
No - instead, he’s freaking her out, going on about meeting her twice and how likely is that in the whole universe, as if she’s some kind of intergalactic stalker or somehow hypnotised him to bring him back to-
“Maybe something’s binding us together.”
What?
And, more important, why? Why would it matter? Why would anyone except her care whether she’s with him or not?
All right, maybe she can see now why her meeting him in the first place was important. After all, she’s seen what could have happened if she hadn’t, though it’s insane to think that she’s the only person who could have done that. Any one of hundreds - thousands - of stupid, gullible women in wedding-dresses could have made him stop. Stopped him dying.
“I’m nothing special.” And she’s not. She’s not. She’s just a temp. Or she was, until she went on that mission of hers to find the Doctor. Now she’s... what? Donna Noble, Time-Traveller? Donna Noble, the Doctor’s Companion? Donna, the Doctor’s friend.
“You’re brilliant,” he tells her, and maybe in some ways she is. She’s helped him, she knows that. Saved him, maybe, in a few small ways and one or two not so small. But it’s only through using a bit of common sense and understanding, right? It’s not like she’s ever done anything really brave. Not like she’s saved the world or anything. Not like Martha Jones did. Or Rose, who saved the universe but got pulled into a different one.
But, yeah, that blonde woman, whoever she is, she said Donna’s brilliant too. And what else?
Something else. Something that terrified her, even as she refused to believe it. Because how could it be true of her? Her, the useless ex-temp who couldn’t even get a job?
“You’re the most important woman in the whole of creation.”
She’d wanted to believe the woman was just having her on. Winding her up, saying things to make her co-operate and help her with whatever her mad scheme was. But the woman, whoever she was, had been right about so many things...
Including one huge thing. “You’re gonna die.”
Because she did. And the woman was there with her then, too.
The most important woman in the whole of creation.
The idea of it, and the look in the blonde stranger’s eyes when she said it, calculating and yet kind of pitying at the same time, makes her shiver. The Doctor doesn’t notice - he’s poking at the beetle again - and she’s glad. No way she’s going to tell him about that.
Not because he’d laugh at her - oh, god, if only she could believe he would! Then they’d laugh together and they’d forget all this weird nonsense about her being special or scary or anything like that.
No, she can’t tell him because he’d take it seriously. He’d believe it. Like he already seems to believe that there’s some deeper reason why he met her twice.
It’s just daft. He’s being daft. Just like that stupid bloody fortune-teller, seeing stuff that’s not there. That woman’s no more a psychic than those blokes off the telly that her mum loves to watch. She’s only Donna Noble. Ordinary Donna Noble, one-time temp, now the Doctor’s friend. Nothing more than that. Why won’t anyone believe her?
All the same, it’s a relief when he gets distracted by those two words the blonde woman said. Bad Wolf. Because now he’s not focusing on her any more.
It’s even more of a relief when they’ve left the tent, left that fortune-teller and the beetle thing behind, even if things get suddenly surreal, more terrifying with those two words written everywhere they look. Because now it’s not about her. It’s about something else. Someone else.
Yet she still can’t shake it off. All this time travelling with the Doctor, and nothing’s got her quite as scared as she is now. And not just because the Doctor’s scared too.
Is it really about Bad Wolf, whatever that means? Or is it her after all?
What are you? What will you be?
She’s got no idea what the fortune-teller was talking about, but right now it feels as if she’s not Donna Noble any more - or, maybe, as if there never was a Donna Noble in the first place.
What are you?
What is she? The woman who saved the Doctor’s life... or the one who’s about to destroy it once and for all?
Of all the questions she can't answer, that one terrifies her the most.
- end