On the Run ♦ 008. Shattering Crystals and Shattering Hearts ♦ with captoftardis

[noblexcompanion]

How long had it been since that shot rang out? How long since the sound of something dropping into the water? Seconds? Minutes? Donna could hear and feel her heartbeat drumming in her ears and in her head. Panic had frozen her to the spot. Panic and fear. What was she supposed to do? Stay put? Go out? Oh, she felt sick with fear

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[captoftardis]

The initial splash into the water shocked his system, causing him to even panic initially as he fought to raise to the surface, but the river's current pulled him back after only one gasp for air.

His shoulder throbbed and ached as much as his side now, but he didn't have time to dwell on the matter. Still struggling, he caught hold of what must've been a stereotypical log floating down the river. He clung to that for a little bit twisting and turning almost violently until he couldn't hold on any longer and slipped back in the water.

He didn't know how long he was in the river or the water itself. He just allowed his respiratory bypass kick in and work its thing before slipping into unconsciousness. The next time his eyes opened, just for the smallest crack, all he could hear was the ocean as it crashed against the shoreline. It was an almost deafening roar, blocking out other sounds, and his eyes closed again. Tired... I'm so tired..."...-tor!... Doctor

[noblexcompanion]

Donna kept telling herself to stay calm. Stay calm and find the Doctor. She kept repeating the mantra over and over in her head. Stay calm and find the Doctor. Stay calm and find the Doctor. But with every minute that passed without finding him she was becoming more and more panicked and concerned.

There was no sign of him. None at all. It was though he had simply vanished from existence. Oh that would just be typical of him, wouldn't it? Fall into a vortexy river and disappear! She picked up a stick and threw it into the water. It didn't disappear, but it did start to float away at an alarming rate.

And so Donna took off running in the direction of the current. What other choice did she have? She wouldn't sit around and do nothing!

[captoftardis]

The next time the Doctor woke up, it was from a sharp prickling sensation in his side. Ouch! - there it was again! His eyes flew open and he squirmed, "S-stop

[noblexcompanion]

Well... safe was relative. Donna was out in the open in what seemed to fast becoming a war zone with only a perception filter to keep her safe.

She had lost count of the hours she had been searching and to say her spirits were low was an understatement. She couldn't even see the TARDIS any more, but at least she remembered the way she had come - mostly. At least, she was fairly certain she remembered the way. Oh crap. She was lost.

She had to keep going though. She had to find the Doctor, she just had to. He'd do the same for her...

[captoftardis]

The next thing Donna would hear was the sounds of hoof beats on the ground in the near distance. There was a vibration growing in strength on the ground as they neared.

"Donna?!" It was a female voice, perhaps familiar to her as it belonged to Rose. Who else would be out in the fields shouting out "Doctor" without much sense other than someone seeking medical attention? Rose was determined to find her for both her sake and the Doctor's given it looked like he wouldn't rest until the reunion.

As Rose requested the horse rider to slow down, she called out again, "Donna, are you here?"

[noblexcompanion]

Oh great. Donna had cracked. She had gone stark raving bonkers. There was probably some weird alien toxin poisoning her mind. She was hearing voices. No. Not voices. A voice. Singular. A familiar voice...

"Rose!?" Oh yep. She had flipped. She'd gone crackers. Hearing the voice of her best mate's sort-of girlfriend. "Rose???!" She started to run towards the source of the voice.

[captoftardis]

The horse stopped in the middle of the field, where Rose squinted in search in the dim light for signs of the redhead. She could hear rustling of the long grasses as there clearly was movement, but whatever causing it wasn't immediately identifiable.

"Donna?" She still spoke out only softer in hopes what was causing the movement was indeed her and not some rogue members of the Faction previously mentioned. But wouldn't Donna have been seen by now? Perhaps it was still too dark...

[noblexcompanion]

Talk about giving a girl a heart attack! Donna still wasn't entirely sure she hadn't flipped and gone gaga. Or maybe she was hallucinating and was running straight into the arms of danger. But what other choice did she have?

"Oh God, Rose!" She was puffed out from running, and her wrsit, still sore from the explosion was throbbing dully. "Please tell me the Doctor's with you?!?"

[captoftardis]

The night was long, and the Doctor wasn't able to get comfortable, let alone sleep, so he waited for people to start falling asleep before he took some of the maps being stored on the horses. Creeping close to the fire, he unraveled them and looked them over, studying them. By the judge of things, he had traveled 2-4 kilometres in the river to the ocean before being washed up

[noblexcompanion]

"Oh get a room, you two." It was Donna. She had a smile on her face and a tease in her voice but she was still a little distant, which wasn't helped by the fact she hadn't slept much at all and her legs ached from all the running.

She closed the distance between them and glanced at the yuck being applied to the Doctor. She recognised it. The same yuck had been applied to her wounds by Kassia. And she'd had to drink this foul gloopy liquid too. It was gross.

"How're you feeling?"

[captoftardis]

"Still rather sore, otherwise fine, I think. You alright, Donna?" He was smiling, but he was concerned about her, well hating that he had to leave her. Given the circumstances, he didn't have a choice, but that didn't stop the guilt

[noblexcompanion]

Donna strapped up her wrist and tied up her hair out of the way. "How long do you reckon it'll take us to get there?" She asked, handing the Doctor a bottle of clean drinking water, and one for Rose. If you're going to have supersized pockets, Doctor, be prepared to be used as a packhorse for carrying things!

She took a sip from her own bottle and slipped it into her pocket. "Are we causing one of those paradox things? Kassia said you saved her as a child, right? Is that why we're here? To save her? Talk about Timey Wimey. And I thought things with that River woman were weird."

[captoftardis]

What the Doctor thought had been a wheat field actually was damage done as a retaliation in the war. He figured that out the more he looked around during the daylight as they traveled northeastern.

Gunfire could be heard in the distance the further they went and it didn't take long before they were being questioned about their standings. "Neutral!" Rose crossed her arms after being asked a third time. "We're here on our own free will, now let. Us. Pass!" It worked about three times - who would've thought Rose to be so provoked and successful in getting them in further?

Nearing the late afternoon, the kingdom could be seen on the horizon, and the tallest point looked like a castle. Particularly made of crystal, perhaps, or something similar. "Ohhh, wow."

[noblexcompanion]

The next person who asked them about their standings ran the risk of being slapped by Donna. In fact, the next person who so much as looked at them funny ran the risk of being slapped by Donna. Her glare of doom was proving to be very useful too.

When they finally caught sight of the castle, Donna's breath was stole away. It was beautiful. Even more beautiful than in her dream. It was heartbreaking to think that if her dream came to fruition that castle would be nothing but shattered remains soon enough. "It's beautiful."

She reached for the Doctor's hand, giving it a light squeeze. She'd missed holding onto him.

[captoftardis]

He glanced back and smiled at Donna, "Hopefully we'll find our answers here, yeah?" And Kassia. It was kind of scary how everything seemed to be coming in full circle for them, but if you asked him, he was ready for it to be all over.

From their journey and speaking with Rose, everything had been quite complicated; Rose hadn't seen or heard from the metacrisis in months and barely knew anything about the Shadow Hunters after she managed to escape them. "They came to Torchwood," She started, "Asking for assitance on something of theirs, a ship, maybe? Then things got weirder and weirder," She looked a little forlorn as she spoke, "John got so obsessed with grown' th'TARDIS and all and then the next thing I know Torchwood was having troubles with everyone and... then I was kidnapped."

[noblexcompanion]

"I hope he's alright." The words were out of Donna's mouth before she could stop them. She really was worried about him, all alone in the big wide universe with one life and no stable influence.

What if the Shadow Hunters tore his TARDIS apart like they did the Doctors? What if they caught him and killed him? The possibilities were too terrible to think on.

She sighed. "So then... Make our way to the castle, yeah? Seems the most likely place to see Kassia..."

[captoftardis]

An hour. That was the amount of time they had agreed upon to search the castle. Any longer, then it was assumed they were in danger. Right now, the Doctor and Rose were moving too slowly for them to be making any progress. "C'mon!" He took Rose's hand like old times and pulled her along.

The first floor didn't have anything, and they had to keep dodging renegade soldiers passing through. They were very nearly caught until they slipped through a door and nearly fell down the flight of stairs until they managed to grab onto each other and steady themselves.

"That was close." He whispered before they started their descent downwards, barely having any light to see beyond his sonic screwdriver.

"I think it's all dungeons and cells." Rose commented, keeping close to the Doctor as they looked around. "We might get trapped down here if we're not careful!"

[noblexcompanion]

Donna continued her ascent, checking each room in turn, avoiding soldiers as best she could. Each explosion put her more and more on edge. Nearly dying in the explosion of the Shadow Hunter's world had made her nervous. Even so, she pushed on, clinging to the hope that they'd find Kassia alive and well.

The glow from the sonic screwdriver caused Kassia to gasp out in fear. She brought a hand to her mouth to cover it hoping she hadn't been heard. She tried to hold her breath, squeezing her eyes shut.

[captoftardis]

The gasp didn't go unnoticed as Rose spun around. "Over there, I heard something." She broke away from the Doctor moving slowly, searching under tables until she saw feet. "Doctor

[noblexcompanion]

Well, at least Kassia had a fighting spirit - give her ginger hair and she could well be a mini Donna in the making. And at least she wasn't your typical damsel in distress. A little bit of variety was nice.

Variety was something Donna could use right about now. Her venture upwards was becoming a very repetitive and dangerous pattern of walking a few steps and then dodging an explosion or flames. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. As for keeping track of time? Her watch had seen better days. She had no idea how long she had been searching.