Until We Burn | Dr Who

Chapter Thirty-Seven: Drained

He rushes over to the console but I remain by Donna's side, unsure what I can possibly say to her. "Oh," we hear him say, "d'you know what you said before, about a time machine? Well, I lied. And now we're gonna use it. We need to find out what the Empress of the Racnoss is digging up. If something's buried at the planet's core, it must've been there since the beginning. That's just brilliant. Molto bene! I've always wanted to see this. We're going further back than we've ever gone before. What do you think, Inara? Want to watch the birth of a planet with me? Since you weren't there for the death, it's only fair, right? Right?"

I don't reply. Leading Donna to the leather seats, I wrap an arm around her, soothing her quiet sobs. "That's it. Have a good cry, it's all right. We'll sort this out, yeah? Make him sorry he ever dared to cross Donna Noble."

"Oh, shut up," she snaps, although she shifts closer into my embrace.

Soon the gentle trembling and roaring of the engine ceases. "We've arrived," the Doctor cautiously announces, peeking around the pistons at us. "Do you want to see?"

Sniffing, she manages a non-committal shrug. "S'pose."

The screen rattles as he pulls it towards himself. "Hold on, scanner's a bit small. Maybe your way's best. Come on." She reluctantly stands and we make our way over. "No human's ever seen this. You'll be the first."

"All I want to see is my bed."

"Don't blame you," I mutter. Then, softer, "Soon. I promise."

He smiles a little at that and reaches for the door handles. "Donna Noble, welcome to the creation of the Earth."

My breath escapes me for a moment.

I am certain I have never seen anything quite so beautiful before. Rocks float idly past, splintered and jagged. Partially hidden by clouds of rainbow gas, surrounded by darkness and distant stars, blazes the Sun. Its heat passes over us in heavy waves.

"Di immortales." I raise a hand to the silver owl that hangs with the Tardis key around my neck, bringing it up to my lips. My other hand's grip on the railing slips and bumps into something. It is taken into a familiar hold.

He shuffles a little closer. When I am finally able to tear my eyes off of the miraculous sight, brown eyes and a wistful smile already await me. The light reflects in his irises like pools of amber, burning into mine like twin hearths, like home and comfort. They are suns in their own right. "We've gone back 4.6 billion years. There's no solar system, not yet. Only dust and rocks and gas. That's the sun, over there, brand new. Just beginning to burn."

Finally able to catch her breath, Donna frowns. "Where's the Earth?"

"All around us. In the dust."

We still haven't broken eye contact — not completely. We send the odd glance back to the spectacle or our friend's entranced expression, but somehow keep finding our way back to each other. It makes no sense. A whole planet is coming into existence right in front of us and all I can bring myself to look at is his face.

"Puts the wedding in perspective. Lance was right, we're just... tiny."

"No," he chides," but that's what you do, the human race, make sense out of chaos. Marking it out with weddings and Christmas and calendars. This whole process is beautiful, but only if it's being observed."

The thought only renders her more breathless. "So I came out of all this?"

"Isn't that brilliant?"

A lump of stone almost the same size of the Tardis passes by and she chuckles, "I think that's the Isle of Wight."