Key 2 Time 2: Part 4: The Ignorance of Youth

by lallafangirls

Romana is uptight. Amy doesn't listen. Part of the Key 2 Time 2 series.

Title: Key 2 Time 2: Part 4: The Ignorance of Youth

Author: HearMeCalling and sneakyangel
Rating: G
Characters: Romana III, Amy, K9.
Spoilers: You're kidding, right? K2T hasn't even been released yet!
Summary: Romana is uptight. Amy doesn't listen.
Disclaimer: We really, really don't own Doctor Who. We do this out of our crazy love for it, Big Finish and those scary Big Fish.
Notes: If you wish to read this and have it make the tiniest amount of sense, we recommend reading: Part 1: On The Other Side, Part 2: Between a Rock and a Hard Place and Part 3: Banging Your Head Against a Brick Wall first.

Key 2 Time 2: Part 4: The Ignorance of Youth

Amy watched Romana set the TARDIS into flight, trying to remember which buttons she had pressed. There were so many buttons and knobs and levers on the console, Amy thought she would never remember which ones did what, wondering how anyone could deal with such a complex machine. She had only just learned which lever opened the TARDIS door.

"The next segment," Romana announced. "Can you remember what I told you last time?"

Amy looked at Romana. The bewilderment must have been written all over her face because Romana sighed and started repeating her lecture from before. Amy made a mental note to always say yes when Romana asked these questions.

"This time," Romana finished, "if something is going even slightly wrong, let go and I'll take over immediately, okay?"

"Right. Got you this time. And don't worry; I don't want to go through THAT again," Amy sighed. She hadn't forgotten the pain.

"Any co-ordinates yet?" Romana prompted.

"Let me concentrate." Amy closed her eyes and started pressing buttons. "Nine-Five-Eight-Eight-Three-Gamma Seven-Zero. Where is that?"

"Hmm different to last time. I believe that's the planet Frondarck." Romana tapped into the TARDIS data core. "Temperate climate, breathable atmosphere." She read from the scanner, "that generally means there'll be some kind of trouble on the planet surface."

That was all Amy needed to hear. "Brilliant!" She threw open the doors and ran outside. "Romana look!" she called, "It's beautiful! Blue grass, purple sky, orange trees. Romana come out and see!"

"K9, stay here. I'll whistle if I need you." History had taught her to be cautious. And besides, one of them had to be sensible. Romana walked out of the TARDIS and the sight that beheld her was breathtaking. "I never get bored of this, but please, remember what I said. Often the most beautiful of places are the most dangerous."

Amy rolled her eyes. "Oh Romana relax! There's no one around for miles. And I can sense the segment. It's close by." She ran off in the direction of the segment. Romana hitched up her robes and ran to catch Amy up. Amy suddenly stopped, to make sure she was heading in the right direction. Romana wasn't looking where she was running and ran straight into Amy. The two women fell over and Amy burst out laughing. Romana tried to keep her composure, but failed and started laughing in spite of herself.

Once Romana caught her breath, she asked, "now then, segment? There's something I don't like about this place." She looked around. It was too pretty and too deserted.

Amy untangled herself from Romana, stood up and looked around. "It should be in there." She pointed at a cave at the base of a very big hill.

"Always a cave or underground passage, isn't it?" Romana muttered to herself. She had a sinking feeling about this cave, but they needed the segment so she ignored that feeling. "Right then. Follow me." She marched off in front despite the fact she doesn't really know the direction of the segment. Amy rolled her eyes again and followed Romana into the cave. "Wow, this is bigger on the inside... "

Romana shrugged, "caves are like another world underground. The mouth is equivalent, to, well, the tip of an iceberg."

"Are caves supposed to glow like this? I've been in caves before and we've always had to use fire to guide us."

"It's just phosphorescence. Microbes coating the wall which contain GTP. This makes them glow. Very useful for tracking in primitive scientific experiments, I believe. They can sometimes be dangerous. To be on the safe side, don't touch the walls."

Amy didn't understand scientific explanation Romana had given but she bit her tongue, she didn't fancy listening to another one of Romana's lectures. She just continued walking through the cave passages. "We must be in the heart of the mountain now."

"Yes, that seems about right," Romana agreed. "Any sign of the segment now?"

"The signal is the same strength as it was when we left the TARDIS. We aren't getting any closer but I know we must continue this way." She pointed to left passage.

A thought struck Romana. "Is it possible that we're walking around the segment? That it's in a hidden chamber within this cave?"

"That is a possibility. I haven't seen any chamber entrances though. Wait." She looked around and started to worry. "What's that noise?"

Romana spotted something big, slow and lumbering heading towards them. "I'm not sure, but run! Preferably closer to the segment, if you don't mind."

Amy couldn't believe Romana. Something big was heading right towards them and she wanted to get closer to the segment. "I'm certain the segment is that way. Look, there's a little alcove just down there. We should hide in there till that thing has passed." She dragged Romana over to the alcove. It was a squash, but they both just about fitted in.

Romana was grumbling, but whispering at the same time so the creature doesn't hear them. "I told you to be careful of the walls. Knowing our luck, it'll be something toxic."

"Well would you prefer to be squashed or kidnapped?" Amy retorted. Sometimes Romana could be rather infuriating.

Romana was growing tired of Amy's inexperience. "Being kidnapped is less painful, generally. You just have to escape, which is surprisingly easy to do 90% of the time."

"Says the person who was tortured by the Black Guardian. Well I would prefer to stay away from the possibility of being tortured," Amy muttered.

"Most places are rather hospitable. I've only ever been tortured 4 times, don't worry about it." Romana pulled herself free as the un-named as yet alien has lumbered past. "Well then, what way?"

Amy glared at Romana, still not believing her comments on torturing. She may not be human so it might not be such a big deal to her, but despite her 'birth', Amy well and truly was. Still, there was no point arguing with her, Romana was pretty relentless in arguments. Back to the task in hand would be significantly more useful.

"Umm this way. Follow me."

Romana followed Amy, not noticing the rash developing on her arm rather quickly. They walked a fair distance, with Romana getting fairly frustrated as she was certain they were just going around in circles. Her mind was elsewhere when Amy started talking again.

"Ahh here we go. The signal is getting stronger."

Amy dropped to her knees and wriggled into a small hole in the wall that was almost unnoticeable. Romana only realised where she had disappeared when Amy shouted at her to make sure she was following. In this kind of environment, they really didn't want to lose each other. As she followed, Romana stopped every so often to scratch at her arm. She barely realised what she was doing.

"Amy?" Romana called. "Do you know how long this tunnel is?"

"I can't see the end," Amy shouted in reply. She banged her head on the ceiling, much to her dismay. "Ouch! Looks like the tunnel goes up here. How are you at climbing?"

"Fine!" Romana shouted in reply, before continuing in a mumbled breath. "Usually."

Amy started climbing, and the tunnel reduced in size significantly.

"Oof. It's very tight here." She paused. "Um Romana? I'm stuck"

Romana hadn't been keeping her eyes on Amy's progress; it had been requiring a lot of effort to focus on moving. It was Amy's call that stopped her from banging into her. However, the pause was part of Romana's downfall. The strength in her arm gave way and she slipped a short distance, landing on a small ledge. She caught her breath before replying to Amy, who was beginning to panic.

"There's an opening a little way down from you, if you can go backwards."

Amy attempted to move once again, but all her efforts were in vain. "No I can't. Can you give me a push? I can see a ledge just above my head."

"I can try." With a fuzzy head, and more effort than Romana would normally deem necessary, she managed to push Amy free. "Can you try and be quick? I don't think I can keep going much longer."

Amy scrambled onto the ledge and took a second to reassess the situation. Spinning around, she threw a hand down to help an exhausted Romana up. Romana smiled gratefully as Amy hauled her up to relative safety. Searching through her robes, Romana quickly found K9's whistle and passed it to Amy for safekeeping.

"If anything happens to us, use this. It'll call K9."

"Romana, we are in the middle of a mountain, how will K9 ever be able to help us?" She paused, after noticing that Romana was extremely pale. "Are you feeling ok? You don't look good at all."

"K9 has his own way of helping. Can we get on? Please?"

"If you're sure. Its not far now."

They began climbing again. Romana was thoroughly unimpressed with Amy's definition of 'not far', but that may have just been her condition talking. Amy soon found the end of the tunnel, opening up into a massive cavern, filled with elegant stalagmites and stalactites. Romana caught up with her eventually, and slumped against the wall.

"This chamber is huge!"

"I'll... just rest here," Romana mumbled. "If you don't mind. You go look."

"Romana, what's wrong? You look like a ghost." Amy stepped forward and slapped Romana's arm away from her forearm. "And stop scratching! Time Lord or not, you'll make yourself bleed!"

"I think it was the bacteria," Romana replied shakily. "I won't know until we get out. Please, just hurry up and find the segment."

"Okay," Amy replied resignedly.

She started pacing around the chamber. The signal from the segment was muddled, confusing and along with the phosphorescence, was beginning to give her a headache. Still, at least she hadn't been affected by whatever had affected Romana. She was probably right about it being the bacteria. Annoyingly so, even. On the third time round she stopped. What she was staring at appeared to be an empty patch of wall. She smiled to herself, relieved that she had found it and they could get back to the TARDIS.

"Here," she breathed before placing her hand against the wall. It shimmered for a second before a segment fell neatly into her hands. "Quick Romana, we need to go back the way we came. Now! This chamber is going to collapse in on itself."

Romana cursed. She should have known that the segments would be heavily protected, especially against Time Lords considering she and the Doctor gathered them last time around. She placed her arms to her side, attempting to move them giving away far too quickly.

"I'm not sure I can move," she replied.

"I don't think we have long." Amy was panicked. "Can you hold the segment and I'll carry you?"

"Yes. If you're sure you can cope with my weight?"

"You don't look like you weigh much at all, and I am stronger than I look."

Amy strode over with more confidence than she actually felt, given the situation. She handed Romana the segment before picking her up with an ease that even surprised herself.

"Light as a feather!"

Amy dodged through the tunnels, which had become wider due to rocks falling in the right directions, thoroughly relieved that fate appeared to be on her side. That fabled light at the end of the tunnel had never felt more appealing, and Romana was quickly becoming a dead weight across her shoulders. She managed to get both of them clear of the mountainside just before the entire thing collapsed. Coughing and spluttering she placed the diminutive Time Lord on the grass, whilst stopping to catch her breath.

Romana attempted to sit up, and gain coherency. "Well, you did say it'd be more... "

She promptly fell unconscious, succumbing to the bacterial DNA plaguing her system.

"Oh no. Romana? ROMANA!"

End of Part 4. Look out for Part 5! Oh good grief.