𝗔𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝘄𝗼, 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻.
𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗙𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆.
Season four, episode six:
The Doctor's Daughter- Part Three.
- ~ -
"Spread out!" Cobb yelled out as his army burst down the hallway, guns at the ready. Donna guided Jenny away swiftly, earning a nod of appreciation from Lynnette as she and the Doctor stood together, darkened gazes falling on the man.
The Doctor was stiff, unmoving as he stated his harsh words, "I warned you, Cobb. If the Source is a weapon, I will make sure you never use it."
Lynnette flashed a smile, teeth bared, "You'll find I'm very good at breaking things that get in my way."
Cobb glared, lifting his sleek gun without hesitation, "People are going to die today and It isn't going to be me."
Lynnette snorted as she yanked the Doctor to the side, a sort of delight in her chest. His confidence would soon take a hit he wouldn't be able to recover from and that was going to be beautiful.
The Doctor tapped methodically on her hand, fingers drawing circles and dots and many other configurations that she could only guess to be Gallifreyan. Sympathy stretched across her. There had only been one time when he'd regressed back to speaking only his native language. It was during the night when the weight of killing the Master had truly settled in. She didn't want that to happen again.
As they walked further down the winding maze, drawing closer to the source with every second, Jenny began to ask every question under the Sun. Her curiosity was only comparable to the Doctor's, as was her desire to know everything there was.
"So you travel together with them?" Jenny inquired, bouncing on her feet as she walked.
Donna nodded, "Yeah. They took me away one day and I've been adventuring with them ever since."
"And what's that like, the travelling?" She tilted her head, eyes glimmering.
"Never a dull moment," Donna smiled wistfully, "Can be terrifying, brilliant and funny - sometimes all at the same time. I've seen some amazing things though. Whole new worlds."
"Oh, I'd love to see new worlds," Jenny spoke softly as if the idea was a mere fantasy.
"You will. Won't she, you two?" Donna directed the question to the pair.
For Lynnette, the answer was simple. Yes, she would. But she was not the one who'd lost her children and grandchildren in war and strife and a pitiful struggle for peace, she didn't carry the same scars as the Doctor.
"Hm?" He murmured. Lynnette knew he'd heard the question. His hand had clenched her own.
Donna stepped forward, probing, "Do you think Jenny'll see any new worlds?"
He let out a short breath, eyes flickering to Lynnette.
She smiled gently at him, trying to convey that she knew his conflict and that she would support him every step of the way as she adjusted to having a child once again. She lifted her spare hand to his hand and nodded.
His lips twitched upwards as his eyes met Jenny's, "I suppose so."
Elation stretched across the girl's features as the realisation dawned upon her like the sunrise stretching across the bleakest of nights, bringing about new hope. Her eyes darted between the trio as she breathed, "You mean...You mean, you'll take me with you?"
"We can't leave you here, can we?" The Doctor hummed.
"I still have so many tricks I gotta teach you," Lynnette chimed in, leaning against her partner.
Excitement bubbled across her chest as their daughter bounded over to them with the lightness of a feather, throwing her arms around them tightly as she exclaimed, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" When she pulled away there was newfound life in her expression as she spoke, "Come on, let's get going!"
"Careful, there might be traps!" The Doctor yelled out as she strode away, hand tightening against Lynnette's once more.
Lynnette's brows creased in worry.
"Kids! They never listen!" Donna hummed.
Silence.
She twisted to look at the pair, first seeing the anxious expression on Lynnette's face and then the foreboding one on the Doctor's. It looked like he was grimacing, staring out a storm that tore apart anything that dared to step in its path.
She spoke slowly, cautiously, "Oh, I know that look. See it a lot around our way. Blocks with pushchairs and frowns. You've got dad-shock."
"Dad-shock?" The Doctor huffed, perhaps a little harshly.
Donna nodded, "Sudden, unexpected fatherhood. Takes a bit of getting used to."
Lynnette remembered the face her adopted father made in the photo her aunt showed her when she'd dating the day she'd first been adopted. Their expressions weren't quite the same, but what did Lynnette know? He'd hardly been a good father.
"No, it's not that," The Doctor said softly, flatly. He wanted this conversation to end, to keep the secret of his failure to his children close to his chest.
"Well, what is it then? Having Jenny in the Tardis, is that it?" Donna inquired, she wasn't going to let this subject go until she understood, "What's she gonna do, cramp your style? Like you've got a sports car and she'll turn it into a people-carrier?"
"I thought you said we've got a box?" Lynnette teased softly, quick to elevate the pressure and give the Doctor an out.
He let out a deep, shuddered breath as he admitted his secret, "Donna, I've been a father before."
"What?" Donna's face was stricken with bewilderment.
Lynnette rubbered her thumb along the Doctor's hand, feeling the way it trembled in her own.
"I lost all that a long time ago. Along with everything else," He said simply, he could not take baring his soul any more than he already had, he would not dare to mention the beauty of his children, the way their laughs sounded or the way his hearts were shredded when they died.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know," Donna murmured, Lynnette brushed her hand against her shoulder in understanding, "Why didn't you tell me? You talk all the time, but you don't say anything. It's like whenever anything gets too close, you knock it off and Lynnette twists it away."
The Doctor'seyes found their way to Lynnette's figure, they always tended to when he was faced with a confrontation that made him want to curl away and rest in the quiet solitude of his mind's oblivion. A deep sigh left his lips, soft and unsure, "I know, I just..." Despite how much they stung, he had to force his words from his lips, "When I look at her now I can see them. The hole they left. All the pain that filled it. I just don't if I can face that every day."
Lynnette circled her thumb around his hand, familiar with the roughness of it as she sympathised, "You're not going to do it alone, darling. I'm here with you every step of the way, through the good and the bad. Always."
He nodded, knowing that glowing glint in her eyes only held the truth, she'd stand by his side for the rest of their lives, the two of them tethered together.
Donna smiled in agreement, "And it won't be like that forever. She'll help you. We all will."
A ruined breath left the Doctor's mouth, pain rippling across his features, turning them to stone, "But when they died, that part of me died with them. It'll never come back. Not now."
"I'll tell you something Doctor, something I've never told you before. I think you're wrong," Donna spoke, staring the Doctor in his eyes, unmoving from her stance. She'd seen the glimmer in his eyes when Jenny had chosen not to fight.
Lynnette nodded, grabbing his other hand gently, tenderly, "You and I both know that things that are buried never stay buried forever."
He swallowed.
Bullets echoed distantly but they were close enough to be heard.
Jenny burst round the corner, running back to her family, "They've blasted through the beams. Time to run again! Love the running! Yeah?"
And he fell back into that old roll again.
"Love the running," He smiled at her, warmed by the bright grin on his daughter's face, so like Lynnette's.
Lynnette laughed, "Well we better get going then!"
And off they shot, sprinting down the hallway, eager to make the biggest gap possible between them and the soldiers who knew nothing but war and death.
Briefly, Lynnette wondered how Martha was. Whatever was happening to her was bound to be hectic but Lynnette knew she could handle it. Martha Jones had a special kind of determination that made even immortals turn away in fear.
- ~ -
The Doctor and Lynnette came to a harsh halt, heads darting in multiple directions as gunfire echoed all around, ceaseless. Every so often someone was hit in a war that left them crying out in pain.
Lynnette shivered despite the heat in her body. The metal beneath her feet suddenly seemed much more sinister. How many people had died here? How many had disregarded their own lives because a whole new battalion could be made only a few hours later? How many had lived only a few short moments? In this place, the valve of life had become meaningless.
"We're trapped," Donna breathed an edge of fear in her voice.
"Can't be," The Doctor murmured, "This must be the temple."
"Secret entrance by any chance?" Lynnette hummed, automatically feeling along the walls around them, searching for any hint or trick that was cleverly disguised.
The Doctor nodded, hands tapping a gaint red wall, "This is the door."
"Sonic it," Lynnette spoke.
"And again! Donna chimed over the ever-growing-louder yells of battle, "We're down to 1-2 now..."
"I've got it!" The Doctor exclaimed, pulling his Sonic out of his pocket, a proud grin lining his lips as he revealed the circuit board.
"I can hear them," Jenny called out, worried eyes trained on the edge of the hallway, waiting for them to dart around the corner and gun them all down.
"Nearly done!" The Doctor chimed as sparks flew around his face.
"These can't be a cataloguing system," Donna hummed, tilting her head as she stared at the numbers she had written.
"They're getting closer!" Jenny yelled.
Lynnette drew her away from the edge of the corridor, she wasn't about to Jenny be hit with an assault of bullets that would rip through her, stilling her body in the most horrific of ways.
"They're too similar, too familiar," Donna continued to hum, trying to figure out what she was looking at.
"Got it!" The Doctor shouted as the door opened.
"They're coming!"
Lynnette ushered Jenny and Donna inside as the Doctor rushed to the control panel on the other side, quickly working on it.
The soldiers ran down the hallway, yelling as they went, a sort of war-cry that millions of soldiers must have repeated before they went to meet their maker in their final battles. They were spearheaded by Heneral Cobb, fortified by years of leadership and cold determination.
"Close the door!" Jenny exclaimed, fear cracking her confident bravado.
The door slammed shut.
The girl let out a sigh, "That was close!"
Lynnette smiled, "Gets the adrenaline going, right?"
"No fun otherwise," Breathed the Doctor as he tucked his sonic away.
Lynnette whistled suddenly as her eyes latched on to what towered over them only a few meters away, "You don't see that every day."
It was giant, so much greater than anything they'd seen since they'd first arrived here. It was almost incomprehensible. The humans and Hath that resided here were covered in dirt and grime, hardened by brutality and hardship and yet there it was, the most pristene machine Lynnette had ever seen.
"It's not what I'd call a temple," Donna breathed as the four of them rushed to the edge of the railing to look at the structure.
"It looks more like..." Jenny breathed.
"Fusion-drive transport!" The Doctor exclaimed, "It's a spaceship!"
Donna's eyes widened, "The original one? The one the first colonists arrived in?"
"It's in fucking good shape to be that old," Lynnette hummed, studying the sleek metal that comprised the massive ship, "I bet it took ages to build. My patience would erupt If I had to work on something as time-consuming as this."
The Doctor snorted in amusement as he stood by her side, "It could be but the power cells would have run down after all that time. This one's still powered up and functioning. Come on!"
The Doctor led them higher, circling around the metal stairs, surrounded by machines and other devices Lynnette would never be able to fully understand, all she knew was that there was so much metal in the area that the air had begun to smell like iron. Like blood. She cringed.
Coming to a halt, they all stared at the red wall where sparks were flying, a long, seared line through it. Someone was cutting through.
Jenny let out an unsteady breath, "It's the Hath. That door's not gonna last much longer, "They began to move away, "If General Cobb gets through down there, war's gonna break out."
"Look, look, look, look!" The Doctor exclaimed suddenly, darting into a small area covered by railings and crates. Hidden behind it all was a box with a screen, it gleamed an almost hypnotizing green-blue.
"What is it?"Lynnette inquired, glancing back at the wall anxiously.
"Ship's log!" The Doctor hummed, excited to finally be able to piece together the mystery, "' First wave of Human-Hath co-colonisation of Messaline.'"
Jenny blinked, eyes widening, "So it is the original ship."
"But how has it stayed in such good condition?" Lynnette creased her brow.
Donna huffed, "Well, what happened?"
"'Phase One. Construction,' They used robot drones to build the city," Muttered the Time Lord swiftly, eyes scanning over the pixilated text blurring the screen. It was so bright Lynnette's head had begun to thump with a gentle pain across her temple.
"But, does it mention the war?" Donna questioned, as eager as he was to discover the truth of all the ceaseless bloodshed.
"Final entry..." Began The Doctor, attention spiking, "'Misson commander dead. Still no agreement on who would assume leadership. Hath and Humans have divided into sections.' That must be it! A power vacuum! The crew divided into two factions and turned on each other. Start using progenation machines and suddenly you've got two armies fighting a never-ending war."
"Donna...?" Lynnette trained off quietly as the woman stepped to the side, eyes fixated on yet another set of numbers. Only these numbers were on another screen, this one was a thick black, the numbers in a gleaming red.
"Two armies that are now both outside," Jenny spoke seriously, trying to grasp the sheer gravity of how bad their position could become.
Donna tilted her head, "Look at that."
The Doctor furrowed his brows, "It's like the numbers in the tunnels."
"No, no, no, no," Donna began, "But listen...I spent six months working as a temp in Hounslow Library, and I mastered the Dewey Decimal System in two days flat. I'm good with numbers!"
Lynnette smiled as she watched Donna's confidence grow.
"It's staring us in the face!" Donna exclaimed with a bright grin.
Jenny's face stretched into confusion, mirroring the reflection of both her parents, "What is?"
She turned to face them, a glimmer of brightness in her eyes as she hummed, "It's the date."
Moving forward, the Doctor pulled off his glasses, eager for Donna to continue with her ingenious discovery. Donna pointed to the numbers on the screen, "Assuming the first two numbers are some big old space date, then you've got year, month, day. It's th other way around, like it is in America!"
"Wait! Didn't that planet we went to after the Titanic have this kind of date on a calendar?" Lynnette tilted her head, trying to recall it.
"Yes!" The Doctor exclaimed, "It's the New Byzantine Calendar!"
Donna nodded, glancing at the paper she had written all of the other numbers on, "The codes are completion dates for each section. They finish it, they stamp the date on it. So the numbers aren't counting down, they're going out, from here, day by day, as the city got built."
Lynnette whistled, "Where have you been all my life, you brilliant woman?"
"Yes!, Oh, good work, Donna!" The Doctor agreed wholeheartedly.
She smiled at the encouragement but she still wasn't done with showing off her extraordinary mind, "Yeah! But you're still not getting it. The first number I saw back there, was 6012-07-17..." They waited for her to explain, "Well, look at the date today."
"07-24," The Doctor breathed, "No!"
"Fuck off!" Lynnette exclaimed, dumbfounded as the realisation struck her.
"What does it mean?" Jenny questioned sharply, still clueless as to what rendered her parents so shocked so easily.
"Seven days?" Uttered the Doctor, eyes so wide they looked like planets.
"That's it! Seven days!" Donna confirmed.
"That's madness," Lynnette murmured, bewildered and desperately trying to catch her wits once again.
"Just seven days?!" Gasped the Doctor, trying to wrap his head around what Donna had just revealed. It was so unbelievably crucial and yet so unbelievably impossible to understand.
Jenny's eyes darted frantically between the trio, "What do you mean, seven days?"
The trio turned to her, the Doctor breathing out the words, "Seven days since the war started."
Donna nodded, "This war started seven days ago! Just a week! A week!"
"They made it sound like it was centuries," Lynnette huffed, rubbing a hand over her face.
Jenny shook her head, "They said years!" she couldn't begin to comprehend it.
Donna shook her head, she had noticed their wording, "No. They said generations. And if they're all like you, products of those machines..."
"They could have twenty generations in a day," The Doctor breathed.
"And if they're only alive for a few hours, they'll have no real concept of time," Lynnette chimed.
His eyes glinted with great understanding as he gripped her hand, "Wach generation gets killed, passes on the legend! Oh, Donna, you're a genius!"
"Thank god we have you!" Lynnette added on. She may not have been immensely intelligent like the Doctor or be able to conjure fire like Lynnette but she didn't need to because she was Donna Noble and being that was more than enough.
"But all the buildings, the encampments, they're in ruins," Jenny protested, this was going against the very reason she was made.
Lynnette shook her head instantly, "Being disserted and being destroyed aren't the same thing."
The Doctor nodded, "They're not ruined! They're just empty! Waiting to be populated. Oh they've mythologised their entire history. The Source must be part of that too. Come on!"
"Wait!" Lynnette exclaimed suddenly.
The Doctor skidded to a halt, darting backwards to Lynnette as he held her arms in his hands, face screwed up in confusion, "What's wrong, Firefly? Is your head hurting? Do you need me to piggyback you?"
Lynnette shook her head, tilting it sideways so she could hear better.
His brow creased, wrinkles forming around his brow, bright eyes alight with understanding, "Are the Hath through? Or is it General Cobb?"
Lynnette had spent half with no one but her terrified that they'd end up dying in a desperate bid to save everyone. She had spent countless hours curled against her, reciting her breathing patterns to memory when they lay awake at night, worrying about those they loved.
Even now, Lynnette knew her just from the way she breathed.
A bright grin stretched across her face as she shot off, towards Martha Jones, shouting her name, "Martha!"
A hitched breath.
"Lynnette!"
She skidded around the corner. Heart pumping in her chest. Elation coursing through her body. She couldn't prevent the cry of relief that left her lips when she and the famialr woman collided with one another, arms wrapping around each other so tightly it was like they'd never let go.
"Thank god you're all right," Lynnette sighed, eyes darting across her features in search of injury but she found nothing aside from the remnants of tears, "Physically, at least."
Martha's lips managed a small smile, thankful Lynnette had understood and that she wouldn't push, "I can't say the same for you. You have blood on your forehead."
Lynnette groaned, "It had started to dry by the time the Doctor pulled me out of the rubble and there was no time to clean it off."
"Martha!" The Doctor exclaimed finally catching up to Lynnette, the other two following closely behind him.
Martha grinned brightly in response and moved to hug him, laughing as he exclaimed, "I should've known you wouldn't stay away from the excitement!"
Her gleaming browns saw Donna's figure, "Donna!"
Donna welcomed the hug with ease, "You're filthy, what happened to you?"
"I, um, I took the surface route," Martha said after a breath and Lynnette knew instantly that was where she had cried.
No other word could be spoken before gunfire echoed through the building, forcing them all to freeze. Lynnette clenched her jaw the second she heard Cobb's harsh, patriotic voice echo through the air. He was beginning to become quite insufferable. It'd be easy to shut him up.
The Doctor fastened his hand around Lynnette's, soothingly stroking his thumb over her knuckles. He knew what she was thinking. He didn't want her to fall victim to her anger.
A deep sigh left him, "That was the General. We haven't got much time."
"Let's go find this stupid fucking thing," Lynnette huffed, trying to console the irritation that bubbled within her.
"We don't even know what we're looking for!" Donna exclaimed.
Lynnette shared a look with Martha as they both sniffed the air. What was that? It was a sift sweet smell. It reminded Lynnette of spring when the entire world seemed to come alive with growth.
"Is it just me and Lynnette or can everyone else smell flowers too?" Martha questioned after a moment.
"Yes," The Doctor perked up like a meercat, "Bougainvillea!"
"I hate how you know what flower it is," Lynnette sighed playfully, "Makes me feel like my sense of smell is terrible."
The Doctor flashed her a grin, "That's our system, love. I smell really well and you hear really well. We've got all bases covered!"
Lynnette snorted, "We'll follow you then, bloodhound."
He rolled his eyes though he could not deny the joy in his features as he led them in the direction of the smell of flowers. Distantly, Lynnette heard the sharp shouts of General Cobb as he ordered his men into battle.
He led them upstairs, the lights casting everything everything in a bright green hue. Flowers weren't the only thing Lynnette smelt now, an array of earthy scents entered her nose, grass, leaves, bark.
She was astonished when they darted around a corner.
The entire area was teeming with life. The air was so much fresher. Trees stretched upwards, as high as they could go, flowers bloomed in all kinds of areas, an array of colours beautiful enough to be immortalised in a mural. Leaves hung down, and bushes rose up, surrounding the area in a bubble of quiet serenity. It was a tiny paradise, hidden in the centre of battle and bloodshed.
Lynnette didn't know she drifted from the group as her fingers traced the nature around her. She was entranced by it all, she'd grown so used to the grey metal of the tunnels and the vibrant colours of life were hypnotizing.
Jenny was in a similar state but as she went to turn to her father, she noticed that his attention was not on the beauty of the scenery around but fixated on her mother. His gaze was soft, softer than she'd ever seen it as she watched him watch her. As her mother dipped her face towards the flowers, smelling them with a gentle smile, she was incandescently reminded of a man having his dark world illuminated by the brightness of a warm fire.
His gaze was so unbelievably affectionate, filled with so much adoration it would make even the most romantic of poets swoon, scrambling to try and find the right words to describe such emotion.
Jenny couldn't believe that she would have a place in that kind of world, where her parents loved one another so strongly that the universe must have begun with their two souls colliding in an explosion of passion.
How many people got to say that their parents loved one another so much?
Like magnets, the Doctor and Lynnette drew closer together once more, smiling softly as their hands tethered together, both callous and both gentle.
Donna shared a look with Jenny, she too wanted to find a love that's strong one day. It was the kind of love featured only in fairytales.
"It's beautiful here," Lynnette murmured softly to her partner.
The Doctor kept his gaze on Lynnette, "The most beautiful thing I've ever seen."
"What's that?"Donna called out, brows furrowed as she motioned to something in the centre of the little paradise.
Quickly, Lynnette and the Doctor followed her direction, eyes latching onto a ball with an array of gases swirling within it, twisting against one another like a range of talented ballerinas displaying their passion for their art.
"Oh, yes!" The Doctor explained instantly, knowing exactly what he was looking at was, "Yes! This is brilliant! Isn't this brilliant?"
Lynnette nodded in agreement as they moved closer towards the ball, eyes dancing across the intricate stand it sat upon, it almost reminded her of a pillar from a temple from Ancient Greece, powerful and full of sanctuary.
Pulling off his coat, the Doctor's gleamed with childlike wonder. This is what he travelled for. To see life prevail in the most unlikely of circumstances, to see something so undeniably pure i the midst of chaos and pain, a reminder that not all the universe was dark.
Donna tilted her head, "Is that the Source?"
"It's beautiful," Jenny said earnestly, a glimmer of light in her expression. Seeing it was like seeing everything the universe had to offer. She could see all of the adventures are brilliant discoveries now. She could see how not all of creation was shrouded in war and death. Her heart leapt at the thought.
"What is it?" Martha asked quickly, brows furrowed. She had long since learnt that ot everything that appeared beautiful was safe. She'd learnt that lesson when the enamour of travelling with the Doctor and Lynnette had worn off at the devastation they brought with them. They were as beautiful as they were brutal.
Lynnette especially. She'd seen the way the Master looked at her, the words he spoke, a sort of fascination in his features. She'd spent nights wondering about the savagery the Master had driven Lynnette to. She wondered about how deep the scars ran. She thought the Doctor wondered as well.
But Lynnette would never tell the full story. She'd keep all the memories that occurred in the room she was locked in all to herself.
The Doctor blinked, not at all startled by the cautiousness he had a hand in creating, "Terraforming! It's a third-generation terraforming device."
Donna hummed, "So why are we suddenly in Kew Gardens?"
"Because that's what it does," Answered the Time Lord easily, "And this only gets bigger. Much bigger! It's in a transit state. Producing this must help keep it all stable before they finally-"
He couldn't finish his words before two sets of doors slammed open, followed by loud marching and the cold clanking sound of metal guns. The Hath and the Humans twisted around their corners at the same time, like two sides of the same dank old coin.
Cobb's eyes gleamed with anticipation, the longing for the exhilaration of fighting for your life. Lynnette tilted her head curiously. All of the other soldiers seemed to be in their twenties, the prime of their lives and yet here Cobb was, older than all of them.
"Stop! Hold your fire!" The Doctor screamed out, arms extending as he frantically looked at each side of the potential battlefield, a begging shimmer in his brown eyes.
No bullets reigned but the opposing sides remained steadfast in their preparation. They formed small squads, some crouching for better vantage points. All had their guns pointed at one another, ready for blood to be shed.
Cobb's eyes danced towards the Doctor's figure, a scoff leaving his lips, "What is this? Some kind of trap?"
"It's nothing of the sort," Lynnette huffed, nerves standing on end, practically bounding on the heels of her feet, ready to move.
"You said you wanted this war over," Began the Doctor, trying to keep the peace as much as he could, trying to delay so he could explain the truth of the colonies of Messilne.
Cobb narrowed his eyes.
"I want this war won."
Dread bubbled in Lynnette's chest. His words promised vengeful victory. He didn't care what he was fighting for anymore, he'd seen too much slaughter for that. Now all he wanted was the cold, irresistible title of being victorious.
That frightened Lynnette more than she would ever care to admit.
"You can't win. No one can," The Doctor breathed softly, hastily, "You don't even know why you're here. Your whole history, it's just Chinese Whispers. Getting more distorted the more it's passed on. This is the Source. This is what you're fighting over. A device to rejuvenate a planet's ecosystem. It's nothing mystical. It's from a laboratory. Not some creator. A cocktail of stuff for accelerated evolution. Methane, hydrogen, ammonia, amino acids, proteins, nucleic acids. It's used to make barren planets habitable."
Cobb remained unmoving.
"You could get out of here," Lynnette hummed, fingers drumming against a larger, firm leaf, "You could find so much."
The Doctor nodded, wonder in his eyes, "Look around you! It's not for killing. It's bringing life. If you allow it, it can lift you up out of these dark tunnels and into the bright, bright sunlight. No more fighting. No more killing."
These were the parents Jenny was born to. Fighters even when they did not wish to be, protectors of life, followers of adventure. Some of those brilliant features had to be in her, she knew that. She had abandoned battle in search of beauty. She knew it was worth it. Worth so much more than she would ever be able to know.
The Doctor picked up the Source with ease, yelling, "I'm the Doctor and I declare that this war is over!"
Without hesitation, he hurled the terraforming ball into the ground and watched with delight of the glass shattered, allowing the very mixture of life to escape and finally fulfil it's purpose. It rose higher and higher, a hypnotizing mix of golden and green and brown and, oh it was magnificent. It swirled, twisting around, full of such unkillable life.
Lynnette's lips twitched upwards as her hand glided through the gases.
Amazement danced through the two sides of the battle as they slowly lowered their weapons to the ground. How could they commit such atrocities after witnessing such unbridled beauty? The war had been won by no one and that was perfectly okay. Peace was victory enough for them.
"What's happening?" Jenny asked quietly, bouncing towards her parents with delightful curiosity in her eyes.
The Doctor looked upwards, "The gases will escape and trigger the terraforming process."
"What does that?" She inquired.
Lynnette smiled, "It means that life just got a whole lot bigger."
Her partner nodded, a fond gleam in his words, "It's a whole new world."
But as it turns out, the prospect of a whole new world was too much for some people. So much so they'd be willing to do anything to stay in the darkness of war.
Lynnette saw Jenny's eyes snap to the side and the felt the dread that contorted her features.
Neither could react.
Jenny's scream was high-pitched and sudden.
"No!"
The bang of the bullet was louder.
It rang deafening in Lynnette's ears as the girl fell backwards into the arms of her and her lover.
Her mind short-circuited, bewilderment stretching across her entire body as Jenny slumped in her arms. Her eyes widened as she watched rivers of dark crimson flow from the hole that had suddenly appeared in Jenny's chest.
She couldn't breathe.
She all but collapsed by the Doctor's side as they lowered their child's body to the floor.
The Doctor's words were quick, frantic, "Jenny! Jenny! Talk to us, Jenny!"
Jenny couldn't make out words, shock glimmering in her sky-blue eyes. Her hand trembled above the wound. Her breaths were unusual, winded, and suffocated.
Martha's face twisted into something Lynnette could not describe as she checked her pulse and looked over the wound.
"Is she gonna be all right?" Donna inquired softly.
Martha gave no answer.
But that was enough for Lynnette.
Her hands tremored as she reached to stroke Jenny's hair, other hand cupping her cheek, thumb running over the smooth, undamaged skin. Her entire body stung. She and the Doctor curled closer to her, keeping her safe in their own little bubble. Her head rested on the Doctor's chest like an exhausted child's would. He could not speak.
It was happening again.
"You're all right, sweet girl," Lynnette found herself saying, the tremble of her lips making it difficult.
Jenny's breath hitched, voice weak but her eyes bright as she murmured, "A new world. It's beautiful."
"Jenny," The Doctor breathed, grip tightening, "Be strong now. You need to hold on, you hear me."
His voice shook.
"We've got things to do, you and us. Eh?" He whispered, "Eh?"
Jenny nodded.
"We've got so many things to teach you, don't we?" Lynnette breathed, chest wrenching, "So many things to show you."
Jenny's hands came to clutch at her parent's own, a little child finding comfort in the warmth that only her parents could provide. She was so, so glad her parents weren't soldiers. She was so glad they had shown her a glimpse of a better life.
"We can go anywhere. Everywhere. You choose," The Doctor spoke quickly, trying to encourage her hearts to stay beating.
Jenny gasped, "That sounds good."
"Our little family, across the stars," Lynnette choked, she refused to let her vision get blurry.
"You're our daughter and we've only just got started," He smiled at her, "You're gonna be great. You're gonna be more than great. You're gonna be amazing."
"Brilliant," Lynnette whispered, pressing the girl's knuckles to her lips.
"Exactly," The Doctor forced a smile on his lips, "You hear us? Jenny?"
Jenny's lips twitched upwards as if she was about to say something bit her breath hitched sharply.
Her hand went limp in Lynnette's hold.
Her eyelids fluttered closed.
Never to open again.
They would never see those perfect eyes again.
A choked sound left Lynnette's lips as she curled impossibly closer, hands grasping her daughter tightly. The Doctor's hand wrapped around Lynnette's side, connecting them together as he pressed his temple against hers, both of them cradling their child.
A flurry of emotions. None describable.
The feeling of warmth in her chest fizzling out.
A gasp of desperation from the Doctor as he clutched them tighter, "Two hearts," He breathed sharply, "Two hearts, she's like me. If we wait. If we just wait..."
Lynnette's heart leapt at the thought. Jenny may become a different person in the face of regeneration but she'd always be Lynnette's.
"There's no sign, Doctor," Martha had seen enough tragedy to know that false hope was a very dangerous thing, "There's no regeneration. She's like you but...maybe not enough."
Maybe she's too like Lynnette.
Her heart screamed.
"No," The Doctor choked, "Too much. That's the truth of it. She's too much like me. All of the good parts of her were Lynnette."
Lynnette's breath hitched.
He pressed a kiss to her temple, then to Jenny's and rose to his feet.
She felt his anger, felt her own but it was buried by the weight of grief. This was not like Rose. This would never be like Rose. Because Rose was alive, her heart beat with the steadiness of all life. Jenny was still, her hearts would never sing their song again.
Lynnette couldn't focus on anything but Jenny.
She was still warm.
Donna and Martha stilled beside her. She knew that the Doctor was on the edge of falling into the pit of revenge. Knew that he had a gun pressed to Cobbs's face. Knew that the women were expecting Lynnette to stop him as she usually did. But she would not. If she so much as glanced at the pitiful man, she'd watch him burn to ash.
If there was one thing the human Lynnette and the alien Ikkarus shared, it was that they weren't forgiving.
Her hands caressed Jenny's face.
Their little girl.
A sob wrenched itself from her throat.
"I never would. Do you hear that? I never would," The words were sharp, full of hate, so unlike the way his hands cradled Lynnette, gentle and grieving.
"I'm with you," He whispered to her, "For eternity."
Lynnette nodded through bleary eyes as she lifted her head, orange eyes gleaming like molten gold as she called out, "Let her death be the last," Her breath hitched, "Please."
"When you start this new world," The Doctor spoke, an edge of anger cutting into his voice, "This world of Human and Hath, remember that! make the foundation of this society a man who never would and a woman who demanded for no more bloodshed!"
Lynnette leaned into the Doctor as he crouched by her side once more, the both of table to tear their eyes away from the girl who'd only lived a few short hours but who's desire to see the universe would last a lifetime.
Their little girl.
A wail escaped from her lips.
Flames burnt somewhere in the depths of Lynnette's soul. And she wanted them to consume her.
- ~ -
Lynnette felt like she was floating. The tears had not yet dried, rolling down her cheeks silently.
There was no weight in her steps, no focus in her eyes, no wrenching pain in her chest. Only a sort of emptiness, like nothing had ever existed and nothing ever would. The urge to find an everlasting fire and curl up in the centre of it was almost overwhelming, it stretched to every corner of her body.
Especially, when she gazed at Jenny, lying far too still against a bed they had decided upon until a grave could be made.
Lynnette didn't want to be there for that. She had no desire to watch her child be buried underground. She wouldn't be able to breathe.
Light shone through the dim room. It danced welcomingly against Jenny's body, calling her soul to join the burning life of the light. Lynnette swallowed, she would remember Jenny like that. She refused to see her body decay, hardened by rigimortis and then softened as her body began to rot.
"It's happening," Martha whispered, "The terraforming"
Donna nodded, "Build a city, nice and safe underground. Strip away the topsoil and there it is. And what about Jenny?"
The boy that had been there, the one that had forced the Doctor's and Lynnette's hands into the regeneration machine and helped give life to Jenny spoke, "Let us give her a proper ceremony. I think it would help us. Please."
A moment of silence.
The Doctor's careful nod.
The first words Lynnette had in hours were, "Just make sure she isn't buried."
- ~ -
Lynnette still felt weightless, like the world had no purpose. The only thing she was sure of now was the Doctor and the solidified knowledge that he'd never leave her side. He'd stay, forever.
"Jenny was the reason the Tardis brought us here," The Doctor breathed, arms curled around Lynnette, "She just got here too soon, which then created Jenny in the first place. Paradox. An endless Paradox."
Lynnette sighed, closing her eyes. There would be no end.
"Time to go home?" The Doctor murmured.
"Yeah," Martha's reply was instant and soft, "Home."
Lynnette moved from the doctor's arms and walked down the hallway, without a word.
The trio moved to follow her.
But the hallway disappeared.
A sharp noise left the Doctor's lips, "Watch over won't you?"
A gentle came from the Tardis and she started travelling through space, eager to take Martha Home and focus on the woman whose burning heart was threatening to swallow her whole.
It was coming.
And the Tardis could not stop it.
- ~ -
Valiant's Notes:
So the angst was real. I tried my hardest to make it as gut-wrenching as possible so I hope you enjoyed it. Exam pred is really starting to ramp up now but I finished my final Child Development exam so I'm done with one GCSE. Woo!
Please feel free to cote, comment, and share and I'll see you all in the next chapter,
- Valiant.