Disclaimer: Sorry, but I don't own Doctor Who. I know, it's hard to believe. :P

A/N: Yes, I'm finally updating again. I lost my fan fiction mojo there for a while. O_O It was a dark time, friends, a dark time indeed. But I'm back now, so no worries! :D

Here's a bit of a recap, since it's been roughly NINE MONTHS since I last updated…
It's been two days since the incident on the Crusader 50, and the Doctor has a connection with the creature that attacked them. It keeps projecting its astral form into him, and causing him to either freeze or mindlessly repeat whatever anyone around him says, though he never remembers what happened after he wakes up again. Donna and the Doctor have met up with Dee-Dee Blasco, who is terribly embarrassed about her role in the events that played out on the shuttle, and wants to make up for what she did. They've also been joined by Jethro, who decided to hang around with them to avoid going to a facial with his mum. A Scottish security worker, Daniel, who quite likes Donna and thinks the Doctor is her drunken brother, was possessed by the creature after touching the Doctor, and attacked them. The Doctor used the sonic screwdriver to force him into unconsciousness, and said that he'll wake up just fine. The Doctor's theory is that while the creature's actual body probably can't go out in the x-tonic sunlight, it can travel through the service tunnel connecting its lair to the resort in order to get its claws into him, and it would likely kill dozens of innocent people. He and the other three have donned bright orange caving suits, hardhats with halogen lights on the front, and black wellies, and headed into a dusty old service tunnel. They should reach the creature's lair, an old work station deep under the surface of Midnight, after walking for about three hours. And the Doctor has yet come up with an actual plan…

Chapter Six

They had been walking for close to an hour, Donna thought. Her feet were aching, and her back hurt, and she had already come up with several creatively clever ideas about how to murder the Doctor for making them come on this stupid hike in the first place. She'd never liked caves, not since she'd seen too many horror films involving them when she was a teenager. If she'd had her way, she never would have set foot in one as long as she lived. Unfortunately, the Doctor had totally ruined this idea.

She was the only one who seemed to be out of her mind with fury, though. Dee-Dee constantly exclaimed over little crevices in the rock walls or small diamond rock formations, eyes bright as she looked around with awe. Jethro shuffled along with his hands in the pockets of the orange suit he wore. He'd gotten out what seemed to be the future equivalent of an iPod and put both earbuds into his ears. And the Doctor, of course, was having a brilliant time, bounding ahead and exclaiming over everything he saw and occasionally singing.

Donna hated him.

It was at this time that her mobile rang, the shrill sound seeming extra loud in the enclosed space. She pulled it from her pocket and checked the caller ID. It was her Gramps.

"What is that?" Dee-Dee said curiously.

"It's my mobile," she replied. When all she got was a blank expression, she said, "My communicator. You know, where people can contact me?"

She nodded. "Oh, of course."

"Better answer it, Donna. He's going to hang up sooner or later," the Doctor called over one shoulder. He was still marching on ahead. Donna didn't even want to know how he knew who was calling her.

She pressed the send button, hurrying to catch up with the others. The light from her headlamp bounced haphazardly across the slick stone walls. "Gramps?"

"Donna," he said warmly. "I haven't heard from you in a few days, sweetheart. I was wondering how you're doing."

"Just fine," she said, rolling her eyes. "The Doctor and I are at a resort with some new friends." No need to enlighten him about the fact that they were marching along under the earth in search of a creature capable of possession. He didn't need to worry. She could tell him about the adventure after this was all over.

"How lovely. Is it an," he cleared his throat, "alien resort b' any chance?"

"Yeah," she said. "Yes, it is, Gramps. I'll send you a postcard as soon as I can, all right?"

"That would be wonderful," he said. He loved getting her postcards, almost as she loved sending them. Not that she could actually send them from the actual time or place where she bought them. She always picked them up and sent them from somewhere in the right time period, as soon as she and the Doctor dropped through again.

"How's Mum doing?" she asked.

"Look at this! Brilliant!" The Doctor had finally stopped walking, and the other two were huddled around him as they examined something just out of sight. "Donna, come see this!"

"Sorry, Gramps, I've got to go," she said. "Give Mum my love."

"Course. Love you, sweetheart."

"Love you, too." She hung up and took a deep breath. Talking to her granddad over her phone always gave her a sense of ridiculousness, and a touch of reality. It was ridiculous that she could be who knew how many years in the future, and speaking with Wilfred like she was only a few blocks away. But every time, she also realized that he was dead. She was talking to him, but he was supposed to already be dead. It made her head ache.

"Donna!"

She sighed, shaking away these troubling thoughts, and jogged over to join the others. "What is it now, Spaceman?"

"We won't have to walk the whole three hours," Dee-Dee said excitedly, stepping back so Donna could look. "Great, aren't they?"

What the others seemed so excited about was a pair of metal contraptions that sort of resembled four-wheelers, but smaller. They didn't look particularly safe, but Donna wasn't about to argue. "What are we waiting for? Let's get a move on," she said.

"I was hoping you'd say that," the Doctor said. He leapt onto one of the contraptions and leaned towards the handlebars. He was grinning brightly, so hard that his face had the potential to crack right in two. Donna rolled her eyes and climbed on behind him, sitting straight up to avoid touching her body to his.

Jethro and Dee-Dee got on the other one, Jethro sitting up and taking notice for a change. He took out his earbuds and clutched the handlebars. Dee-Dee didn't look particularly enthused at the thought of riding these things through the dark, narrow tunnel. It must be a bloke thing, Donna thought.

"Allons-y!" the Doctor exclaimed. He pressed a button, and the contraption roared to life. He stepped on the pedal beside his right foot, and they shot forward at an incredible speed. Donna shrieked and threw herself at him, wrapping both arms round his waist to hold on for dear life. She heard Jethro whooping excitedly as he and Dee-Dee roared along behind them.

"If you get us killed with these bloody things, I'll never forgive you, Spaceman!" she shouted into his ear.

"Don't worry, Donna," he said over his shoulder. "These things are as safe as–" He broke off and swerved sharply to the left to avoid crashing into a wall. "Well, sort of safe. Safe-ish."

"Oh, God. We're going to die," she said.

"Don't be so pessimistic. Think of the glass half-full."

She socked him in the arm, taking some pleasure in the wounded yelp he made, then held onto his waist even tighter. If they made it through this alive, she was never getting on one of these things ever again. Except possibly to get back to the resort again. But other than that, never.

Time blurred together meaninglessly. Donna kept her eyes squeezed closed against the wind for most of the ride, and when she occasionally opened them to check their progress, she only saw darkness and glittering rock walls flashing past. The two engines roared, sound echoing all around them, and the Doctor and Jethro often whooped as they spun around a particularly sharp turn. It was enough to give her a terrible headache.

Just when she was sure they would be on the blasted things for all eternity, endlessly speeding through the underground tunnel, the contraption finally began to slow down. She opened her eyes and squinted ahead, watching in the blue-white beams of their headlamps as a large black hole up ahead slowly grew closer and closer.

She leaned forward and put her mouth to the Doctor's ear. "What is that?" she shouted, to be heard over the engines.

His answer was lost to her as he slowed to a complete stop and parked off to one side of the tunnel. Jethro and Dee-Dee pulled up beside them. As the engines cut off, the tunnel was filled with a sudden silence that was thick and heavy against Donna's ears, making them ache after listening to the engines for so long. She groaned and staggered off the contraption, grabbing the Doctor's arm when she almost lost her balance. Her legs were weak and shaky, and her head spun. From the look on Dee-Dee's face, she felt the same.

"That was bloody brilliant!" Jethro exclaimed, clambering off the second contraption with unnatural ease. The Doctor didn't seem to have any trouble as he got to his feet, either. Donna glared at them both.

"Right," the Doctor said. "It certainly beat walking, didn't it?"

"Not really," Donna muttered, rotating her neck to get the kinks out of it.

"Where are we?" Dee-Dee said.

"We've reached the work station," the Doctor said, throwing his arms wide at the black hole before them. It was like an enormous gaping mouth, Donna thought uncomfortably, her idea empathized even more so by the large stalagmites and stalactites that framed it like jagged teeth. "Allons-y!"

He started for the entrance while the others stood and stared, and was swallowed into the blackness. Donna exchanged a panicked look with Dee-Dee and Jethro, and the three ran to catch up with him.

Once past the opening, the work station could be illuminated with their headlamps. Dusty equipment was scattered throughout a large room that had been carved from the rock, and green and red lights blinked from several panels. The Doctor examined one of the panels, and brushed a thick layer of dust from one of the thick black wires.

"No one's used this place in ages," Dee-Dee said, walking over to some bulky gray thing and examining it like she'd never seen something so brilliant. Donna had absolutely no idea what it could be, and didn't care. She was rapidly tiring of this whole experience.

"Probably no need to," the Doctor replied. He darted about the room, touching various objects and murmuring about them under his breath. "Things likely don't go wrong often with the shuttles, aside from the obvious experience we just had two days ago. Er, let me rephrase that. They don't usually go wrong. If things did go wrong all the time, we'd have all the resort guests burnt to crisps under the x-tonic sunlight. Which would definitely be bad business for this place."

"I thought we were here to find that creature thing and kill it," Jethro complained to Donna. "I don't see a thing here, except old computeadatas and loads of wires. I could have stayed in my room and watched telly, and I would have been more entertained than this."

She took a deep breath and controlled the urge to throttle him. She really couldn't stand teenagers, especially sulky ones.

"Look, I'm as bored as you are, if not more so, all right?" she said. "Once the Doctor's ready, we'll look for the creature." She watched as he and Dee-Dee bent over one of the panels across the room together. "And who said anything about killing it? We're not gonna kill it."

"Why not?" Jethro said. "It could kill the Doctor, and all of us. Why shouldn't we kill it?"

"Because…because the Doctor isn't like that," she said lamely. "He doesn't kill the aliens and creatures we come across, not if we can help it. Besides, for all we know, this creature is some poor thing that's just calling out for help, or summat."

He snorted. "Yeah, right. That's why it possessed that bloke Daniel and had him come after us with an ax, then."

"God, I can't stand teenagers," she muttered, folding her arms.

Jethro made a gesture that must have been quite rude, and wandered away from her, around a corner by one of the blinking panels. Donna watched him go, then sighed. She couldn't just let him wander off on his own, no matter how bloody annoying he was. If something happened, it would be her own fault, and that wasn't something she particularly wanted on her conscience.

She hurried to follow after him, circle of light from her headlamp bouncing ahead as she walked. She cast a glance over one shoulder, debating on whether she should tell the Doctor where she was going, but he was still busy checking over a panel with Dee-Dee.

Ahead was another tunnel, this one smaller than the one they'd spent so long travelling through. Sapphire rock glimmered in the walls and ceiling as the light washed over it, and though Donna hated to admit it, it really did look beautiful.

The dull echo of footsteps came from just ahead, round another corner. "Jethro, just wait one bleeding minute, will you?" she called, jogging towards the footsteps. She ducked to avoid bashing her head against a particularly low-hanging stalactite, and went around the corner. On the other side was another large room, the ceiling disappearing far overhead. This one was empty of any equipment, though one area near the edge of the cavernous room was roped off in a square with orange tape. It was apparently a warning of some sort. And Jethro, predictably, was leaning over the tape to examine something inside the square.

"Oi!" Donna exclaimed. She caught him by surprise, and his arms flailed as he tried to regain his balance. As she stared, he fell forward into the square and landed with a wet squelching sound. And started to sink.

"Get me out of here!" he shouted, sputtering and choking.

She raced over and shone the light onto him. The interior of the roped-off square was filled with black, sandy muck. Jethro had landed right in the center of it, and was already up to his shoulders in it. "What is that?" she said, squinting at it. "And get yourself out. I'm not touchin' that!"

"I can't!" he yelped, and slipped another inch into the goo. "It's got me; it's really sticky!"

It suddenly occurred to Donna that the boy wasn't merely mucking about. She leaned closer, and saw that the black goo bore a terrible resemblance to some sort of alien quicksand. "Oh, God," she said. "Don't worry, Jethro, I'll get you out."

"Help!" he shouted, flailing his arms. With another thick squelching noise, he was sucked another inch under the goo.

"All right, all right, I'm coming." Ever so carefully, she climbed over the rope, standing on a narrow bare patch right beside the muck. Up close, it smelled absolutely disgusting, like sulfur. She tried to hold her breath, leaning as close to Jethro as she possibly could and grabbing him by the arm. Black, wet gunk clung to her fingers, but she tried to ignore it, grabbing onto his other hand as well and pulling as hard as she could. Jethro didn't move so much as an inch. In fact, he seemed to slip even deeper into the goo.

Donna swore under his breath. "Doctor!" she shouted, voice ringing deafeningly around them. "Doctor, come help me! Jethro's fallen into something, and he's sinking! I can't get him out! DOCTOR!" She could only pray he heard her, turning her attention back to the task at hand.

"This is disgusting," Jethro said, not sounding too horrified now. Only his head and part of his arms could be seen now. "I can feel it seeping into this suit. It's going to ruin my clothes, I just know it. My mum will bloody kill me."

Donna strained, pulling with all her strength, but Jethro didn't budge. Sweat trickled down her forehead, burning her eyes. "DOCTOR!" she shrieked again. "Don't worry, Jethro, he'll get his bony Time Lord arse here any second, and the screwdriver'll get you out. You'll see."

He grimaced, squeezing his eyes shut. He looked even paler than usual, face stained black in places. "I don't think so," he said, spitting a glop of black muck from his mouth. "Something's got me, Donna. I dunno what, but it's not just this stuff. I can feel it round my ankle."

She blanched. "What do you mean, something's got you? What kind of something?"

"I dunno. But–" He coughed and gasped, sucked deeper into the goo. His hands nearly slipped from Donna's. Another tug such as that one, and he'd go completely under. "You should let go. It's going to pull you under as well."

"I'm not leaving you to sink, no matter how annoying you are," she insisted. She looked back over her shoulder, but no one was in sight. "Doctor, where the hell are you? Doctor!"

Jethro's eyes went wide. "It's…got me…" And then he was sucked from Donna's grasp, down into the muck, vanishing completely.

"No!" Donna cried, falling to her knees beside the muck. "Jethro! Jethro, can you hear me?"

"Donna? Donna's, what's wrong?" The Doctor's voice. Finally.

She jumped up, whirling round to face him, as he and Dee-Dee came running into the cavern. "Something's happened to Jethro! He's been sucked under all this black stuff!"

Just as the words left her mouth, something reached out and fastened around her ankle. Even through the layers of the caving suit she was wearing, she could still feel how wet and cold it was. She didn't even have time to shout a warning before she was jerked backwards, into the goo. Black was all around her, a sea of ink. It covered her up to her neck, soaking into her clothes and filling every crevice of her body.

"Donna!" She'd never seen the Doctor so alarmed. He sprang over the rope and fumbled to grab one of her hands, but both had already gone under. His face was pale, brown eyes large and wide. He looked terribly frightened. "Donna, just hold on, I'll get you out of there," he said, pulling out his sonic screwdriver and frantically sliding the little buttons and dials into place. "I'll get you out in a moment, and you'll be as right as rain–"

She remembered telling Jethro the same thing roughly thirty seconds ago. And that hadn't been the truth, had it? The thing around her ankle tightened, and she coughed and choked as black washed into her mouth.

"Do something; you've got to save her!" Dee-Dee cried.

"Doctor," Donna rasped, throat sore and aching from inhaling the goo. She coughed, watching as the screwdriver lit up with a comforting blue light. The Doctor's expression was twisted with concentration as he focused it on the black pool, but nothing was happening. "Doctor," she said again, and finally got his attention. "Tell my grandad I love him, all right?"

"No," he said, furiously shaking his head. "I won't tell him, Donna Noble, because you're going to tell him yourself. You're going to tell him yourself over ginger tea and banana pudding and biscuits in your mum's parlor, when we go back to Earth again. All right? You're going to tell him yourself."

"Please just tell him," Donna said, and was sucked under. All she saw was black as it flooded her eyes and mouth and nose and ears.

The last thing she heard was the Doctor screaming her name.

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