While Donna and the Doctor had stepped out of the TARDIS to walk around what the Doctor had claimed was Ancient Rome, Annabelle only remained inside of the TARDIS and blankly stared up at the ceiling of the TARDIS with her head hanging off of the back of the Doctor's chair and her eyes narrowed.
Ever since Donna had made the mistake of lightly touching Annabelle's arm and Annabelle had taken it upon herself to try and tear into Donna's neck, the Doctor had made sure that the two women were kept far enough away from one another– in his own attempt to keep Annabelle from killing Donna in a moment of pure and blinding rage because of her belief that the Master had come back from the dead to psychologically torture her once more.
And in an attempt to continue keeping the two women away from one another, the Doctor had made the decision that Annabelle was to remain inside of the TARDIS, while he and Donna walked around– what he claimed to be– Ancient Rome.
And that was exactly what Annabelle was doing.
She was sitting in the Doctor's chair and simply listening to the words of those that had walked past the TARDIS before she closed her eyes and tried to tune out the sound of their voices and their steady heartbeats.
Unfortunately for Annabelle, it took several moments until she was able to ignore the sound of their voices and their heartbeats.
And when she finally was able to ignore the sounds that she could hear coming from the outside of the TARDIS, Annabelle was quick to open her eyes and sit up straight in the chair that she was sitting on.
But it wasn't because she could feel the TARDIS moving once again.
Instead, it was because a pair of light brown eyes had flashed through her mind, which resulted in her eyes widening and her hands almost immediately clenching into fists.
Annabelle knew that particular pair of eyes very well.
After all, how could she not?
It was those very eyes that she was forced to look into during the many months in which she'd been tortured by the Master.
Those very same eyes were the same pair of eyes that liked to haunt her any time she so much as tried to go to sleep after spending quite some time just blankly staring at the Doctor, while he would go running around and saving everyone from some terrible death that always involved extraterrestrials that Annabelle wouldn't have known had even existed– if it weren't for her stepping into his TARDIS and joining him and Martha Jones with meeting William Shakespeare in the year 1599.
And any time that she would be awoken by either just seeing those pair of light brown eyes in the dark corners of her mind or hearing the voice of the Master just echoing in her head as he taunted her about something or even just hearing his laughter, she would start to feel just a bit more than a split second of emotions before it would be pushed aside and forgotten about.
She would feel anger every single time she saw his light brown eyes, heard him taunt her in her nightmares or even heard that god-awful laugh of his.
It was as if there was a part of her that was refusing to let herself forget about the torment that she had been put through by the Master and she hated it.
She wanted nothing more than to grab onto the Master in those nightmares of hers and tear him apart– bit by bit– until he was nothing more than a pile of body parts and wasn't the least bit capable of even regenerating after she was done with him.
But she never could.
Instead, she would find herself paralyzed in those nightmares and incapable of doing anything more than staring up at the nightmare version of the Master with wide eyes, her mouth agape and her entire body shaking.
Only, her body would be shaking out of fear and not anger.
And what she hated above all else was just how helpless she was in the nightmares.
As far as she was concerned, those nightmares of hers made her even more helpless and incapable of helping herself than she was in reality when he was actually torturing her.
Or perhaps how helpless she was in those nightmares was just a reflection of just how helpless she was towards the Master and how much she hated herself for not being able to stand up for herself against him and keep him from hurting her any more than he had prior to his death.
But no matter the reason, Annabelle hated the feeling that she got after being awoken from those nightmares of hers.
And if it were up to her, those nightmares wouldn't even be happening and the residue of the parts of himself that the Master had left behind in her mind would have been long gone and she wouldn't have to be forced to deal with these constant nightmares just tormenting her– ever since she felt the slightest bit of annoyance, thanks to Donna Noble and her refusal to believe in the existence of vampires.
And the fact that it was Donna and her words even slightly annoying Annabelle enough to get these dreams to start to begin with was enough to get Annabelle to want to tear her neck open– even more than she had the moment that Donna had mistakenly touched her arm.
And it was because of just how slowly Annabelle's anger was starting to build back up inside of herself with each nightmare that she got in regard to the Master that Annabelle was completely missing the fact that the TARDIS had just been brought into a home– even though she was starting to feel disoriented and starting to have difficulty with breathing, due to the fact that she was being carried inside of a home that she had not been invited inside of.
* * *
While Annabelle found herself bumping into walls in the TARDIS during her attempt to get herself out of the TARDIS and also the home that the TARDIS was brought into, she heard a voice yell, "Modern art! Out of the way! That's it! Oh, Rhombus, I'm a little bit peckish. Get me some ants in honey, there's a good lad. Ooh! Maybe a dormouse?" Then she heard the male voice ask someone, "What do you think?"
Then she heard another voice say, "You call it modern art, I call it a blooming great waste of space."
The first voice replied, "But we're going up in the world, my love. Lucius Dextrus himself is coming to the house this afternoon. What with that and our Evelina about to be elevated..."
Then a third voice– namely Evelina– was heard saying, "Oh, don't go on about it, Dad."
Then the second voice said, "If we'd moved to Rome, like I said, she could have been a vestal virgin."
Then a fourth voice was heard asking, "Someone mention vestal virgins?"
Then the second voice yelled, "Quintus, don't be so rude! You apologize to the household gods!"
In turn, Quintus said to her, "Get off."
Once more, the second voice said, "Apologize right now. The gods are always watching."
It was only seconds after she said those words that the first voice could be heard yelling, "Positions!"
And while Annabelle assumed that the four humans were getting into position for whatever reason that they might have had, Annabelle found herself getting closer and closer to the door of the TARDIS– despite the many times in which she found herself being thrown into the controls of the TARDIS because of just how disoriented she was still feel as a result of being in a home that she wasn't even invited into.
After a single moment of silence coming from the four humans, Annabelle heard the second voice say, "There. Now you've made the heavens angry. Just say sorry." While Quintus was presumably going to do just that, the second voice said, "I tell you, Caecilius, that boy will come to no good."
Then Quintus was heard saying, "Sorry, household gods."
Then Caecilius asked Quintus, "So where were you last night? Down the thermapolium, I bet. Cavorting with Etruscans and Christians and all sorts. How's your head, sunshine? How's your head!"
In turn, Quintus said to him, "Alright, Dad, give us a break."
Then the second voice said, "You want to smarten yourself up, Quintus, before Lucius Dextrus gets here. Look at your sister. She's giving us status."
Quintus replied, "Oh, yeah, 'cause it's all about Evelina."
The second voice told him, "She has the gift. Be proud of your sister for once." Then the voice asked Evelina, "Have you been consuming?"
Evelina said to her, "Not this morning."
In turn, the second voice said to her, "Well, come on, sweetheart, practice!"
And while the second voice continued to talk to Evelina, Annabelle finally managed to get out of the TARDIS and fell face-first onto the floor just outside of the TARDIS, which got Caecilius to quickly turn his head and see Annabelle Mikaelson lying face-first onto the floor.
The moment Annabelle had raised her head and tried to get herself out of the home as quickly as she could, Caecilius's eyes had widened when he saw Annabelle– a young-looking woman that he'd never seen before– trying to get herself back up onto her feet and get herself out of his home.
After taking a quick glance over in the direction of his son Quintus and in the direction that his wife and daughter had just gone in, Caecilius made his way over towards Annabelle and asked her, "Are you alright?"
Instead of answering his question, Annabelle said, "I need to get out of here."
With his eyebrows furrowed, Caecilius asked her, "Here?" When Annabelle didn't respond and simply pushed herself to leave the room the best that she could and unintentionally slammed herself into the walls of the room, Caecilius walked after her and asked her, "What are you talking about? Where do you need to get out of?"
After slamming herself into a wall, Annabelle said through grit teeth, "I need to get out of your home."
In turn, Caecilius said to her, "But you don't look well. Perhaps you need to lie down before you get back to leaving my home?"
Once more, Annabelle said to him, "I need to get out of your home."
It wasn't until Annabelle was actually outside of Caecilius's home and actually able to breathe again that Caecilius said to her, "Nonsense. What you need is to come back inside, lie down for a bit and explain to me just how you got into my home."
It was then that Annabelle slowly turned around to face Caecilius and asked him with a mere tilt of her head, "You want me to go back into your home?"
With a nod of his head, Caecilius replied, "Yes. You must come inside at once and lie down. And whilst you lie down, I will have a doctor come here and attend to you as quickly as I can, alright?"
In response to his willing invitation of having her inside of his home, Annabelle only tilted her head just a bit more to the side.
However, instead of immediately responding to his words, Annabelle only eyed him before she closed her eyes.
And while Caecilius only continued to urge her to step back into his home, Annabelle simply let her eyes remain closed for at least a few seconds before she quickly opened her eyes and let out a groan when the light brown eyes of the Master had appeared in her mind once more.
* * *
After spending the better part of at least twenty minutes berating Caecilius for bringing Annabelle Mikaelson– a strange girl that she'd never seen before– into their home and letting her lie down because of Caecilius's belief that Annabelle was ill, the woman simply stared down at Annabelle with her eyebrows furrowed.
However, all attempts to make sense of why Caecilius had believed that Annabelle wasn't feeling well had immediately come to a halt when Caecilius yelled, "Positions!"
It wasn't long after Caecilius had yelled those words that Annabelle had slightly raised her head when she heard the voice of the Doctor yell, "Whoa! There you go."
In turn, Caecilius said to him, "Thank you, kind sir. I'm afraid business is closed for the day. I'm expecting a visitor."
The Doctor replied, "Well, that's me, I'm a visitor. Hello!"
While Annabelle silently watched as the Doctor quickly walked into the room that was the closest to the one that she was in with Caecilius and Donna close behind him, Caecilius asked him, "Who are you?"
After coming to a halt to face Caecilius, the Doctor said, "I am Spartacus."
Then Donna said, "And so am I."
Caecilius asked them, "Mr. and Mrs. Spartacus?"
While both Donna and the Doctor had shaken their heads in response to his question, the Doctor told him, "Oh, no, no, no. We're not married."
In turn, Caecilius said, "Oh, brother and sister? Yes, of course! You look very much alike."
As they turned to face one another, the Doctor and Donna had both simultaneously said, "Really?"
Then Caecilius said to them, "I'm sorry, but I'm not open for trading."
The Doctor asked him, "And that trade would be?"
Caecilius said to him, "Marble. Lobus Caecilius, mining, polishing and design thereof. If you want marble, I'm your man."
With a nod of his head, the Doctor replied, "That's good. That's good, 'cause I'm the marble inspector."
In turn, Caecilius's wife said, "By the gods of commerce, an inspection!" As she took the glass of wine out of Quintus's hand and poured the wine into the fountain, the woman said, "I'm sorry, sir, I do apologize for my son."
With a wave of his hand, Caecilius said, "This is my good wife Metella. I-I must confess, we're not prepared for..."
With a shake of his head, the Doctor replied, "Nothing to worry about. I'm-I'm sure you've got nothing to hide. Although, frankly, that object looks rather like wood to me."
With a quick turn of her head, Metella quietly said to Caecilius, "I told you to get rid of it!"
As he quickly walked after Donna and the Doctor, Caecilius told them, "I only bought it today!"
In turn, the Doctor said to him, "Ah, well. Caveat emptor."
With a mere tilt of his head, Caecilius said, "Oh, you're Celtic. There's lovely!"
While Donna only shook her head in response to his words before furrowing her eyebrows when she turned her head and saw that Annabelle Mikaelson was lying on a piece of furniture and staring right at her and the Doctor, the Doctor turned to Caecilius and Metella as he said, "I'm sure it's fine, but I might have to take it off your hands for a proper inspection."
After looking away from Annabelle, Donna asked, "While we're here, wouldn't you recommend a holiday, Spartacus?"
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Don't know what you mean, Spartacus."
With a nod of her head, Donna said to him, "Oh, this lovely family, mother and father and son, don't you think they should get out of town?"
With his eyebrows furrowed, Caecilius asked her, "Why should we do that?"
Donna replied, "Well, the volcano for starters."
With a mere tilt of his head, Caecilius said, "What?"
Donna said to him, "The volcano."
Caecilius asked her, "The what-ano?"
Donna told him, "The great big volcano right on your doorstep."
It was then that the Doctor said, "Oh, Spartacus, for shame! We haven't even greeted the household gods yet." After quickly walking past them and into another section of the house, the Doctor quietly told her, "They don't know what it is. Vesuvius is just a mountain to them. The top hasn't blown off yet. The Romans haven't even got a word for 'volcano'. Not until tomorrow."
Donna replied, "Oh, great. They can learn a new word. As they die."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Donna, stop it."
With a shake of her head, Donna said to him, "Listen, I don't know what sort of kids you been flying around with in outer space, but you're not telling me to shut up. That boy, how old is he, sixteen? And tomorrow he burns to death."
The Doctor asked her, "And that's my fault?"
With a nod of her head, Donna said to him, "Right now, yes."
It wasn't long after she'd said those words that the Doctor's eyebrows had furrowed before he said, "Wait a minute. Where's Annabelle?" When Donna didn't respond to his question, he asked her, "Do you think that she's still in the TARDIS?"
With a scoff, Donna replied, "No, she isn't still in the TARDIS."
The Doctor asked her, "Well, how do you know that?"
In turn, Donna asked him, "How do you think?" When the Doctor only frowned to himself in response to her words, she told him, "She's lounging around in that Caecilius bloke's home."
With his eyebrows furrowed, the Doctor asked her, "Lounging around?" When Donna had simply nodded her head, the Doctor asked her, "Why the hell would she just be lounging around in his home?"
Donna replied, "How the hell should I know? She's your friend. I hardly know anything about her except for just how testy she is– what, with how she almost killed me after I touched her arm."
Just when the Doctor was about to say something in response to Donna's words, he suddenly stopped when a voice was heard saying, "Announcing Lucius Petrus Dextrus, chief augor of the city government."
After Lucius had entered the room, Caecilius made his way over towards Lucius and said to him, "Lucius! My pleasure, as always."
Then Metella said, "Quintus, stand up."
Then Caecilius said to Lucius, "A rare and great honor, sir, for you to come to my house."
After simply staring directly at Caecilius, Lucius said, "The birds are flying north, and the wind is in the west."
In turn, Caecilius said to him, "Right, absolutely. That's good, is it?"
Lucius replied, "Only the grain of wheat knows where it will grow."
As he held out a hand towards his wife, Caecilius said, "There now, Metella, have you ever heard such wisdom?"
With a shake of her head, Metella said, "Never. It's an honor."
Then Caecilius told him, "Pardon me, sir, I have guests. This is Spartacus and, uh, Spartacus." Then he looked over at Annabelle as he said, "Although, I'm not entirely sure what her name is."
It was then that the Doctor said, "If I may, the woman over there is my cousin whose name is also Spartacus."
While Annabelle slowly turned her head to look over at the Doctor and simply blinked at him in response to his words, Lucius said, "A name is but a cloud upon a summer wind."
The Doctor replied, "But the wind is felt most keenly in the dark."
As he took a couple of steps forward, Lucius said, "Dark! But what is the dark other than an omen of the sun?"
With a shake of his head, the Doctor said, "I concede that every sun must set. And yet the son of the father must also rise."
In turn, Lucius said, "Damn. Very clever, sir. Evidently a man of learning."
The Doctor replied, "Oh, yes, but don't mind me. Don't want to disturb the status quo."
Then– in a whisper– Caecilius told Lucius, "He's Celtic."
Then the Doctor said, "We'll be off in a minute, and I'll be taking my lovely cousin with me."
While Annabelle had once more blinked to herself in response to the Doctor's words, Donna said, "I'm not going."
And while Caecilius said a couple of more words to Lucius, the Doctor nodded his head in the direction of the TARDIS– which resulted in Annabelle reluctantly getting off of the piece of furniture that she was lying on and walking after them and back over towards the TARDIS.
And while Annabelle slowly walked after the two of them, the Doctor quietly said to Donna, "You've got to."
Donna replied, "Well, I'm not."
Then Caecilius said, "The moment of revelation. And here it is, exactly as you've specified. It pleases you sir?"
In turn, Lucius said to him, "As the rain pleases the soil."
While Annabelle leaned her back into the TARDIS with the back of her head pressed into it, the Doctor said, "Oh, now, that's different. Who designed that, then?"
With a nod of his head, Caecilius told the Doctor, "My lord Lucius was very specific."
Then the Doctor asked, "Where'd you get the pattern?"
With a turn of his head, Lucius said, "On the rain and mist and wind."
Then Donna said, "But that looks like a circuit."
In turn, the Doctor said, "Made of stone."
Then Donna asked Lucius, "Do you mean you just dreamt that thing up?"
Lucius replied, "That is my job as city augur."
In turn, Donna asked him, "What's that, then, like the mayor?"
With a chuckle, the Doctor said to them, "Oh, you must excuse my friend, she's from Barcelona." Then he turned to Donna and quietly told her, "Now, this is an age of superstition, of official superstition. The augur is paid by the city to tell the future. 'The wind will blow from the west'. That's the equivalent of the ten o'clock news."
It was then that Evelina took a step into the room and said, "They're laughing at us. Those two, they use words like tricksters. They're mocking us."
With a quick turn of his head, the Doctor said, "No, no, no, I meant no offense."
Then Evelina said, "And that one over there." After the others had turned their heads to look over at Annabelle, Evelina said, "She isn't unwell. She is healthy and she looks down upon us like a predator would look down at its prey."
While Annabelle had only tilted her head in response to Evelina's words, Metella walked over towards her daughter as she said, "I'm sorry, my daughter's been consuming the vapors."
Then Quintus asked, "By the gods, Mother, what have you been doing to her?"
In turn, Caecilius said, "Not now, Quintus."
Quintus replied, "But she's sick. Just look at her!"
As he took a couple of steps away from Caecilius, Lucius said, "I gather I have a rival in this household. Another with the gift."
Metella told him, "Oh, she's been promised to the Sibylline Sisterhood. They say she has remarkable visions."
Lucius replied, "The prophecies of women are limited and dull. Only the menfolk have the capacity for true perception."
In turn, Donna said to Lucius, "I'll tell you where the wind's blowing right now, mate."
It was then that the ground beneath them had started to shake, shortly before Lucius said to Donna, "The mountain god marks your words. I'd be careful if I were you."
Then the Doctor asked Metella, "Consuming the vapors, you say?"
Evelina told the Doctor, "They give me strength."
The Doctor replied, "It doesn't look like it to me."
In turn, Evelina asked him, "Is that your opinion as a doctor?"
With his eyebrows furrowed, the Doctor said, "I beg your pardon?"
Evelina told him, "Doctor, that's your name."
The Doctor asked her, "How did you know that?"
Then Evelina looked over at Donna as she said, "And you. You call yourself 'noble', whilst the other calls herself the son of Mikael– despite the fact that she is in fact a woman and not a man."
With a turn of her head, Metella said to her daughter, "Now then, Evelina, don't be rude."
In turn, the Doctor said, "No, no, no, no, not at all."
Then Evelina said, "All three of you come from so far away."
It was then that Lucius said, "A female soothsayer is inclined to invent all sorts of vagaries."
The Doctor replied, "Oh, not this time, Lucius. I reckon you've been out-soothsayed."
With a mere turn of his head, Lucius asked him, "Is that so? Man from Gallifrey."
With a quick turn of his own head, the Doctor said, "What?"
While the shaking of the ground had only continued, Lucius said, "The strangest of images. Your home is lost in fire, is it not?"
Then Donna asked, "Doctor, what are they doing?"
With yet another turn of his head, Lucius said, "And you daughter of London."
With her eyebrows furrowed, Donna asked, "How does he know that?"
Lucius told her, "This is the gift of Pompeii. Every single oracle tells the truth. As is the oracle of the daughter of Mikael, who has spilled the blood of many during her unnaturally long life. Even now– with the erasure of her emotions– the daughter of Mikael still feels the urge to spill even more blood from deep within her and there are few that can truly keep her from doing just that. And even with the erasure of her emotions, they are slowly returning– as is her urge to spill the blood of even more innocents. It is only when an old and not-yet forgotten fear of hers appears once more that the thirst for killing the innocent will resume once more."
While the Doctor had only glanced over at Annabelle with furrowed eyebrows, Donna said with a shake of her head, "That's impossible."
Then Lucius said, "Doctor, she is returning."
The Doctor asked him, "Who is? Who's 'she'?"
Then Lucius turned to Donna and said to her, "And you, daughter of London, there is something on your back."
With a quick turn of her head, Donna asked the Doctor, "What's that mean?"
After turning his head to look over at Annabelle, Lucius said, "Even the daughter of Mikael has much to worry about with the return of both foes and those that have hidden themselves under the guise of friendship. None can be trusted when it comes to the eventual downfall of the sons and daughters of Mikael."
While Annabelle's eyebrows had actually furrowed in response to his words, the Doctor only frowned to himself as he thought over the words that Lucius had both said in regard to himself and Annabelle.
It was then that Evelina said, "Even the word 'Doctor' is false. Your real name is hidden. It burns in the stars, in the cascade of Medusa herself. You are a lord, sir. A lord of time." Then she looked over at Annabelle and said to her, "Beware of the man with light brown eyes, the man with hazel eyes and the man with blue eyes– for each will want to bring about your downfall and the downfall of those that you care for most."
It wasn't long after Evelina had said those words that she fell face-first onto the floor, which got Metella to quickly make her way over towards her daughter and yell, "Evelina!"
* * *
After pushing the grate covering aside, the Doctor turned to Caecilius and said to him, "Different sort of hypocaust."
In turn, Caecilius said to him, "Oh, yes, we're very advanced in Pompeii. In Rome, they're still using the old wood-burning furnaces, but we've got hot springs heated from Vesuvius itself."
While Annabelle silently looked between the two of them with narrowed eyes, the Doctor asked him, "Who thought of that?"
Caecilius replied, "The soothsayers. After the great earthquake seventeen years ago. An awful lot of damage. But we rebuilt."
With furrowed eyebrows, the Doctor asked him, "Didn't you think of moving away? Oh, no, then again, San Francisco."
In turn, Caecilius asked him, "That's a restaurant in Naples, isn't it?"
It was then that the Doctor asked him, "What's that noise?"
Caecilius replied, "Don't know, happens all the time. They say the gods of the underworld are stirring."
While Annabelle only closed her eyes in response to Caecilius's words and then proceeded to try and rid herself of the constant images of the Master's eyes that had been haunting her when she closed her eyes ever since she'd met Donna Noble, the Doctor asked Caecilius, "But after the earthquake, let me guess, is that when the soothsayers started making sense?"
With a nod of his head, Caecilius said to him, "Oh, yes, very much so. I mean, they had always been, shall we say, imprecise. But then, the soothsayers, the augurs, the haruspices, all of them, they saw the truth again and again. It's quite amazing. They can predict crops and rainfall with absolute precision."
With a raise of his head, the Doctor asked him, "Have they said anything about tomorrow?"
Caecilius replied, "No. Why, should they? Why do you ask?"
With a shake of his head, the Doctor said to him, "No, no, no reason, just asking. But the soothsayers, they all consume the vapors?"
With yet another nod of his head, Caecilius told him, "That's how they see."
After putting his glasses on, staring into the vapors once more and reaching his arm into the hole, the Doctor said, "Ipso facto..."
In turn, Caecilius said to him, "Look, you..."
It was then that the Doctor pulled his arm out of the hole and held a grain in front of himself before he said, "They're all consuming this."
Caecilius asked him, "Dust?"
As the grain fell down towards the floor, the Doctor told him, "Tiny particles of rock." After eating a bit of it himself, he said, "They're breathing in Vesuvius."
* * *
While Annabelle eyed each of the humans that had gotten out of their own respective sections of the house, Metella asked, "What is it? What's that noise?"
Then Caecilius said, "That doesn't sound like Vesuvius."
It was then that the Doctor and Quintus had quickly ran into the room that all of them were standing in, while the Doctor said, "Caecilius? All of you, get out!"
Donna asked him, "Doctor, what is it?"
The Doctor told her, "Think we're being followed."
It wasn't long afterwards that a loud growling noise was heard, which got Annabelle to tilt her head to the side, shortly before one of the grate coverings had gone flying into the air.
And while the growling only continued, the Doctor yelled, "Just get out!"
With her eyes narrowed, Annabelle stared down at the spot in the room where the vapors were coming out and saw it jump in place a couple of times before a stone-like creature had come out of the vapors and was suddenly standing inside of Caecilius's home.
While Annabelle silently eyed the stone-like creature that was starting to make its way over towards them, Evelina said, "The gods are with us."
Then the Doctor yelled, "Water, we need water! Quintus, all of you, get water! Donna!"
It wasn't long after he'd said those words that a man with a balding head had yelled, "Blessed are we to see the gods!"
In response to the man's words, the creature had leaned its head forward and fire had come pouring out of its mouth and completely engulfed the man in its flames before the man had completely disappeared without a trace.
While Annabelle only silently eyed the scorch marks that remained on the side of the fountain with her head tilted to the side just a bit more than it already was, the Doctor quickly raised his hands and said to the creature, "Talk to me, that's all I want. Talk to me, just tell me who you are. Don't hurt these people!"
While the Doctor continued to insist that the creature talk to him about what it wanted, Annabelle quickly turned her head when she heard the sound of muffled screaming, which allowed Annabelle to just barely see Donna being dragged off by women with paint on their faces and red robes that covered them from head to toe.
Then she took notice of how one of the women looked over at Evelina before she walked away– leaving Annabelle to look between them with narrowed eyes.
Then Annabelle glanced over at the Doctor, while he said to the creature, "I'm the Doctor. Just tell me who you are."
It wasn't long after he'd said those words that Quintus had gathered some water into a bucket of sorts before throwing it onto the creature, which resulted in the creature coming to an abrupt halt and then turning to stone.
It wasn't until it had started to fall apart and break into several pieces before falling onto the floor that Annabelle sped out of the home and in the direction of where she could hear Donna's muffled screaming.
* * *
From where she was laid on a slab of stone, Donna said, "You have got to be kidding me."
With a blade held in her hand, one of the women said, "The false prophet will surrender both her blood and her breath."
In turn, Donna said to her, "I'll surrender you in a minute. Don't you dare."
As she looked down at Donna, the woman said to her, "You will be silent."
Donna replied, "Listen, sister, you might have eyes on the back of your hands, but you'll have eyes in the back of your head by the time I finish with you. Let me go!"
As she continued to stare down at Donna, the woman yelled, "This prattling voice will cease forever!"
While Annabelle only tilted her head with her eyes narrowed, the Doctor said, "Oh, that'll be the day."
After each of the women had let out gasps and turned to face the Doctor, the woman with the blade in her hand said to him, "No man is allowed to enter the Temple of Sybil."
As he walked towards them, the Doctor replied, "Well, that's alright. Just us girls. Do you know, I met the Sybil once? Yeah, hell of a woman. Blimey! She can dance the tarantella. Nice teeth. Truth be told, I think she had a bit of a thing for me. I said it'd never last. She said, 'I know'. Well, she would." Then he stopped just behind Donna and asked her, "You alright there?"
In turn, Donna said to him, "Oh, never better."
The Doctor told her, "I like the toga."
Donna replied, "Thank you. And the ropes?"
With a mere tilt of his head, the Doctor said to her, "Not so much." As he went to undo the chains that were keeping her pinned to the slab of rock with the use of his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor asked her, "Anyway, have you seen Annabelle recently? Because I can't seem to find her anywhere, no matter where I look. There aren't any missing people, no headless bodies are being left to lie around the entirety of Pompeii. It's as if she's disappeared without a trace."
When Donna only shook her head at him, he started to turn his head to look around for Annabelle in the Temple of Sybil, only to stop when he saw that Annabelle was now standing beside him.
Then he said, "Oh, Annabelle! Hello. Tell me, how have you been?" When Annabelle only tilted her head at him and simply blinked her eyes at him, he said with a nod of his head, "Good to hear, good to hear. Glad that you're doing much better than you were before you disappeared on me."
Then he opened his mouth to say something more to Annabelle, only to stop when the woman with the blade asked him, "What magic is this?"
As he shoved the sonic screwdriver back into his coat, the Doctor said, "Let me tell you about the Sybil, the founder of this religion." While Donna simply got off of the slab of rock that they were previously keeping her chained to, the Doctor said, "She would be ashamed of you. All her wisdom and insight turned sour. Is that how you spread the word, eh? On the blade of a knife?"
The woman replied, "Yes, a knife that now welcomes you."
It wasn't until the woman had raised the blade high above her head that a voice could be heard saying to them, "Show me this man."
In response to the voice, nearly all of the robed women had sat on the floor before the woman with the blade in her hand said, "High Priestess, the stranger will defile us."
In turn, the voice said to her, "Let me see. This one is different. He carries starlight in his wake."
The Doctor replied, "Oh, very perceptive. Where do these words of wisdom come from?"
The High Priestess told him, "The gods whisper to me."
In turn, the Doctor said to the High Priestess, "Oh, they've done far more than that." As he turned to the robed women, the Doctor asked, "Might I beg audience? Look upon the High Priestess."
After the curtains had been pulled aside and the three of them could see a figure covered in rock, Donna said, "Oh, my God! What's happened to you?"
The High Priestess told her, "The heavens have blessed me."
While Annabelle only silently eyed the High Priestess with her head still tilted to the side, the Doctor said, "If I might..." After being granted the chance to approach the High Priestess and then grabbing onto her hand, the Doctor asked her, "Does it hurt?"
The High Priestess replied, "It is necessary."
The Doctor asked her, "Who told you that?"
The High Priestess said to him, "The voices."
It was then that Donna asked her, "Is that what's gonna happen to Evelina? Is this what's gonna happen to all of you?"
The woman with the blade had made her way over towards Donna and rolled up one of her sleeves before she said, "The blessings are manifold."
After lightly grabbing onto the woman's stoned arm, Donna turned to the High Priestess and said, "They're stone."
In turn, the Doctor said, "Exactly." After turning his back on the High Priestess, he said, "The people of Pompeii are turning to stone before the volcano erupts. But why?"
With a mere raise of her head, the High Priestess asked him, "This word, this image in your mind, this volcano, what is that?"
The Doctor replied, "More to the point, why don't you know about it? Who are you?"
The High Priestess told him, "High Priestess of the Sibylline."
With a shake of his head, the Doctor said to her, "No, no, no, I'm talking to the creature inside you. The thing that's seeding itself into a human body, in the dust in the lungs. Taking over the flesh and turning it into what?"
With a shake of her own head, the High Priestess said, "Your knowledge is impossible."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Oh, but you can read my mind. You know it's not. I demand you tell me who you are!"
It was then that a deep voice– coming from the High Priestess– was heard saying, "We are awakening."
The same woman from before yelled, "The voice of the gods!"
Then each of the women had chanted simultaneously, "Words of wisdom. Words of power. Words of wisdom. Words of power. Words of wisdom..."
With a quick turn of his head, the Doctor said, "Name yourself. Planet of origin, galactic coordinates, species designation, according to the universal ratification of the Shadow Proclamation."
After the High Priestess had stood up from where she was sitting, the same deep voice was heard yelling, "We are rising!"
In turn, the Doctor yelled, "Tell me your name!"
After the hood had been ripped down from the High Priestess's head, the creature yelled, "Pyrovile!"
It was then that each of the women started to chant 'Pyrovile', which got Annabelle to merely turn her head and blink at them with a blank look on her face and her head tilted to the side.
Then Donna asked the Doctor, "What's a Pyrovile?"
The Doctor told her, "That's a Pyrovile. Growing inside her. She's at halfway stage."
Donna asked him, "What, and that she turns into?"
The Doctor said to her, "That thing in the villa, that was an adult Pyrovile."
Then the Pyrovile said to him, "And the birth of a Pyrovile will incinerate you, Doctor."
In response to the Pyrovile's words, the Doctor had proceeded to pull a water gun out of his coat before he said, "I warn you. I'm armed." Then– with a nod of his head– the Doctor said, "Donna, get that grille open."
In turn, Donna said to him, "What the..."
With another nod of his head, the Doctor said to her, "Just..." While Donna went to do as she was told, the Doctor asked, "What are the Pyrovile doing here?"
The Pyrovile told him, "We fell from the heavens. We fell so far and so fast, we were rendered into dust."
With a nod of his head, the Doctor said, "Right. Creatures of stone shatter on impact. When was that, seventeen years ago?"
The Pyrovile said to him, "We have slept beneath for thousands of years."
The Doctor replied, "Okay, so seventeen years ago woke you up. And now you're using human bodies to reconstitute yourself. But why the psychic powers?"
The Pyrovile told him, "We opened their minds and found such gifts."
With a mere tilt of his head, the Doctor said, "Fine, so you force yourself inside a human brain, use their latent psychic talent, I get that– I get that, yeah. But seeing the future, that is way beyond psychic. You can see through time. Where does the gift of prophecy come from?"
It wasn't long after he asked that question that Donna said, "I've got it."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Now, get down."
Donna replied, "What? Down there?"
As he backed away from the Pyrovile and each of the women in the room, the Doctor said to her, "Yes, down there." Then he looked back at the Pyrovile and asked, "Why can't this lot predict the volcano? Why is it being hidden?"
It was then that the same woman from before quickly raised her head and said, "Sisters, I see into his mind. The weapon is harmless."
With a mere tilt of his head, the Doctor said, "Yeah, but it's gotta sting."
Then he repeatedly sprayed water at the Pyrovile, which got it to let out a scream and this alone allowed Donna, Annabelle and the Doctor to quickly drop into the opening that Donna had made out of the Temple of Sybil.
After they'd each landed on the other side of the opening for the vapors, Donna said to the Doctor, "You fought her off with a water pistol. I bloody love you!"
After quickly turning his back on Donna and looking behind where Donna and Annabelle were standing, the Doctor yelled, "This way!"
Donna asked him, "Where we going now?"
The Doctor told her, "Into the volcano."
In turn, Donna said to him, "No way."
The Doctor replied, "Yes way." After shoving the water gun into his coat and starting to walk away from them, he said, "Have it your way."
* * *
As she walked after Annabelle and the Doctor, Donna asked, "But if it's aliens setting off the volcano, doesn't that make it alright for you to stop it?"
The Doctor told her, "It's still part of history."
Donna replied, "But I'm history to you, just like Annabelle is history to you. You saved me in 2008, you saved us all. And from what you told me, you saved Annabelle from that situation of hers that you won't tell me about. Why is that different?"
The Doctor said to her, "Some things are fixed, some things are in flux. Pompeii is fixed, just as what happened to Annabelle is also fixed."
While Annabelle only narrowed her eyes at the mere mention of what had been done to her, Donna asked him, "How do you know which is which?"
After coming to a halt and turning around to face Donna, the Doctor told her, "Because that's how I see the universe. Every waking second, I can see what is, what was, what could be, what must not. It's the burden of a Time Lord, Donna. And I'm the only one left."
After the three of them had started to walk once more, Donna asked him, "How many people died?"
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Stop it!"
Donna yelled, "Doctor! How many people died?"
The Doctor told her, "Twenty thousand."
With her eyebrows furrowed, Donna asked him, "Is that what you can see, Doctor? All twenty thousand? And you think that's alright, do you?"
It was then that the wailing of a Pyrovile was heard, which got Annabelle to simply turn her head at the sound, shortly before she heard the Doctor say, "They know we're here. Come on!"
* * *
After they had each come to a halt and sat down behind one of the many rocks in the dormant volcano, the Doctor said, "It's the heart of Vesuvius. We're right inside the mountain."
While Annabelle silently eyed each of the Pyroviles, Donna said, "There's tons of 'em."
Then the Doctor pulled out a miniature telescope and brought it up to his eyes as he asked, "What's that thing?"
When the wailing of another Pyrovile was heard, Donna said to him, "Well, you better hurry up and think of something. Rocky IV's on its way."
It wasn't long afterwards that the Doctor said, "That's how they arrive. Or what's left of it. Escape pod." As he started to lower the miniature telescope, he said, "Prison ship. Gene bank."
Donna asked him, "But why do they need a volcano? Maybe it erupts and they launch themselves back into space or something."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "No, I think it's worse than that."
With a shake of her head, Donna replied, "How can it be worse?" After the sound of a Pyrovile roaring could be heard, Donna said to him, "Doctor, it's getting closer."
It was then that a voice could be heard yelling, "Heathens!" While Annabelle only blankly stared in the direction of where Lucius was currently standing on the other side of the volcano, Lucius yelled, "Defile us! They would desecrate your temple, my lord gods!"
Then the Doctor said, "Come on."
While Annabelle only tilted her head at Lucius and her veins started to come onto display as she listened to the sound of his heartbeat, Donna started to run after the Doctor as she yelled, "We can't go in!"
The Doctor replied, "Well, we can't go back." Then he turned his head and yelled, "Come on, Annabelle!"
After only blinking to herself, Annabelle simply sped after the two of them, while she heard Lucius yell, "Crush them! Burn them!"
It wasn't long afterwards that the three of them were forced to come to a halt when a roaring Pyrovile had suddenly revealed itself to them and then proceeded to take a step towards them, shortly before the Doctor had pulled out his water gun and started to spray the water at the Pyrovile.
In response to getting water sprayed at it, the Pyrovile let out a roar and smoke started to come out of its face.
It wasn't long after it had let out yet another roar that the Doctor had grabbed Annabelle by the arm and started to run off with her and Donna– which resulted in Annabelle clenching her hands into fists as she felt her anger start to rise up inside of her once again and the paralyzing fear that came along with it.
And while Annabelle did what she could to keep the paralyzing fear at bay for the time being, Lucius yelled, "There's nowhere to run, Doctor, daughter of Mikael and daughter of London!"
In turn, the Doctor said to him and the Pyroviles, "Now then, Lucius, my Lord Pyrovillian. Don't get yourselves in a lava." Then he turned to Donna and said, "In a lava? No?"
After seeing the look that Donna had on her face, the Doctor said to himself, "No." Then he turned to the Pyroviles as he said, "But if I may beg the wisdom of the gods before we perish. Once this new race of creatures is complete, then what?"
Lucius told him, "My masters will follow the example of Rome itself, an almighty empire, bestriding the whole of civilization!"
While Annabelle only winced to herself in response to his use of the word 'master', Donna asked the Pyroviles, "But if you've crashed, and you've got all this technology, why don't you just go home?"
Lucius said to her, "The heaven of Pyrovillia is gone."
In turn, the Doctor asked, "What do you mean, gone? Where's it gone?"
Lucius yelled, "It was taken! Pyrovillia is lost. But there is heat enough in this world for a new species to rise!"
The Doctor replied, "Yeah, I should warn you. It's seventy percent water out there."
In turn, Lucius yelled, "Water can boil and everything will burn, Doctor!"
With a mere turn of his head, the Doctor said, "Then the whole planet is at stake. Thank you, that's all I needed to know. Donna!"
Then– once more– he grabbed onto Annabelle and pulled her into the pod with him and then proceeded to shut the door to the pod behind himself and Annabelle, while Annabelle simply backed herself away from him and rubbed one of her hands onto the part of her arm that the Doctor had grabbed.
While Donna's eyebrows had simply furrowed in response to how Annabelle was acting after she'd been grabbed by the Doctor, Annabelle could hear Lucius say, "You have them, my lords."
And while Annabelle tried to keep her distance from the Doctor, Donna asked, "Could we be any more trapped?" After a couple seconds of silence, she said, "A little bit hot."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "See, the energy converter takes the lava. Uses the power to create a fusion matrix which welds Pyrovile to human. Now it's complete, they can convert millions."
With a shake of her head, Donna asked him, "Well, can't you change it with these controls?"
The Doctor replied, "Of course I can. But don't you see? That's why the soothsayers can't see the volcano. There is no volcano. Vesuvius is never gonna erupt. The Pyrovile are stealing all its power. They're gonna use it to take over the world."
Donna said to him, "But you can change it back."
The Doctor told her, "Well, I can invert the system so that the volcano will blow them up, yes, but that's the choice, Donna. It's Pompeii or the world."
In turn, Donna said to him, "Oh, my God."
Then the Doctor said to her, "If Pompeii is destroyed, then it's not just history. It's me. I make it happen."
While the Doctor messed around with the controls, Donna said to him, "But the Pyrovile are made of rocks. Maybe they can't be blown up."
The Doctor told her, "Vesuvius exploded with the force of twenty-four nuclear bombs. Nothing can survive it. Certainly not us."
With a nod of her head, Donna said to him, "Never mind us."
After looking away from Donna and making a point of glancing over at an annoyed-looking Annabelle Mikaelson, the Doctor turned his attention back over to the controls as he said, "Push this lever and it's over. Twenty thousand people..."
After several seconds of him just staring down at the lever, Donna put her own hands onto the lever– just moments before the lever was pushed down and Annabelle could hear Lucius yelling, "No! No!"
* * *
While the three of them quickly made their way through the city of Pompeii and back in the direction of Caecilius's home, Annabelle could only hear one of two things.
The first being the ongoing eruption of Vesuvius.
And the other being the constant screaming of those that lived in the city of Pompeii.
And it was because of hearing their constant screaming and watching each of them try to run to safety from what would eventually be known as a volcanic eruption that Annabelle slowly started to feel the usual feeling for her– one being annoyance– as they all continued to run and scream in the streets of the city.
And the annoyance and the slowly growing urge of tearing into someone's neck only seemed to worsen when the Doctor grabbed onto her arm in his own attempt of making her move faster and not be caught in the lava that was– more than likely– racing down the sides of the volcano and towards the street that they were running on at that exact moment.
And while Annabelle silently fought against the urge to rip her arm out of the Doctor's grasp and kill him at that exact moment for something that was beyond his control, the sound of a baby crying could be heard, shortly before she heard Donna yell, "No, don't go to the beach! Don't go to the beach! Go to the hills! Listen to me! Don't go to the beach! It's not safe! Listen to me!" Then she turned to a crying child and said to him, "Come here."
Then a woman quickly ran up to the young boy and yelled, "Give him to me!"
Then the Doctor grabbed onto Donna and said to her, "Come on."
* * *
After the three of them had run back into the home of Caecilius, Caecilius said, "You can't save us, Doctor."
While Annabelle only silently stared at the way that Caecilius and his family held onto one another as the destruction from Vesuvius continued to occur from the outside of their home, the Doctor only stared at Caecilius for a moment and then proceeded to run over towards his TARDIS with Annabelle continuing to be dragged with him, which got Donna to yell, "No! Doctor, you can't!" When Annabelle and the Doctor had only entered the TARDIS, Donna turned to the TARDIS once more and yelled, "Doctor!"
Then– after an explosion in another section of the home had occurred– Donna quickly turned her head when the sound of the TARDIS's whirring could be heard before she turned to Caecilius and his family and then started to make her way over towards the TARDIS herself.
It wasn't until she'd closed the door behind herself that Donna yelled, "You can't just leave them!"
The Doctor replied, "Don't you think I've done enough?" After going towards another part of the controls, he said, "History is back in place and everyone dies."
With a point of her finger, Donna yelled, "You've got to go back! Doctor, I'm telling you, take this thing back!" After watching the Doctor pull down a lever before going towards another part of the controls, Donna said to him, "It's not fair."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "No, it's not."
Donna told him, "But your own planet. It burned."
With a raise of his head, the Doctor said to her, "That's just it. Don't you see, Donna? Can't you understand? If I could go back and save them, then I would. But I can't. I can never go back. I can't. I just can't. I can't."
With a shake of her head, Donna said to him, "Just someone. Please. Not the whole town. Just save someone."
While Annabelle simply stared down at the part of her arm that the Doctor had grabbed with her eyes narrowed, the Doctor simply raised his head and simply stared at a crying Donna Noble.
* * *
With her back leaned against the TARDIS, Annabelle watched as the dark clouds from Vesuvius and the lava that came with it covered the entirety of Pompeii and simply listened to the screaming of those that had been caught up in it.
And while she listened to the screaming start to lessen more and more until there were no more screams to be heard, the Doctor said with a mere turn of his head, "It's never forgotten, Caecilius. Oh, time will pass, man will move on, and stories will fade, but one day, Pompeii will be found again. In thousands of years. And everyone will remember you."
It was then that Donna took a couple of steps forward and asked, "What about you, Evelina? Can you see anything?"
With a shake of her head, Evelina said, "The visions have gone."
The Doctor told her, "The explosion was so powerful, it cracked open a rift in time. Just for a second. That's what gave you the gift of prophecy. It echoed back into the Pyrovillian alternative. But not anymore. You're free."
While Annabelle started to narrow her eyes as she stared down at the devastation that was still occurring to the entirety of Pompeii, Metella asked, "But tell me, who are you, Doctor? With your words and your temple containing such size within."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Oh, I was never here. Don't tell anyone."
As he took a step forward, Caecilius said, "The great god Vulcan must be enraged. It's so volcanic. It's like some sort of... volcano. All of those people."
And while Caecilius simply pulled Metella into his arms and the both of them had simply cried to themselves, Quintus went over to his sister and grabbed her by the hand, shortly before both the Doctor and Donna had made their way back over towards the TARDIS.
And while the two of them had stepped back into the TARDIS, Annabelle only remained outside for a moment longer and watched as more smoke and lava continued to come pouring out of the former mountain Vesuvius and fell down towards the already ruined city of Pompeii.
And while Annabelle continued to watch the ongoing destruction of Pompeii, Donna nodded her head at the Doctor as she said to him, "Thank you."
In turn, the Doctor said to her, "Yeah." As Donna started to make her way over towards him, he told her, "You were right. Sometimes I need someone– someone that isn't okay with the deaths of thousands or millions of people. Welcome aboard."
With yet another nod of her head, Donna said to him, "Yeah."
It wasn't long afterwards that Annabelle herself had stepped into the TARDIS and closed the door behind herself, which allowed the Doctor to pull down the lever and the TARDIS to eventually disappear from the hills above Pompeii– leaving Caecilius and his family to continue to watch the destruction of their city and cry to themselves at the thought of all of those that had lost their lives as a result of the eruption of Vesuvius and the lava and clouds of ash that had come down and killed anything and anyone that it had crossed paths with.