As Clear as Day || Doctor/Donna AU

Mental Link

The Doctor’s eyes closed shut tight as he held Donna in his arms. She was nearly lifeless and there was nothing he could do. Her breathing was shallow, cuts all around her body. He knew she had to be hurting so bad. “Donna, please,” he rocked back and forth slowly, sweeping her bright red hair from her face. “You are so important to me.”

“Hush… spaceman…” she leaned into his hand for comfort, smiling a little. “This is how it was supposed to end, right? Death… fixed points… all that stuff you said… all the stuff,” she breathed, “—all the stuff you taught me.”

“But not you,” he said softly, tears began to brim in his eyes. “You were supposed to stay here forever. In the TARDIS, with me,” the Doctor’s voice became pitched in his now crying state. “I don’t want you to go—I… I don’t,” he looked up at the TARDIS, still trying to think of some way to save her. “I don’t know what I’ll do without you.”

“Go to the planet of the hats,” she suggested, trying to hold on. But she started feeling weightless, and her pain started to fade away. “And keep running. Run enough for the two of us.”

They had been running and running and running on this planet, and Donna had just stopped. She’d given up on him because she just couldn’t keep going. All the pain in her body was too much, whereas the Doctor? He didn’t even have a scratch on him. The weapon that the otherworldly soldier had fired at her was something that couldn’t be fixed, and it was too late when they’d gotten back into the TARDIS. At first it just made her tired, and then she felt pain. Intense pain that shot through her entire body, and made her head hurt like there wouldn’t be a tomorrow. And for her, there wouldn’t be. The Doctor knew that, because he couldn’t fix it. He didn’t know how.

“Donna you’ve got to—to let me think. I need to save you,” he whimpered, running his hand through her hair. It was soft and brilliant red, like the grass in Gallifrey. And as she looked up at him while her pains were fading and her body numbing, he saw how beautiful her eyes really were. Sea green, with hints of blue and browns. And the little smile that graced her lips in such a time, even more beautiful than that. “Somehow.”

“There’s no saving me… not this time,” she murmured breathlessly. Donna was running out of ideas quickly.

An idea came to him. Saving. The Library. “What about the Library? I can take you there before you die. I can save you,” he said, a small gleam of hope in his dark brown eyes while he wept.

“No… no. It’s too far,” she felt tears brimming as she watched his tears fall. “Don’t cry.”

“Donna Noble,” he said quietly, “You have been… so brave. You are fantastic.” His voice was wavering, cracking. The Doctor sounded like a mess in a suit. She didn’t like to hear him so bent up, especially because she knew he’d find someone new. He always would. Donna had no doubt in her mind.

“Molto bene,” she rasped slowly. “Spaceman, I love you more than anything,” she told him, starting to feel herself go limp in his arms. “I do.”

“I love you,” he said, sensing her life passing. “And I’m sorry I never told you before. I should’ve told you so many times before.” The Doctor was chilled. He was seeing the love of his life die in his arms. Nothing would ever be right after this. He didn’t want anybody else but her. After Rose, he moved on—and she was the person he moved on to. She was the best woman for him.

“I spent so much time looking for you after I woke up the morning after I said no to you,” she told him, “Because I realized you were everything I ever wanted. You were my equal. And when I found you…”

“You’ll always be my equal,” he hushed her. “Don’t strain yourself. Just stay. Stay with me.”

“I’m trying. But I ca-can’t, I can’t anymore,” Donna tried, and looked down to see his hand holding hers. She didn’t even notice. She couldn’t feel it. And it occurred to her, she’d never feel that again. The tears that welled up in her eyes began to fall slowly and her eyes closed. “I’m losing feeling in… everything.”

To the Doctor, she sounded wistful and sleepy. She sounded that at any moment she could fall into a deep sleep. And that’s when it came to him. “Conference call,” he said. “We could form a mental link between the two of us, and even after you die, I’ll be with you and you’ll be with me. Forever. I promise. How does that sound, huh? You and me. Forever,” he explained quickly, and she opened her eyes with a tiny smile.

After a second of mulling it over, her obvious reaction was, “Yes.” He laid her on the ground of the TARDIS as he ran for the candle that would put them to sleep for the call. The Doctor laid down beside her and lit the candle between them and held her hand.

“That candle will—will,” he said, and before finishing, he fell asleep. Donna fell soon after, and then they were both placed at a table inside Buckingham palace. Of course, it was a dream. Donna sat up perfectly, looking pristine as ever. “Alright, Donna. This is a dream. We’re both real, we’re both in it, and you are dying. So that means I need to be quick about this. Because if I don’t,” he rose from his chair gracefully and ran to her side, placing his hands on her temple. “I’ll lose you forever.”  A connection formed between them, but Donna was furrowing her brows.

When the Doctor finished, he looked at her. There was a look of confusion on her face. She blinked a few times, looking away from him. “What’s wrong?” he asked, his hand gliding down to rest on her cheeks.

“I died.”