Chapter 15

As the siren for curfew sounded the gates of the Citadel closed with a resounding bang and the soldiers lowered their bio-scanners. People began to mill about nervously, some crying and some simply glancing about in confusion. Donna scanned the small throng of people for there seemed to be no reason for the upset exhibited. She and the Doctor glanced at each other. Simultaneously they stepped toward the soldiers, shoulders brushing as they passed through the tightening crowd.

"Excuse me. Sorry," the Doctor stopped very close to the shoulder of a blonde soldier. The soldier looked up at him, confused, "We're," he gestured at Donna "sort of, new to this whole, curfew...thing. What, if you don't mind me asking, is going to happen to us out here?"

Donna watched the soldier's face change from confused to amazed.

"I'm sorry, Sir, but I'm not sure I understand your question." the soldier's eyebrows knitted a tight line above his nose, "You don't know why we have curfew on Gallifrey?"

The Doctor tightened his lips slightly as though thinking and glanced away toward the sky, "Hmmm...Sorry. Nope. I can't think of a single reason why we would have curfew on Gallifrey. Never used to!"

The soldier's face displayed open shock for a moment, then he nervously glanced around to see where his fellow soldiers were, "Look, sir, I can see that you're not familiar with how things work around here, but I really don't want to be out for very much longer. So I'll give you this-"

The whole crowd suddenly ducked low as a flash of blue/purple light erupted from the ground on the hill The Doctor and Donna had recently descended. A few people let out loud yells. Donna squinted into the darkness, trying to see if anything was visible where the light had appeared but she could find nothing.

"Oh God! It's that late." The soldier dropped everything he had been holding and started away.

Donna turned to look at him as the Doctor reached out and put a hand on his shoulder

The Doctor bent so that his face was level with the soldiers, "Oh no you don't! You're not going anywhere until I know what is going on."

"Look, I'm sorry. I don't have time to explain." The soldier's dark eyes shifted left and right a few times more than once fixing on the Doctor's hand, "Maybe someone can explain tomorrow if you're one of the lucky ones."

Donna's stomach tightened at this last phrase and she and the Doctor shared a brief glance.

The soldier took advantage of this momentary distraction and swung his gun up to knock the Doctor's hand off of his shoulder. He ran as quickly as he could toward a portal on the side of the walls. Donna could see another soldier inside waving at him, a harried expression on his features as well. Her eyes fell on the Doctor again as she turned away. He was rubbing the back of his hand vigorously, his brow tightened with pain. She grasped his hand for a moment and noted that it was already turning a darkened shade of blue.

"What do you think he meant by 'the lucky ones?'" she asked.

She felt his body tense and looked up at him and then out to the hills beyond. Another flash exploded from the ground, closer this time and a singular, blood-chilling scream tore through the air. Both Time Lord and Time Lady sprung into action, pushing through the crowd toward the source of the sound.

"Get out of the way!" Donna yelled as the Doctor pushed on ahead of her, "Move! We can help!"

There was a break in the group of people a little ways ahead where throng had fallen back from something. The two time travelers broke through the ring of people and entered into the small circle. A woman knelt next to a man. Donna could feel from the distressed brain waves around her that the woman was human but a look at the man lying prone on the ground confused even her Time Lord mind. From his fingertips and feet, his eyes, his nose, his mouth, there poured blue/purple light. He seemed to shake, his whole body quivering with and energy though he did not seem to be afraid, nor did he seem to even be in his body. The woman kneeling next to him, crying reach forward as if to touch him.

"No!" Donna fell to the ground next to her and grabbed her hand firmly in her own, "Don't touch him." She looked up at the onlookers, "No one touch him!"

"What give you the authority to tell us what to do?" a voice shouted from the crowd.

Donna felt the woman next to her jerk her wrist a couple of times.

"I am the Doctor and I give her the authority to tell you what to do."

The Doctor stepped forward toward them and Donna recognized the countenance that had won him the title "The Oncoming Storm" among the Dalek race. She could feel the frustration and tension pouring off of him in waves, building into a mounting anger. He knelt beside the man, sonic in hand as he scanned the man's body. The man began to spasm.

"Stop! Stop you're hurting him!" the woman cried, finally succeeded in jerking her hand away from Donna's grasp and knocked the sonic out of the Doctor's hands.

It flew across the ground into the darkness. A few in the crowd stepped forward grasping at The Doctor's shoulders and pulling him away but the man's body did not stop seizing. Instead his seizures grew worse and more violent until the light died away and he moved no more.

Donna stood very still for a moment where she stood near the body, for she was certain it was only that now. The woman lunged forward toward him and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him and crying. The ginger Earthling's heart broke as she watched the woman's grief take over her. She was not surprised when tears pricked her own eyes, her feelings over Shaun's death surfacing for a moment but she pushed them aside. Looking over at the Doctor's captors, she glared, tears twinkling in her eyes.

"Let him go." She implored, and was surprised when the people actually did release him.

The Doctor moved over to the body again, examining first the face. Donna noticed, though it was dark, that his eyes were bloodshot and his face was bloody. She leaned over the Doctor.

"What happened to him?" she asked in a hushed tone so that few others could hear her.

The Doctor's brow with tight with concentration, his face drawn in thought. It was several seconds before he replied. He stood and turned to her.

"His mind was overloaded with stimuli. If I had to wager a guess," he paused for a moment, "Donna, this is what would have happened to you if you hadn't had your memories blocked."

Donna stared at the man for a moment and then back up at the Doctor, nodding, as she took in this new realization, "So his mind was overwhelmed by…what?"

"A more powerful mind." The Doctor answered, "Something tried to…"

The met each other's gaze, eyes wide, "The secondary academy tower!"

"That presence that keeps entering my mind looking for your name," Donna commented

"Oh why am I always so thick? I overlook things even when they're staring me in the face!" He pressed his hand to the side of his face.

"It tried to enter his mind and…" Donna trailed off, "Take over him? Uncover his secrets? What?"

The Doctor shook his head, "It has to be something more than that. Something bigger." He gestured largely with his hands, and then looked at the Citadel, "We need to get inside the city."

Donna nodded and moved swiftly through the group of people in the direction the sonic had been flung. She heard a click as her boot made contact with it and bent to pick it up. Returning it to the Doctor, she gave his hand a squeeze, although whether it was to comfort him or to give herself comfort, she did not know, but he returned the gesture before turning to the people huddled close together, clearly terrified now that one of their ranks was dead.

"Donna and I are going to try to get into the city to safety." The Doctor declared, "Come with us if you want to be safe."

A voice rung out among the crowd, "And how do we know we'll be any safer with you than out here? You're one of them bloody Time Lords; that man died while you were probing him; how do we know you didn't actually kill him?"

A few people in the throng stepped toward them despite their fear and Donna stepped in front of the Doctor.

"Have you never heard of The Doctor before?" She snapped, "You're from England, of course you have. This IS the Doctor and I guarantee you that he didn't kill the man lying on the ground there. And he wasn't probing, he was scanning." She paused letting her words sink in.

"And we should care what you say why?" the same person questioned.

Donna let out a haughty breath and followed it with an exclamation of, "Because I'm not some stuck up Time Lord like you think I am. I'm bloody human, you dumbo, and I don't appreciate you questioning my authority on the matter. I've been with the Doctor for years and I know one thing, one really good piece of advice that you should all start following right now. When the Doctor tells you to run, you had better r-"

Her speech was interrupted as another flash of light exploded on the hillside, followed by another. For a moment, there was chaos and then Donna felt the Doctor's hand close around her own as he took off running. Donna felt a burning behind her eyes a pressure falling on her mind but she quickly pushed it away. She could see more flashes of light in her peripherals, scream followed and the soft crunch of bodies falling into the grass that she would never have noticed before a few days ago.

Donna lifted her eyes, and saw the Doctor was running along, his sonic held before him as he scanned the wall, presumably for a weakness or a door that would allow them entry into the city. It seemed her was unsuccessful thus far however because he pulled his sonic back and shook it, swearing under his breath.

"Come on. Come ON!" He whispered in hushed and harried tones before pointing it back at the wall again.

Without any warning, an unseen panel slid open on the wall ahead of them.

"DOCTOR! DONNA!" a familiar voice called and a hand was beckoning at them.

The Doctor quickly turned them toward it shoving Donna through, and then he disappeared behind the throng of people who had not been able to make it into the city before curfew. Donna stood just inside the wall watching everyone who came in. A man fell just outside the door, his eyes glowing with vibrant light and anyone else that was still behind him quickly fell as well. She and the Doctor had been right to caution the woman against touching the first dead man for everyone who came into contact with this latest victim were also caught up in this field of light. Donna watched, horrified, as they all writhed in apparent pain.

She leaned in the doorway, looking out into the seemingly quite field. A hand touched her shoulder and she turned to see Captain James Denison standing behind her a flat expression of weary relief in his eyes.

"Are you alright, Donna?" he asked.

"As well as can be expected." She replied, trying to catch her breath, she placed a hand against the wall and one on her chest. Underneath her ribs her hearts were racing, reminding her of the lie she had told the humans in an effort to get them to listen to her, "How did you know we were out there?"

The Captain smiled, "The soldier you were talking to, Lieutenant Markom, came back all frazzled, said he'd nearly been caught out after curfew by a couple of barmy Time Lords. I read between the lines and it occurred to me that you were probably the Time Lords he was talking about."

"Barmy?" she asked in feigned offense.

Her camo laden companion shifted uncomfortably, "His words, not mine." He paused glancing around and then looked back up at her, "Speaking of 'a couple of barmy Time Lords,' where is the Doctor?"

Donna felt as though someone had dropped an anvil into her stomach and she whirled toward the door she'd just come through. She'd been so caught up in her own adrenaline, she'd forgotten that the Doctor had not run in with her, but instead shoved her in to make certain that everyone was safe. The people outside had long since stopped their seizures and the hills were now completely quiet. She crept forward slightly, entering the tunnel through the wall. Her fingers brushed the smooth surface as she walked slowly along. Each step was more hesitant, more fearful of what she would find.

"Doctor?" Donna called softly, "Doctor, are you there?"

There was no answer. She heard a faint click behind her and glanced back to see James had followed her, gun drawn. She nodded to him and then turned back to face the area outside of the Citadel. Donna rounded the corner and called for the Doctor again. Again, there was no answer, but there needn't have been. She spotted him lying on the ground on his side, curled around himself. His hands were covering his face, gripped in his hairline. Donna rushed to her best friend's side and grabbed his shoulder and upper arm.

The pressure she'd felt so many times now wrenched her conscious mind into agony the moment her hand made contact with him, but she fought it. Unlike everyone else, she knew this creature, she knew how it would attack as so she started to throw up mental barriers against the pain. Donna was able to move again though she had one hell of a headache as she tried to keep the pain from overwhelming her again. The ruthless search of her mind seemed to never stop but it did not matter. The Doctor had blocked off her mind so well that she could no longer remember his name even if she wanted to. The creature would get nothing.

Donna had never initiated a mind meld before. In fact she had only ever used her powers of telepathy to find her daughter and occasionally to better understand her best friend. It was however, the only way she could think of to help him in his current state though. Carefully, she pulled The Doctor hands away from his face, startled to find his eyes wide, the chocolate irises surrounded by a faint glowing blue light. She pressed the tips of her fingers to his temples and let out a long breath.

She would never be certain how she'd managed it this first time but it seemed that one minute she had closed her eyes and melded with her best friend's mind and the next she woke on a cot in a low ceilinged house. The Doctor sat beside her in a chair, hands together as he stared blankly at the floor with one of his introspective, knit-browed angry expressions that he could have patented as his own. She blinked once and then noticed that the Doctor was not the room's only other occupant. Captain James Denison leaned against the wall by the door, arms crossed over his chest as he stared impatiently, or perhaps anxiously, at his boots.

Donna shifted and then sat up, moaning against the pounding pain in her head. She drew her knees up to her chest and placed her head in her hands, fingers woven though the many waves of fiery ginger that cascaded over her shoulders. The Doctor's hands closed around her wrists and drew her hands away from her face as he sat on the cot in front of her. He was tired, that much was clear, the lines on his face drawn into an expression of unyielding worry.

"Donna," his voice was quiet, as though he was talking to a child, "Donna, can you hear me?"

"Mmmmhmmm" she responded quietly, not sure if she could bear to speak any louder, she swallowed carefully before continuing, "Yes, I…what happened?"

The Doctor opened his mouth to speak but it was the rooms other occupant, Captain Denison, who replied. His hand rested softly on her shoulder.

"You put your hands on his temples and the minute you touch him I watched your body tense up. And then…" he trailed off for a moment, "You just went completely still. Your eyes were closed and your face was blank. If you hadn't still be sitting, I would have thought you were dead. Both of you, actually. He went completely still as well. And then….I don't know he suddenly came to life and you collapsed. We, the Doctor and I, carried you back here."

Donna looked around herself, taking a deep breath as she feebly observed the space, "Where is here?"

Denison responded instantly, "The soldier's barracks." He blushed slightly, "This is my room actually."

His blush made her want to laugh but with her headache, she compromised with a small smile before she turned her attention back to the Doctor.

"How long?" she asked, nervous of what the answer would be. She hoped not very long. It had been more than two days now since she left Catherine behind and despite her pounding head, she felt the sickness of guilt creeping into her.

The Doctor gave her hand a squeeze, a knowing expression on his face, "Not long, about five hours Earth time." He paused as he rose from the cot, letting her hands go, "It's nearly seven in the morning."

Donna nodded her acknowledgement. Thinking for a moment. Then, gingerly, she shifted her legs out over the edge of the cot. She was not surprised, although mildly relieved, to see that she still wore the same clothes. She stood slowly, accounting for the spinning in her head and then began to walk across the room. When she reached Denison, she cupped a hand around one cheek and gave him a kiss on the other.

"Thank you for helping to save me." She smiled at him and took several steps back, only to have her smile broaden as he blushed a deep red and turned his gaze toward the ground.

"I was only doing my duty," he replied softly.

Donna nodded at him, suppressing a laugh at his hushed response and then turned to the Doctor, "Come on then, Spaceman, I think we have some work to do."

"And some people to see," He responded.

The Doctor followed her out of the room and then led her, a hand placed protectively between her shoulder blades, the rest of the way out of the soldier's barracks.

A/n- Hello again everyone who is probably not still reading my story because the middle is RUBBISH, I've just gotten the bug to write this again. I've been at Uni for the last few years so most of my writing energy goes to producing papers a the like for my various classes, but, it's the beginning of the semester and I really just want to write for some reason. This last episode of Doctor Who was so very... Tennant-esque and it brought me around to how much I do miss our dear 10th doctor. I won't say anything else because…well, Spoilers. Anyway, I realized that I had not thought about this fic in a long time. So, I'm in the process of revising the beginning, bringing the maturness of the writing up a few notches (and no I don't mean smut, I mean the maturity of thought put into the story), and correct some of the more egregious grammatical and plot errors I made early on. So, if you've made it this far without gagging on the childishness of this fic, kudos and thanks to your dedication but keep in mind that I will be fixing much of it in the future