#but I had no idea about the names Koschei and Theta Sigma until like a month or two ago

[delightfuljay]

Stargazing

this was inspired by @magpiefrankie's art (here)

and part of @cipher-fresh's fake tumblr dash post (here)

this website and my friends are successfully making me brain rotted about these two, god damn it, stoooopppppp (don't stop)

[do-minuzz]

Happiness have hit her like a bullet in the back,

Struck from a great hight,

By someone who should know better than that!

THE DOG DAYS ARE OVER. THE DOG DAYS ARE DONE.

- florence and the machine - the dog days are over

_

«...I stand on the threshold and involuntarily look back in all senses - both material and mental. The TARDIS patiently waits for me, setting all navigation systems before its first flight with me on board. It's all going to end now, I think, catching the subtle line between what was and what awaits me ahead. And now, as I literally tear these words from my heart, vainly trying to figure out how to properly end this story, I look at the TARDIS in the yard, and it kindly flashes its light at the top, agreeing with the overwhelming nostalgia of the past, standing in this very present, into which I dove headfirst, like into a black hole. My days at the academy were over, and somehow, after everything that happened to me, it brought only a vague smile to my lips, not bitterness nor regret. Freedom was beating in my chest, and I could hardly believe that I had really managed to break free from the shackles and leave my whole life in Deca behind. I was sad, yes, that cannot be denied.

But I was free. I had longed for freedom for so long, I wanted to traverse the expanses of space without the label of Time Lord. It was all behind me - Theta Sigma's life was reaching its last moments before it would return billions of years later on the pages of this paper. The strange boy from the academy, who accidentally was picked into the group of top students and got involved in a ton of things, disappeared, leaving only a ghost of memories in the mind as a reminder. Now there was only the Doctor, who would save and protect, burying Theta's name as deep as possible in history. I didn't like Theta, and at the threshold, I felt a sharp aversion to everything I had experienced - there was no turning back, I understood that when I realized how much I hated the academy. Not in a bad way, of course, but having realized the true freedom at the doors of the TARDIS, I would prefer it to the academy.

Therefore, when I stepped over the threshold of the TARDIS and began my endless running through the Universe from one corner to another, I warmly smiled, watching the disappearing landscape of red Gallifreyan fields from a small screen, as if a burden had been lifted from my shoulders. I was not born on Gallifrey - even then I felt it, and it was not my fate to rot here until death.

The Doctor will be a wanderer. Running from planet to planet, studying and investigating new and new things. I did not know that so many adventures awaited me after the escape, but I was glad to meet any circumstances with open arms. Theta was not fond of surprises, but the Doctor craved them every minute.

Now, it seems that the Doctor's days will soon be counted. I begin to run away from him, and I realize that running is what I do best...»

_

just a random idea that popped into my head while I was working on a fic

like how would Doctor, now fully aware and actually free from his duties(let's say, 14th for example) would perceive himself in the past? I mean, I'm really curious about how actually 14th Doctor feels when... Welp, he doesn't have to be the Doctor anymore. There's so much to it for exploration honestly, not only his trauma healing process but finally making his mind up and proceeding everything what happend to him in the past, including his academy years (INCLUDING KOSCHEI ima make another post for this one later)

And I was thinking that maybe Donna would recommend him to start writing some kind of diary just to settle everything down in order in his absolutely chaotic memory. And he would start writing, realising so many things that he always feared, that he always wanted to run from, all the mistakes he never wanted to look onto again - and he will look, not with the eyes of Doctor, because Doctor would never look so openly back, but with eyes of someone else. Of someone who's now fully understanding. Of someone who's finally free from saving the Universe every Tuesday.

gotta take my meds now brb/hj

[truthbehindthemysteries]

♛Deal With The Devil♛

Gallifreyan Time Lady Reader x ?

Summary: Long ago after having slain Torvic for the tormented bullying he caused, Theta is caught between a rock and a hard place. Forced to make an impossible decision of being Death’s champion or choosing someone else to have that on their shoulders, even the Doctor is surprised by the outcome.

Warning: Betrayal, Back-Stabbing, Violence, Blood & Gore l ANGST

A/N: This came to mind and i wanted to write it. I played off a part of the canon where this happened with the academy era! Doctor and Master back then with the prydonian academy names of Theta Sigma and Koschei Oakdown.

Not even doing things he normally, if his life could even be considered normal, enjoyed could wash away the overwhelming sense of guilt that Theta felt. It had all just become too much and he had done something to stop it because he couldn't just take it anymore. Torvic had always been a bully, not just tormenting him and Koschei but you as well. From the words that would spit out his mouth out loud and under his breath to the physical assaults he would cuase towards others not himself, it was not just intolerable but despicable. Tensions always ran high when you were being tormented, especially ones you love and care about. Mess with a person's loved ones and you might be dealing with the Devil themselves. However, he didn't want to darken everything he is, going down the same path Torvic did. While the fellow Gallifreyan clearly needed to learn not only a sense of humility, but respect as well; it didn't give Theta the right to rip someone's life out of their hands once he held it in their grasp. A family had just lost a son, others had lost a sibling - ... a friend. It was ALL his fault.

It had just happened so fast. He, you, Koschei and Ushas had been just sitting around together on the cascading red grass overlooking a mountain - a sacred place that you three all liked to go together when things got hectic. It was a place to just hang out together and have fun when not doing other things, also to destress and just relax. And Torvic had deliberately of their own free will, chose to not only invade such a special place but then to do the worst things topping all he had done so far.  Perhaps it was vengeance on the other's part because there had been prior attempts to stop his antics and while he had not been apprehended yet, his buddies did. Next thing he knew, a big rock had hit the side of Torvic's head causing the boy to stumble and fall to the ground, an ugly mark left behind on the bully that led to his death - breaths slowly leaving him.  He had ran from that place, wanting to put as much distance from what he had done, as he could. What could never be taken back. He had seen the mixes of shock and horror, unease come from the three of you despite the surge of knowing they were that protected and loved and cared for that someone would kill for them but Theta took someone's life, he k i l l e d someone. Someone who was other's child, was a sibling, had people who would be devasted at their death, the grief alone... That didn't make him any better than Torvic. The bully may have caused hell but how was he any better by snuffing out someone's light? So he ran.. He ran and he ran and he ran. He didn't stop running until the skies went dark and everything had went quiet. Even the slightest intake of breath was almost shattering. He had no idea that for any of you, you were forced home after the body had been discovered, an interrogation started, He had no idea that one of you were covering or going to cover for him, he had no idea that any of you were scouring everything in sight to catch a glimpse, to find him no matter what they might see and what state he might be in due to what he had done. He certainly had no idea of what was about to happen either - but he felt it as soon as it came. An overwhelming sense of dread, horror and unease shooting through his entire body, putting him on edge at the darkness he felt and it was more than just seeing it all around from. Well, from what he could see anyway. After he lost energy after countless hours of running with no idea how long he had been gone for now, he cried and broke down, punching and kicking at the trees to feel even an inch of something. He could still see Torvic's dried blood on his hands from where the heavy rock had bashed into the young Gallifreyan boy's head. The damage was so unmistakable that when it happened, you heard a sickening crack. Clenching and unclenching his fists as he took shaky breath after shaky breath to raim calm and composed, to not seem as edgy on the outside as he was on the inside, he finally spoke., tone of voice curious yet deadly sharp, "I know something is out there. No use making your presence known if you're not going to show yourself completely." Nothing... just pure and complete utter silence. Then every nerve in his being stung and he could feel it - an emptiness. Whipping around, he saw an outline of a figure emerging from the shadows, the figure incased in all black with hints and trails of smoke wisping all-around at every edge. The voice was neither identifiable either, it could have been a Timelord / Timelady themselves but they were tall n all black forming fitting clothes from head to toe, even their face covered and a cloak billowing out from behind them and at their sides. You could smell the d e a t h on them because that's who they were : It was Death in the flesh. An overwhelming sense of fear but not wanting to display it out of fearing weak, Theta slowly remarked, "Who are you?... What do you want?" More silence and then as if debating how to response from the tilt of where their head was, the voice spoke. "Oh... tsk tsk, is that any way to treat a guest? my my, seems like your species is but one of many that show a lack of decorum..", the voice coming from the figure, Theta can see it coming closer and he inwardly breathes to try and face the being at it's equal. "You know who.. or rather, what i am. Come on..", he feels the being at his neck and he involuntarily shivers. Such a place was an intimate area but he felt the complete opposite of intimacy. "Death.. You're Death.", he remarked, stepping forward and then turning around to look at the figure once more, not wanting it out of its sight. Was it here because of... He violently shook his head just as Death nodded, as if the being knew his train of thought. "You know, i must admit... I love me a baddie. The way you took that rock and... " Death said and Theta winced, "Pop went his head like needle to a balloon. Tell me, how did having the power to give or take someone's life feel? Now me, i am Eternal so i can take life but you, you could have given it back." Theta violently shook his head, "I hated it. I hated it from the moment it happened. Torvic could have faced countless other repercussions, he didn't have to die." He turned away then, not caring if anything happened when his back was turned. Perhaps that is what he deserved. He heard a dark chuckle behind him as he gazed at the sky of his home planet of Gallifrey. "You impress me. Ones far older and far stronger than you do such things as that and they find the beauty in it but you... you throw away the potential you could have. Imagine how it would be, away from all that guilt. All you could do with what you did earlier, not limited to one way." "No!.." "Yes-" "I said no!" "Are you challenging me boy?" "Not in the slightest but i'm telling you no!" "You haven't even heard what i was going to say yet." Death cooed, dangerous intent on their voice like they were going to speak for why they'd came after their little row of snarling and pleading and taunting back and forth. "I know so dont waste your breath. YOu want me to kill more people is that it? to cause more misery.?!" Theta yelled as he roughly messed with his hands, the blood of Torvics having dried, he could feel the indentation of the rock from when he held it so tight. He knew he heard that crack because he used all his strength and he knew Torvic is dead and not coming back not just because Death itself was here, taunting and tormenting him aside from taking the boy from his dead boy. "I can make all that pain go away Theta.. all you have to do is ask.", Death challenged, a smirk spreading across their facial features. They had a good feeling about this one from the previous few and far between attempts. This one has real potential. They lock eyes or rather Theta at the figure, not able to make any definite features just that they had a human-like frame, tall and shrouded in black empty darkness. "Ask what..", Theta wasn't playing stupid but he wanted the being to go away. Let him wallow in his own guilt until he could force his way back home and deal with everything to come because he was not a coward who tried to get out of things.. Well, except this.SUrely this was an exception, anything would be better than this. "Feel like making a deal with the Devil? Well not the Devil, perhaps an equivalent but all the same." Theta looked confused but Death continued, "A disciple who follows after their leader right? ... Become mine. Become my disciple, my champion if i find you special enough. Live in my eyes and soon enough, all the guilt will wash away and you will come to live as me. You might even enjoy it.. Theta shakes his head, refusing to even entertain that idea, "You're not going to trick me, i won't do it, I said before and i stand by that now. Just go away!" Death remained still; "I could... but where's the fun in that? Someone has to take the memory of kiling that boy and seeing as the memory is too traumatic for you.." This is where Theta makes his second mistake, caught between a rock and a hard place not wanting anyone else to suffer but trying to get out of this guilt at the same time so he says one of his own best friends name which makes the dark being known as Death start to laugh, an eerie sort of sound that echoes and rings in Theta's ears, a sound he doesnt think he cold ever forget. "You would put your own best friend Koschei, who has enough misery with the sound of the drums in his head and everything else he goes through and throw  that on top him." "You know i don't want to." "Oh, i see it on your face, i know you dont want to . but why do then, why choose to put your best friend through that? Because you're more important?" "I know i am not! Torvic may have been hell but this? He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to have his life snuffed out because i just had to be someone more scary then him by bashing his brains in. I know it was wrong, that's why i have the guilt. Is that what you want me to feel? to feel guilt? There is no point trying to get me to feel something i already do and Koschei doesn't deserve to have a memory of something he didn't do, placed in his head. There is enough in there." "One might think you're a coward, not strong enough to deal with the memory so you would have the guilt on someone else who didn't do it just because you dont want to face what you've done and you know what? Between you, Koschei, Ushas and Y/N", it could be blamed on any of them... Wouldn't you like to know who? It will surprise you, not me. I tend to be in the loop of everything because i'm always around. I never leave, im like an itch you cant scratch." Theta's eyes narrowed, "What did you do?", they remarked, a dangerous steely tone to their voice, gritting their teeth as they eyed their figure.Balling their fists in what was a contrast for a previous reason, Death responded in only what could be described a smug why don't you find out yourself but they let the scream that erupted speak for themselves. Instantly, Theta bolted towards the sound, not stopping his running until he reached the source. You. You were writhing on the ground of your home around your family who were close and bits away. Your hair was flailing as you shrieked, tears falling down your cheeks as you pushed hands away, people who were only trying to help. Others were covering their mouths and their ears, some trying to escape the disturbing sight. Almost as if you weren't you anymore, your voice quieted from the words it had spoken, 'No, no get away from me!" , "Stop it, don't touch me." , "I will kill you, i dont want to.. please stay away." , "No please, im sorry please forgive me. I didn't mean to, im sorry. Im sorry!", "Bring him back, he didnt deserve it despite what he did.", to even more heartsbreakingly, "I'm a monster.. please make this stop. Dont make him suffer on my account." and some more phrases. Who was him? Torvic who died, YOu who had ran that it was going to be blamed on. Your parents were trying to hold you back from where you were beating your fists against them, using all your strength to run, to never stop running like he Theta had intented to. "My head, oh my head.." You were being held back by Koschei and Ushas. Them trying to help in the best way they could, wishing they could do anything. Your eyes and theirs, few had flashed to Theta as he entereds and people were going to speak with him. ALl of a sudden, almost as if there were a changei n the air as Theta entered and the dark being that only hid itself from the boy's eyes were around where you were. Too quick to catch unless you looked close enough, your eyes went pure black before you collapsed unconscious in Theta's arms as you both fell to the floor. Koschei and Ushas kneel to the ground, the latter checking your pulse. Koschei remarks, "Where did you go? YOu ran off after..." he and Theta shared a look which caused Koschei to quiet. They were going to speak later when the other adults were not around. Behind them all a silent figure only showing itself to Theta who glared intensely at the being. Time passed of you being put to bed, looking peaceful which was a stark contrast to how you were earlier. Hair tumbling and body contorting, hands at your head, tears down your cheeks and look of agonous pain on your face, now you were lying on your bed still looking gentle, so fragile. "What the hell have you done?", Theta remarked quietly under his breath as he spoke to the being, Death answered, "You couldn't bare the pain of what you did so you requested instead of being my disciple, to put the memory on someone else. I did what you asked." "I didn't ask for this and you know it." "No, you had said Koschei... and telling by that mark on your face, neither he or the look Ushas gave you, told you they were pleased." "Take it back..", he pleaded, glancing up at the figure. "No.." "II said take it back!" "No. "You take it back right now." "Guilt is inescapable ________________", Death responded, speaking Theta's REAL name. "You brought this on yourself the moment you took that boys life. You can either have the guilt of doing it or stick with your choice of putting someone else through that. You made your choice. I won't change it for you just because its on the girl you love. " Right as the figure disappears, Theta throws something big at it's direction but it hits the wall and shatters. He covers his head in his hands, taking yours in his as he glances at your face, "I'm sorry. I am so so sorry." He would fix this, he would make things right and as he turned to see an unhappy Koschei, Ushas AND Romana ; they nodded. They now have work to do.

[raywritesthings]

Lost in Translation 1/?

My Writing Fandom: Doctor Who Characters: Donna Noble, Tenth Doctor Pairing: Doctor/Donna Summary: In a universe where people are born with the name of the person destined for them displayed on their skin, intergalactic soulmates can be rather difficult to navigate. AO3 link

The Time Lords told their young about soulmate markings the same way they told their young about everything else. Dispassionately, matter-of-factly, and with a sense that it was best not to dwell on something so base and trivial.

A quirk of biology, thought to be a leftover trait from the time of the Carrionites. Words, after all, had been their power, though there was certainly strength behind High Gallifreyan and even Circular Gallifreyan texts.

Neither a quirk of biology nor any written form of Gallifreyan could explain Theta Sigma’s marking, however.

“There are clearly four distinct symbols, though one repeats, you see?” He twisted in place to be able to look back at Koschei while also pushing the collar of his robe to the side. It wasn’t proper protocol to show someone else your marking, but children broke the rule all the time, even at the Academy.

“And they’ve always looked like that?”

“Of course they have. They’d be even more remarkable if they’d changed, I daresay.”

“Do you like to think they make you special?” Koschei drawled.

Theta flushed. “Well, no. Not special necessarily. Merely different.”

“You needn’t any help with being different.” He couldn’t very well disagree with his friend on that count.

Theta did protest, however, as Koschei stood and walked across the room. “Aren’t you going to show me yours?”

“Why should I?” His friend asked loftily. “They’re pointless to us Time Lords. I’m sure we’ll have evolved past them in a matter of generations. Who knows, maybe your nonsense symbols are the first sign.”

Years later, they were both deeply involved in their studies, and anything else hardly bore thinking about. At least, that had been the impression Theta was working under, only for Koschei to march into the room with no preamble one day while he was in the middle of testing his newest invention.

“I’ve found your symbols.”

“My what?”

“Your soulmate marking symbols,” he enunciated as though he thought Theta was being particularly thick today. Koschei set a thick tome down on his workbench. “They’re from a primitive language originating on the planet Sol Three. We’re going to be covering it along with several others next term.”

Theta was hardly concerned with the subject of next term’s classes, however. “And this language has a word with all of those symbols? In the exact order?”

“Yes.”

“Well, what does it mean? Out with it!” He urged.

Koschei rolled his eyes. “It simply means ‘lady’, silly. How very foolish of you. Not only could you not manage a soulmate marking in the proper language, you couldn’t even manage a name.”

Theta’s face felt very hot and he wished he wasn’t at the Academy at all, but back at the barn.

Koschei hardly seemed to notice, instead looking very pleased with himself for figuring out the mystery. That was true Time Lord arrogance, always the need to be clever.

“And what, may I ask, were you doing looking for my symbols, hm?” Theta demanded, if only to wipe the smirk off his face. “Thought you said they were nonsense.”

“Well — they are. I wasn’t looking for them. I was reading ahead in the course material. Obviously.” Koschei scoffed, but it didn’t sound as convincing as his usual.

“Obviously,” said Theta anyway. “Well then, it hardly bares discussing, does it?”

They never brought it up, nor did Theta Sigma bring it up to another person, ever again.

—-

To humanity, soulmate marks were a little slice of fairy tale in an ordinary, mundane world. Parents cooed over the name their baby was gifted at birth, perhaps picked a birthname they thought might sound nice together, then got caught up in the swirl of nappy changings, first steps, first words, teething, and so on. When the child was old enough to understand, that was when they were told about the mark — though that age varied depending on the parents, of course.

But Donna Noble had always understood. She wasn’t like other babies who were given a gift at birth. Donna Noble was given a curse.

The interlocking circles that spanned almost the expanse of her back were just another oddity, as if it wasn’t bad enough being ginger and never skinny, not even during her growth spurt. Dad and Gramps always had a good chortle over how mum had fainted straightaway at the sight of her mark.

“What is it, some kind of graffiti? My daughter’s got some street tag on her back, oh God,” was her refrain every time she glimpsed it. Donna learned to wear cardis and jackets and shawls, even to the pool.

“Now, now, Sylvia, I’m sure that’s not it,” her dad responded in a well-worn way every time, somehow striking the balance between exasperated and fond. Donna wouldn’t have believed in soulmates at all if she didn’t watch her parents somehow stay in love despite, well, everything.

Her dad was real good about the whole mark thing, really. “Do you want it removed, love?” He asked her one night near the end of primary school, rubbing the spot in soothing circles as Donna cried into her pillow. “People get that done, these days.”

“Would it hurt?” She asked in a small voice, lifting her face slightly to be understood.

“Well, I imagine it would a little. But we’d be right there, your mum and I, and your grandfather.”

Donna thought for a long moment. She imagined it would hurt an awful lot, and there was the question of money. Everyone at school already knew about it anyway, thanks to the girls who snickered behind her back in the locker rooms. There’d be no point now.

“They’re jealous,” her Gramps insisted, sitting in his chair on the hill. “You’ve got something they haven’t, sweetheart, and that makes you special.”

“But I don’t want it,” she replied, her knees drawn up to her chest as she sat on the grass beside him.

He chuckled, placing an arm around her shoulders. “Well, no no one asks for what they’re given. It’s their choice whether to make the most of it or not. You’ll see, love. One day, I’m sure of it. You’ll find your — well, whoever he is.”

Why was she the one who had to have it all muffed up? Oh sure, Susie from maths had a Tom; he’d be hard to find, but at least it was something. Some Tom out there in the world who could share everything with Susie if they ever met. Be her closest friend, her support, the one person who understood her completely. Donna didn’t even have the luxury of pretending.

There were some, people said, who weren’t born with anyone’s name marked upon their skin. They were said to be happy, that they never felt a lack. Sometimes Donna wished that she were like that; other times, the thought occurred to her that someone like her would never be good enough on their own going nowhere as she was, and imagining being alone in the universe her whole life terrified her. But she was as good as, wasn’t she?

Stupid circles. It wasn’t Chinese characters, or Japanese, or Korean; it wasn’t Arabic; it wasn’t even bloody hieroglyphics!

—-

When the Doctor first married, his wife trailed curious fingers over the old symbols but never asked. They had that understanding about each other. It was comfortable, it was easy. They were good to each other, and for each other, so his old teachers often remarked.

It was not the life he dreamt of, either when he closed his eyes or when he gazed up at the orange sky from his place lying on the red grass — his little Arkytior with him now, not Koschei — but he could not find it in himself to regret it. Not when he knew a hand in his was the only abatement to his loneliness, his sense of not belonging on Gallifrey, he was likely to ever receive.

And then he and Arkytior, now Susan — Rose, he had told her, was the proper translation of her name, but she had been adamant in choosing her own, the stubborn child — were no longer on Gallifrey, instead lost amongst the stars in a rickety Type 40 TARDIS he barely knew what to do with.

It was not until his travels took him to Earth with increasing regularity that he realized the symbols — D o n n a — were not just a word. They had also been adopted as a name. Humans named their infants lady sometimes. How curious.

Curiouser still, was the idea that he had been given the name of a human to wear. Him, a Time Lord, who lived for centuries and did perhaps grow old but changed rather than died. He had children and grandchildren, yet was not even middle-aged! What if he should meet this Donna tomorrow? How much of his life could he reasonably expect her to be a part of? A century? A handful of decades? It not only seemed foolish, it seemed cruel.

The Doctor did not seek out any of these Donnas, not like he might have in his true youth. Not when Susan left with her David — he hadn’t had the heart to check her marking; he did not wish to know what had her so taken with the human — not when Ian and Barbara left, not when he continued to travel and meet new humans with all variety of names that hurt him badly enough when they all in turn took their leave of him.

Not even after the Time War, when he was left with nothing. Not a people, not a family, not an other half. The temptation beckoned, but what other person could wish to share themselves with a monster like him now?

Instead, he found a new Rose. Different in many aspects to his precious granddaughter, but still he was unaccountably fond of the pink and yellow human who brought some of the old joy of traveling the stars back to his weary eyes. Despite some hiccups, such as accidentally taking her from her home for an entire year, she seemed to like him a great deal as well.

The Doctor did not realize just how much, unfortunately, until he lost her too.

“Wait,” Rose said, clearly struggling not to break down on her end of the connection he had created to say a proper goodbye to her on the parallel world. “Wait, before you- before you’re gone, I need to know. Is it you?”

“Is what me?”

“The name I’ve got. Is it yours?” To his dismay she turned around, unzipping her jacket with the clear intent of showing him her mark. “Yours is mine, isn’t it? I love you.”

“Oh, Rose Tyler,” he sighed, his hearts sinking. She flickered, then faded from view as the connection weakened and then died, not before he glimpsed markings in a twenty-six character alphabet clear as day.

What had he done? All that time, had he led her to believe — oh no. No wonder Jackie and Mickey had often viewed him so poorly.

This soulmate business truly was horrid and pointless, his old friend had been right all along. The Doctor resolved then and there to forget the entire thing. Not just forget, he would actively ignore and work against it. He could tattoo over the name like the Corsair used to do, make sure every companion knew corresponding soulmate markings between species was an impossibility — he’d told worse lies. Do everything in his power to halt the idea in its tracks before it even began to germinate.

Then he turned around to find a ginger bride standing in his TARDIS.

—-

Donna Noble flitted from relationship to relationship after school. Between being a temp and her own unique situation, nothing ever felt like a good fit. Not to mention, all the times she was dumped soon as her time was up at this or that office. She was just practice, her mum always said. People wanted to be able to impress their soulmate on the first go.

It would be just the same at her new job, her mother harangued her as she applied, got the assignment, and prepared for her first day at H.C. Clements. No one would be taking any special interest in her except as a cheap date.

But then Lance Bennett from Human Resources smiled at her across the office and gestured to the coffee machine. He was nice, friendly, and certainly her type. Basically, a dream come true, and Donna had given up dreaming a long time ago.

She couldn’t imagine why the Head of Human Resources at a posh company like this would be interested in her of all people. Unless...

“This isn’t cause you’ve got a Donna you’re looking out for, is it? Am I the first one you’ve met?” Donna demanded over the third coffee in as many days, a sinking feeling in her stomach.

Lance pulled a face. “Oh, I don’t put any stock in that rubbish.”

Her heart leapt. “Really?”

“Why would I tie myself down to someone just because of their name? It’s nonsense. I could be totally wrong about them being ‘the one’, couldn’t I?”

“Yeah, exactly!” Donna enthused. “Unless, you know, it’s like something real specific. My friend, her parents stuck her with Nerys. Said it’d be unique enough for her soulmate to find her right away. Well they haven’t yet!” She laughed, and Lance smiled at her and Donna felt so much better about this, about everything.

Maybe Lance wasn’t meant to be her ‘one’. But if neither of them minded, what was the harm?

She couldn’t wait for him to pop the question. What if he changed his mind? What if he met someone off the street with the name she refused to even look at? Donna didn’t get lucky like this. It was now or never if she didn’t want to end up the old maid her mother said she was destined to be. Who cared about destiny? She was choosing to love Lance.

And he’d said yes. The wedding was being planned, her mum flying into a frenzy of activity all of a sudden. Even Nerys agreed to be maid of honor, though she claimed it was due to needing to be there to believe it. They booked St. Mary’s and a hall for the reception, and Donna went for a dress fitting. She made sure to pick one that, between the veil and her hair, would cover up the old mark. A wedding dress fitting, it was actually happening!

Her only regret was Gramps coming down with the Spanish Flu. Of course she urged him to go to hospital, but she would have loved to have him there with her mum and dad. Part of her considered delaying the whole thing, just by a week to see if he’d be any better by then, forget the honeymoon in Morocco. Lance assured her that they would be filming it anyway and he’d see the whole thing, and that calmed her down a bit.

Of course, she was a whole different bundle of nerves the day of the wedding. Donna couldn’t believe this was happening to her! Each step she took down the aisle was a step closer to the rest of her life. She was beaming ear to ear, practically glowing!

No, hang on, she really was glowing. Donna stopped in the middle of the aisle in shock as she lit up bright gold. There was a strange sensation, it almost felt like an invisible pull on her. Everyone was staring, and it wasn’t because she was the bride.

Donna screamed.

She blinked and suddenly found herself standing in the strangest room she’d ever seen. Everyone from the wedding was gone. Instead, staring across at her in bewilderment was the skinniest bloke in a suit she’d ever had the misfortune to meet.

“What?”

“Who’re you?” Asked Donna.

“But.” That was it, he didn’t actually have an ending to that.

“Where am I?” She demanded next.

He switched right back to, “What?”

“What the hell is this place!”

“What?”