MIRROR, MIRROR

Chapter Two

The Doctor opened the door and stepped outside with Donna onto the surface of Atalantia. Donna stopped short when she saw the Nyan's castle and her mouth fell open. The castle was ten stories high and her head fell back while she tried to see the top of it.

"My God, how rich is this person?" she said to the Doctor. "He must be very powerful."

"Perhaps, but then again, perhaps he's just compensating for something."

Donna looked at him and saw the impish grin on his face.

"Only you would think of that," she said to him while he sniggered.

He sobered up and began calling for Rose. Donna walked off to the right and called with him. Donna walked over to the entrance, a twenty foot high wooden double door that had an iron gate in front of it and called for Rose there. Then she heard a clanking sound and turned to the gate when she noticed it was going up.

"Doctor, look!" Donna said.

The Doctor turned and told Donna to come to him to be safe. They stood about thirty feet away and watched while the gate went up completely. Then they heard the doors unlocking and the one on right opened. Donna watched while a blonde woman stuck her head outside. She suddenly realized she'd never seen any photos of Rose before but judging from the awestruck expression on the Doctor's face, this was definitely Rose.

"Doctor?" she said, stepping outside.

"Rose," the Doctor said softly before swallowing hard.

Donna glanced at him and knew he was trying to keep his emotions in check. When the Doctor took a step towards her, she followed him. She noticed Rose giving her a curious look and she smiled warmly, trying to let her know that she wanted to be her friend. Rose was wearing a long, white dress that was cinched at the waist. On the chest was an embroidered dragon with pearl eyes. The sleeves were long and the collar was high with lace around the top. Her hair was done up in a bun and she noticed a ruby ring on her right ring finger. She stopped and the Doctor and Donna stopped about two feet from her. There was an awkward silence for a moment before Rose rushed to the Doctor and they embraced. Donna stepped back, her heart warming when a huge smile spread over the Doctor's face.

"I missed you so much," Rose murmured into his shoulder.

"And I missed you. How did you get back? And why did you come here? And what are you wearing?" he teased as they broke apart.

"I was a guest of the Atalantians. I came through naked so they lent this to me," Rose said. "Who is this?"

"I'm Donna Noble, I'm travelin' with the Doctor," she said, stepping forward to shake her hand. "I've heard about you a bit from the Doctor, it's nice to meet you in person finally."

"Nice to meet you," Rose said, nodding.

"Why did you come here?" the Doctor said.

"When we opened the portal, I tried to think of places I could go and I thought I could come here. Perhaps see if the Atalantians might need our help again?"

"And?" the Doctor said, "do they?"

"No. They're still at war with the Morgo," Rose said.

The Doctor groaned.

"Figures. I think they'll be at war for generations to come. But…why did you send a distress signal to the TARDIS."

"Because the Atalantians have vanished," Rose said.

"Vanished where?" the Doctor said.

"I don't know. One moment Nyan was speaking to me and there was a huge flash and everyone vanished. I searched the castle but there's no one except me."

"Why weren't you taken then?" Donna said.

"Transmat," the Doctor said.

"You mean like teleport," Donna said. "Like in The Library?"

"Yes."

"Okay, but why didn't it take Rose then if it was castle-wide?" Donna said.

"Perhaps the transmat was programmed to scan for only Atalantian DNA. That would be one explanation," the Doctor said. "But why take everyone? Unless the Morgo are up to something?" he looked at Rose. "Did they mention the Morgo?"

"They said they were still at war with them," Rose said. "I thought maybe you could talk to them and bring them and the Morgo back together to talk peace but then the white light came and now there's nothing."

The Doctor nodded, thinking over what she said. He had a thought and glanced at Rose.

"The mirror, did you see it anywhere?"

"Mirror?" Donna said as Rose shook her head. "What mirror?"

The Doctor told her about the mirror and Donna's eyes widened.

"And this mirror can make a copy of anyone who looks into it?" Donna said.

"Yes. But as far as I know, no one looked into it before the plot was discovered," the Doctor said. "I told Nyan to destroy the thing before he pushed me and Rose out the door. And you didn't see it, anywhere?"

"Not in the rooms I was in," Rose said with a shrug.

"Then we need to make a search of the castle to make sure it's well and truly gone," the Doctor said. "But first things first, how did you cross the void?"

"There was a rip in the fabric of time and space and I crossed it," Rose said.

"How? You surely didn't just jump into it and walk across to this universe."

"No. A capsule was made and I rode in it to the other side."

The Doctor studied her face. He could tell she was lying but he had no idea why she was. He wondered if the way she had chosen to return was dangerous and nearly imperiled the universe and she was trying not to own up to the fact that she nearly destroyed reality. He decided to pretend he didn't know she was lying and see if she would tell him the truth in her own time. He thought that perhaps since Donna was here and she'd never met her until now that she was a bit hesitant to speak openly around her.

"Well, let's go inside and see if we can find out what happened here," the Doctor said, putting an arm around both his women.

XOXOXOXOXOXO

Donna whistled when they were inside and she saw how grand the interior was.

"Like a fairy tale castle, complete with dragons," she said, pointing to the tapestries as they walked through the corridor. "If I were a ruler, I'd choose something like this. This is wizard!"

"And enormous," the Doctor said.

"Yeah, that as well. I don't think I'd like that part of it. Too much to clean," Donna said.

They entered the great hall and the Doctor was amazed to find it looked almost the same as it did the first time he and Rose came here. The tables were still in the same place and the chairs and throne were grouped around them. The only thing that was different was the mirror was gone. The Doctor hoped that meant the mirror had been destroyed. He put his hands in his pockets and sauntered up to the front while Donna stopped and looked around, her jaw almost to the floor.

"My God, you could feed an army in here," Donna said. "And hide them in the fireplace. Like I said, he must be very powerful."

"Very powerful and very foolish," the Doctor said. "He could use his power to make a different in the universe but instead he spends his time fighting his neighbors. And now apparently he and his retinue have been spirited away somewhere."

He whipped out his sonic screwdriver.

"Rose, where you in here when the flash occurred?" he asked her.

"Yes."

The Doctor scanned the room with his screwdriver while Donna wandered over to the windows and looked at the dragon design on them. His back was to Rose which was a good thing because he had a confused look on his face when his screwdriver didn't detect any sign of residual energy from transmats or any other teleport. Warning flags started going off in his mind but he kept calm as he put his screwdriver back in his pocket.

"Well?" Rose said.

"I found a residual trace of energy from the transmat," the Doctor said to her. "I can trace the energy trail back to the source and find out who did it but I need the TARDIS for that. But in the meantime, we'll make sure the mirror is gone from this place. Rose, come with me. We'll check the upper levels if you'll check the ground floor, Donna."

"No worries. I'll be fine," Donna said. "Go on and check the rooms with Rose."

"Good. Rose, come with me. We can get reacquainted while we check," he said to her before he and Rose left the room.

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