Ruby's World

Ruby's World was an alternate timeline that an alternate Ruby Sunday lived through for the rest of her life after the Fifteenth Doctor stepped on a fairy circle and vanished.

Timeline

2024

The Doctor and Ruby Sunday arrived on a cliff in Wales in 2024. She told the Doctor that she had been to Wales two times. Shortly after landing, the Doctor stepped on a fairy circle that made him vanish from the world, which lead to both the TARDIS sealing itself and the timeline shifting, originating this alternate reality. Now without the Doctor, Ruby noticed an eerie figure with the appearance of a grey-haired old woman standing still in the distance.

After looking around for the Doctor, Ruby began travelling in search of a town, and noticed that the figure was appearing in the distance everytime she moved. On the road, she met an elderly woman hiking whose face she thought she recognised; she checked if the hiker could see the mysterious Woman too and asked her to talk to the figure, but approaching her made the hiker turn facing Ruby, stare at her for a while and then run away in fear.

Ruby then arrived in the town of Glyngatwg where she entered a pub called Y Pren Marw where she arranged a bed for the night. She again made sure that the people in the pub could see the Woman too; one of them, a man named Josh, approached the Woman on his way out and also immediately stared back at Ruby and ran away, scared. Ruby ended up staying in the pub for several days after which she was evicted by the landlady, Lowri, after Josh told her he would not return to the pub, with the only explanation being "ask her".

Heading home by train, Ruby noticed she could see the Woman from the window, constantly present in the distance despite the train moving at high speed.

Back at home in Notting Hill, Ruby informed Carla of the events. Carla offered to go up to the Woman while having Ruby on the phone so Ruby could hear what she would say. As Carla got near, all Ruby could make out over the line was whispering, but she couldn't discern any words. Suddenly, Carla behaved the same as the others who have approached the Woman, running in terror away from Ruby who desperately chased her. Carla got into a taxi and as it drove past she glanced at Ruby with a stare of pure hatred. A few days later, Ruby found that Carla had changed the locks of their door and kept refusing to let her back in. Later, Carla completely disowned Ruby and eventually took out an injunction against her.

2025 - 2044

Around a year later, Ruby met up with Kate Stewart and explained these past events. The Woman was still around, yet no-one else seemed to be bothered by her constant presence. Kate promised to help, confirming the Doctor had completely disappeared and that the Woman was at a constant 73 yards (66.7 metres) of distance away from Ruby. All images of the Woman came out blurred even when taken with high-tech equipment. Kate ordered UNIT's trained personnel to approach the Woman avoiding any kind of contact. Despite their psychic training, the UNIT soldiers, much like Carla and everyone else who listened to the Woman, turned to look at Ruby and ran away. Kate, who was listening from the distance through a device, was also affected and called her team off while staring furiously at Ruby and abruptly left.

The Woman was still around at all times during 2029 as Ruby turned 25, in 2034 as she turned 30 and in 2044 as she turned 40. Ruby was unable to have lasting relationships because of the Woman's constant presence.

2046

By 2046, at the age of 41, Ruby saw a television interview with Albion Party politician Roger ap Gwilliam, whom she recounted the Doctor mentioning the last time she saw him: he told her Gwilliam was a dangerous Prime Minister who led the world close to nuclear war. Remembering this, she decides to volunteer for the party, with the idea of getting close to Gwilliam and "[saving] the world".

Later that year, as Gwilliam won the election and became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Ruby, who was waiting for the right moment to strike, participated in a speech rehearsal at Cardiff City Stadium and managed to make the Woman appear close to Gwilliam and scare him away. This plan worked as Roger ap Gwilliam immediately resigned, with the only explanation given to the media being "ask her". He was succeeded as Prime Minister by his deputy Iris Cabriola.

2086 - 2089

In 2086, Ruby's carer took her back to Wales to the site where the TARDIS landed. It was still standing in that very spot, by then lying derelict and covered in moss, and surrounded with flowers that people had been leaving there; Ruby pointed out that she "[didn't] think they [knew]" why they did so. The Woman was still constantly present at 73 yards' distance from Ruby. While talking to the TARDIS as if communicating to the Doctor, Ruby noted that it "never snowed again".

By 2089, Ruby was in a hospital, nearing her death of old age. While in bed, before sleeping for her last time, she recounted to a nurse that she could once make it snow and that, while she had now been abandoned for sixty-five years, she had never been alone. During the night, Ruby heard whispering in her room and turned on the light to see the Woman was now standing closer and had her back to her. The lights started to flicker as the Woman moved closer and closer to Ruby, who held out her arms. (TV: 73 Yards ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)

Aftermath

Right after this, Ruby found herself in 2024 Wales, observing and standing 73 yards away as her younger self and the Doctor emerged from the TARDIS. She managed to communicate to her younger self "don't step". This made young Ruby call out to the Doctor to not step, which stopped the Doctor from ever stepping on the fairy circle and breaking it, which caused older Ruby to vanish. As they walked on, young Ruby told the Doctor that she had been to Wales three times, but could only say that her third visit was "now", implying that she had some vague memory of her alternate life. (TV: 73 Yards ^[+]Russell T Davies, Doctor Who series 14 (BBC One and Disney+, 2024).)