A/N- unedited yet again, so sorry for any mistakes! Comments mean a lot, especially ones on certain paragraphs (like reacting whilst reading). I try to respond to comments and messages as often as I can.
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The Doctor continues his regeneration until he directs the energy to bellow the console, into his hand. The other four in the room fully believe he's regenerating until the light stops and they look up.
The Doctor is no longer glowing with energy. He just looks a little tired and well, the same.
"Now then. Where were we?" The four just stare at him in astonishment. The women still in Jack's arms.
The Doctor checks on his now glowing hand "There now," He then blows on it and the energy seems to leave like magic. "You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but soon as I was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to. Why would I? Look at me," He adjusts his tire smugly and winks at Poppy "So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle, namely my hand. My hand there. My handy spare hand. Remember? Christmas Day, Sicora. Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand. What do you think?"
"You're still you?" Rose asks uncertainly
"I'm still me," Rose goes to hug him but instead The Doctor goes straight for Poppy who wasn't expecting that. She thought he was going to Rose. But she didn't complain and laughed happily, squeezing The Doctor tightly. They both missed the glare Rose gave Poppy.
"You can hug me, if you want. No, really. You can hug me," Donna tells Jack and Poppy slaps her arm before The Doctor finally hugs Rose.
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The five are standing around the console when the power suddenly shuts down.
"They've got us. Power's gone. Some kind of chrono loop!" The TARDIS tilts and they all fall down. The Doctor instantly making a grab for Poppy as he always does. Not thinking anything of it until Rose glares. He ignores her and helps Poppy up when the ship balances again.
"There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets. They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination," Jack says
"You said these planets were like an engine. But what for?" Donna asks gently. She could tell something was on The Doctor's mind. And she was hopeful it had something to do with her blonde best friend next to her.
"Rose, you've been in a parallel world. That world's running ahead of this universe. You've seen the future. What was it?" The Doctor's finally gets out
"It's the darkness,"
"The stars were going out," Donna realises
"One by one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dying. Basically, we've been building this, um, this travel machine, this, this era, dimension cannon, so I could. Well, so I could...."
"What?"
"So, I could come back," Rose says obviously and The Doctor smiles cheekily "Shut up," Ok, now even Poppy had to admit that little exchange was cute "Anyway, suddenly, it started to work and the dimensions started to collapse. Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole of reality. Even the Void was dead. Something is destroying everything,"
"In that parallel world, you said something about me?" Donna asks
"The dimension cannon could measure timelines, and it's, it's weird, Donna, but they all seemed to converge on you,"
"But why me? I mean, what have I ever done? I'm a temp from Chiswick,"
"Donna..." Poppy starts but the scanner starts beeping and her motivational speech is delayed.
"The Dalek Crucible. All aboard,"
"The Tardis is secured," A robotic voice speaks
"Doctor, you will step forth or die,"
"We'll have to go out. Because if we don't, they'll get in,"
"You told me nothing could get through those doors," Rose tells The Doctor
"You've got extrapolator shielding," Jack continues
"Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids, and mad. But this is a fully-fledged Dalek Empire, at the height of its power. Experts at fighting TARDIS's, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door is just wood,"
"That's comforting," Poppy mutters and The Doctor smiles gently at her.
Poppy notices Donna staring off into nothing and gently walks forward
"Donna?" The Doctor also notices and stands next to Poppy "Donna?"
"Yeah?" she snaps out of it and both her best friends take one of her hands each
"I'm sorry. There's nothing else we can do,"
"No, I know,"
"Surrender, Doctor, and face your Dalek masters,"
"Daleks," Rose laughs slightly
"Oh, God,"
"It's been good, though, hasn't it? All of us. All of it. Everything we did," he turns to each of them individually "and you were brilliant"
The Doctor leads everyone out of the TARDIS but Donna stays behind
"Daleks reign supreme. All hail the Daleks!" The Daleks repeat and when they look up, they see them all circling above
"Behold, Doctor. Behold the might of the true Dalek race,"
Poppy looks back to hold Donna's hand in fear but she isn't there.
"Donna! You're no safer in there," The Doctor shouts in but the doors slam shut before Donna can get out "What?!" The Doctor and Poppy run over and try to push open the doors
"Doctor? What have you done?"
"It wasn't me. I didn't do anything,"
"Oi! Oi, I'm not staying behind!"
"What did you do?!" The Doctor asks the Dalek supreme
"This is not of Dalek origin,"
"Stop it! She's my friend. Now open the door and let her out!"
"This is Time Lord treachery,"
"Me? The door just closed on its own,"
"Nevertheless, the Tardis is a weapon and it will be destroyed," A trapdoor opens and the TARDIS plummets through. The same feeling hit Poppy. Donna was in there!
"What are you doing? Bring it back!"
"What have you done? Where's it going?!" Poppy demands
"The Crucible has a heart of Z-neutrino energy. The TARDIS will be deposited into the core," Poppy felt tears prick her eyes. Donna would be destroyed.
"You can't. You've taken the defences down. It'll be torn apart!"
"Donna's still in there!" Poppy screams
"Let her go!" Jack says from behind Poppy and The Doctor
"The female and the Tardis will perish together. Observe. The last child of Gallery is powerless,"
An image of the TARDIS bobbing in the molten core appears. Poppy walks towards it, The Doctor close behind.
"Please. I'm begging you. I'll do anything! Put me in her place. You can do anything to me, I don't care, just get her out of there!"
"You are connected to the TARDIS. Now feel it die,"
"Total TARDIS destruction in ten reels. Nine, eight, seven, six..." It continues and The Doctor grabs Poppy's hand. Rose sees this and walks forward to grab his other one. The Doctor doesn't notice as he squeezes Poppy's hand gently.
"The Tardis has been destroyed. Now tell me, Doctor. What do you feel? Anger? Sorrow? Despair?" Poppy lets the tears fall down. Donna was gone. The TARDIS was gone. But within it all she felt hope. She had always thought her and the TARDIS shared a connection and right now she felt like it was safe. But how? Donna couldn't fix a light.
"Yeah,"
"Then if emotions are so important, surely we have enhanced you?"
"Yeah? Feel this!" Jack produces a small revolver and shoots at the Red Dalek.
"Exterminate!" It zaps Jack and he fall to the ground. Rose runs forward and The Doctor squeezes Poppy's hand so she looks up at him. He had told her about how Jack was basically immortal a while back so she wasn't too worried.
"Rose, come here. Leave him,"
"They killed him,"
"I know. I'm sorry,"
"Escort them to the vault, they are the playthings of Davros now," The Doctor and Poppy look back and Jack winks at them.
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The three were forced apart and Poppy stand in the middle of The Doctor and Rose
"Activate the holding cells," what looks like spotlight shine on each of them and all of them let curiosity get to them and touch them. A small electric shock courses through them so Poppy decides not to try and escape.
"Excellent. Even when powerless, a Time Lord is best contained,"
"Still scared of me, then?"
"Why are me and Rose contained then?" Poppy questions
"It is time we talked, Doctor. After so very long," Davros ignores Poppy
"No, no, no, no, no. We're not doing the nostalgia tour. I want to know what's happening right here, right now, because the Supreme Dalek said Vault, yeah? As in dungeon, cellar, prison. You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement like, what, a servant? Slave? Court jester?" Poppy smirks at The Doctor's half jokes.
"We have an arrangement,"
"Keep telling yourself that mate," Poppy may have been terrified but she was still going to make terrible jokes.
"I've got the word. You're the Dalek's pet!" The Doctor exclaims
"So very full of fire, is he not," Davros goes over to Poppy "But I suppose you picked that up?" He then goes to Rose "And to think you crossed entire universes, striding parallel to parallel to find him again. Only to find him with a new woman. A woman who captured his heart much quicker than you,"
"Leave her alone," The Doctor and Poppy say
"She is mine to do as I please," He goes back to Poppy "as are you,"
"Then why are we still alive?" Rose asks
"You must be here. It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophecies of Dalek Caan,"
"So cold and dark. Fire is coming. The endless flames," A small creature is sat in the remains of a Darek. His voice holds insanity
"What is that thing?"
"You've met before. The last of the Cult of Skaro. But it flew into the Time War, unprotected," The Doctor tells Rose
"Caan did more than that. He saw time. Its infinite complexity and majesty, raging through his mind. And he saw you. The three of you,"
"This I have foreseen, in the wild and the wind. The Doctor will be here as witness, at the end of everything. The Doctor and his precious Children of Time. And one of them will die," Poppy's heart drops at Caan's words. Donna could be dead, even if she felt differently.
"Was it you, Caan? Did you kill Donna? Why did the TARDIS door close? Tell me!" The Doctor's rage is seen clearly.
"Oh, that's it. The anger, the fire, the rage of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is. Why so shy? Show your companions. Show them your true self. Dalek Caan has promised me that too,"
"I have a question," Poppy starts "why are we trapped behind these," she pokes the barrier "Rose I get, she can use a gun and probably has a lot more experience than me. But me? I'm just a little helpless girl compared to the thousands of Daleks here. So why am I trapped here then? What makes me so scary?!" The lack of response angers her so she raises her voice "Because I don't bloody know! So, let me go!"
"You don't know!" Caan laughs "His soul is starting to be revealed. Ohh you hold more power than even I know,"
"What does that mean?" The Doctor asks. For himself and Poppy.
"We will discover it together. Our final journey. Because the ending approaches. The testing begins,"
"Testing of what?"
"The Reality bombs. Behold. The apotheosis of my genius," he presses a button and a screen pops up with humans standing in the middle - hands on their heads.
"Four, three, two, one, zero. Activate planetary alignment field," The Supreme Dalek speaks
"That's Z-neutrino energy, flattened by the alignment of the planets into a single string. No, Davros. Davros, you can't! You can't! No!" the humans disintegrate and Poppy's eyes widen.
"Doctor, what happened?" Rose asks
"They just bloody disintegrated!" Poppy exclaims in anger and shock.
"Electrical energy, Miss Tyler. Miss Watcher. Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The Reality bomb cancels it out. Structure falls apart. That test was focused on the prisoners alone. Full transmission will dissolve every form of matter,"
"The stars are going out," Rose mutters
"The twenty-seven planets. They become one vast transmitter, blasting that wavelength," The Doctor starts
"Across the entire universe. Never stopping, never faltering, never fading," Davros continues "People and planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and the atoms will become nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation. This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!"
"This message is for the Dalek Crucible. Repeat. Can you hear me?" Martha's voice echoes out and the trio look up at the screen where she appears.
"Put me through," The Doctor demands
"It begins As Dalek Caan foretold,"
"The Children of Time will gather, and one of them will die," Caan says cryptically
"Stop saying that. Put me through!"
"Doctor! I'm sorry, I had to," Martha says
"Oh, but the Doctor is powerless. My prisoner. State your intent," Davros tells Martha
"I've got the Osterhagen Key. Leave this planet and its people alone. Or I'll use it," she holds up an object that doesn't look like a key.
" Osterhagen what? What's an Osterhagen Key?"
"There's a chain of twenty-five nuclear warheads placed in strategic points beneath the Earth's crust. If I use the key, they detonate and the Earth gets ripped apart,"
"I'm terrified to step back home now!" Poppy exclaims.
"What? Who invented that?!"
"Well, someone called Osterhagen, I suppose," Poppy jokes and The Doctor cocks his head to the side in agreement
"Martha, are you insane?!"
"The Osterhagen Key is to be used if the suffering of the human race is so great, so without hope, that this becomes the final option,"
"That's never an option.
"Don't argue with me, Doctor! Because it's more than that. Now, I reckon the Daleks need these twenty-seven planets for something. But what if it becomes twenty-six? What happens then? Daleks? Would you risk it?"
"She's good," Rose comments
"I know right!" Poppy says in slight excitement
"Who's that?" Martha asks; referring to Rose
"My name's Rose. Rose Tyler,"
"Oh, my God. He found you," Rose smiles and goes to look at The Doctor but Poppy blocks her sight.
"Captain Jack Harkness, calling all Dalek boys and girls," Jack appears on screen "Are you receiving me? Don't send in your goons, or I'll set this thing off,"
"He's still alive. Oh, my god. That, that's my mum,"
"And Mickey," The Doctor adds seeing him in the background "Captain, what are you doing?"
"I've got a Warp Star wired into the mainframe. I break this shell, the entire Crucible goes up,"
"You can't! Where did you get a Warp Star?"
"From me," Sarah speaks up "We had no choice. We saw what happened to the prisoners,"
"Impossible. That face. After all these years.," Davros stares in astonishment at her
"Davros. It's been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith. Remember?"
"Oh, this is meant to be. The circle of Time is closing. You were there on Skaro at the very beginning of my creation,"
"And I've learnt how to fight since then. You let the Doctor go, or this Warp Star. It gets opened,"
"I'll do it. Don't imagine I wouldn't," Jack threatens
"Now that's what I call a ransom," Rose is caught up in it all she doesn't notice the look on The Doctor's face, but Poppy does
"Doctor?" she asks gently
"And the prophecy unfolds," Davros says
"The Doctor's soul is revealed. See him. See the heart of him," Caan torments
"The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor. You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time. Transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this,"
"They're trying to help," The Doctor says weakly.
"Already I have seen them sacrifice today, for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman who fell opening the Sub wave Network,"
"Who was that?"
"Harriet Jones. She gave her life to get you here," Rose tells him sorrowfully
"How many more? Just think. How many have died in your name?" Poppy stares forward and images of River fill her head
"River, what you whispered in my ear!"
"Autodestruct in ten,"
"I don't know what it means! Yet I do at the same time!"
"Nine, eight, seven,"
"It's like you woke something up in my brain! I don't understand! I know you're important!"
"Hush, now,"
"Four, three,"
"Spoilers,"
"Two, one,"
River joins two power cables together, and there is a blinding light.
"The Doctor. The man who keeps running, never looking back because he dares not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you yourself,"
"It's the Crucible or the Earth," Something happens on Martha's end and she screams "No!"
Everyone appears and Jack helps Martha up "I've got you. It's all right,"
"Don't move, all of you. Stay still," The Doctor commands them
"Guard them! On your knees, all of you. Surrender!"
"Do as he say,"
"The final prophecy is in place. The Doctor and his children, all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek, the time has come. Now, detonate the Reality bomb!"
"You can't, Davros! Just listen to me! Just stop!"
Davros laughs "Nothing can stop the detonation. Nothing and no one!" Poppy shuts her eyes in fear until a familiar noise forces them open. Tears start to well up and everyone smiles as they look in the direction of where the noise was coming from.
"But that's..."
"Impossible," Davros mutters
The TARDIS materialises.
"Oh, I knew she wasn't gone!" Poppy shouts in glee. She was referring to the TARDIS, but that also meant Donna.
A Doctor replica stands in the doorway
"Brilliant," Jack says before The New Doctor runs forward with a weapon in his hands. Davros zaps him and he drops it.
"Activate holding cell,"
Donna then runs out of the Tardis and grabs the weapon.
"Doctor! I've got it. But I don't know what to do!" Donna stares at it in fear before she suffers the same fate as The New Doctor. Only her Body gets thrown back
"Donna! Oh my God! Donna!" Poppy screams