Another chapter :) Big thanks to imsuchanut, MuppetKatie, TenRose4ever and krikanalo for reviewing!

THE TROUBLE CLEF

They made for the first available exit; a half-ripped open piece of metal the pair had to climb over. Rose went first, propelling herself up and over the structure quickly as she continued on, turning to see the Doctor's laces get caught on a sharp piece of metal and fall headfirst onto the floor. "Doctor!" Running back, the young woman pulled her companion up, the slithered whispers drawing louder with every second. Finally getting the Time Lord untangled, they took off, running down hallway after hallway until Rose was so lost, she had no idea she'd ever find her way out of the hill. "Why would he have all these tunnels?" she asked as they stopped, completely out of breath.

"Marun had the biggest research institute in the Galaxy," the Doctor explained, looking around to figure out which way to run next. "Bigger than the one on Threnn, bigger than the Glaswell Starship Research Institute of the 52nd Sons… And that ship was the size of Pluto." The alien licked his finger and held it up, the quiet much too eerie in the dim despite the fact that it meant safety. The only light they had was from the sonic screwdriver… everything else was broken. "This way."

He grabbed her hand and they were off again, though his time their sprint was reduced to a fast walk. "We're gonna die in here, aren't we?" the blonde asked. "My dream is going to come true."

"Rose, stop it."

"I'm trying to be realistic."

"So am I."

They continued walking before Rose broke the silence. "Doctor, I'm not like you. I'm going to need to rest and eat soon."

"We'll find a place."

That place turned out to be an area where the normally metal-sheathed tunnels gave way to dirt and roots and rock. The Doctor spied an alcove carved into the very top of the wall and managed to hoist himself and his companion up, the pair crawling as far back into the space as possible. They cuddled together, hugging each other tightly. Rose stomach growled loudly and she looked at the Doctor in embarrassment, the Time Lord grinning at her before shutting off the sonic to root around in his pockets.

Good thing, too, because the slithering voice came back, soft and then louder, chanting:

Meat, meat, meat, meat

Juicy red so scared and sweet

Here we come oh, here we come

You cannot forever run

The pair held completely still, scarcely breathing as the voice came right up to their alcove, sniffing and staying for about a minute before heading up in the opposite direction.

Gone gone gone gone

But fear's all over where you've run

When it disappeared completely, Rose waited a good five minutes before letting out a breath, the thing whooshing out of her in a choked mixture of a gasp and tears as she held fast to the Doctor, heart racing. He tried to calm her down, but his nerves had been rattled just the same.

This was a pickle they'd have a hard time getting out of. He had no idea where they were, these things were hunting them obsessively, and they had no food, no water, no light. Unless…

Reaching into his pockets, the alien managed to produce a small decade-old bottle of water, a packet of five century-old jelly babies, and a mini lantern. "Right, Rose," the Doctor whispered, "it's going to be all right."

He turned the lantern on and his companion shut it off immediately, shaking her head in the blackness. "What if they see it?"

She made a good point. "Right. Well, I've got food and water. So…" He took her hands, deftly putting some candy in them. "Go on, they should still be good."

"Should?"

"Just work with me. If it feels like you'll break a tooth, suck on it. If it tastes unpleasant, spit it out."

She popped one into her mouth, sucking on it. "What about you?"

"I'm fine."

"No, you're not. Eat."

"I'm not human, I don't need food and sleep like you do."

"Please, Doctor, just eat one. For me." She placed five into his hands and he rolled his eyes, shoving them into his mouth anyway. "Drink water, too," she insisted.

He drank a sip before handing the bottle to her, the blonde being very careful with rationing but obviously parched. After they had finished their meal, they tangled their bodies together again, finding comfort in one another. The Doctor swallowed thickly. "Rose? If… If your dream does start to come true, I want you to get back to the TARDIS. You just go home and let her collect dust somewhere, like I told you before, alright?"

"No."

"Rose-"

"No. If my dream happens, we're both dead anyway. I will not leave you." A shaky breath. "Besides, knowing you're dead? Knowing I killed you? I wouldn't want to live."

"Rose Tyler, if push comes to shove you will get to that TARDIS."

"The only way I'm getting in the ship is if you take me there yourself."

"You're impossible. Why do you never listen-"

"If I'd have listened to you all the time, you'd be dead. And yet here we both are, running for our lives again."

She heard him sigh. "I really am sorry about all this, Rose. You were right, we should have just left-"

He felt her shrug in his arms. "S'okay. We're in it now, nothing we can do about that. As long as we're doing it together, s'not so bad."

The Doctor smiled in the blackness, pressing a kiss to the top of the blonde's head. "…Try and get some sleep."

She woke up two hours later, still tired but unable to fall back asleep. Taking her hand, the Doctor led them through too many dark tunnels to count, twisting up and down in the Earth. At one point, they heard running water and stopped for a drink, the Time Lord testing the drink before with his sonic. If you asked Rose how long they were down there, the blond would have said a year.

If you asked the Doctor it was eight hours.

As they made their way in the blackness, they'd sometimes hear whispers coming closer and fading again, but never close enough to have to run.

Not until they reached the well.

It was called as such because of its natural cylindrical formation: a spring deep under the crust of the Earth. Marun used to get his water from here, and so had a five foot wooden piece stuck in tunnel overhead, holding up a pulley system complete with hempen rope and metal bucket. If you looked up, you'd be able to see light streaming through from the surface.

It was this light the Doctor and his companion first witnessed when they were running from the Qa. One had almost cornered them again, and the pair had run as fast as their legs could carry them, pushing their bodies to their absolute limits when the bright stream of white light came into view ahead.

The pair ran straight for it, hands grasped between their bodies, as they practically flew over the dirt surface beneath their feet. Arriving a hair before his companion, the Doctor skidded to halt in the kick of time, looking down into what looked to be a never-ending hole. Rose almost toppled them both into the abyss, unable to stop in time, but the alien managed to right them again, thinking of a solution as the whispers came closer by the second. There was the rope. The rope that was tied to the wooden piece above. If they climbed that they could get back to the surface and the ship-

"Doctor!" At this point, the blonde was inching them closer to the edge, more willing to fall to her doom than eaten by shadow creatures. Looking over his shoulder for half a moment, however, the blonde came to the same conclusion of her companion: "Jump. We need to jump."

He went first, wanting to make sure the rope and wood were strong enough to hold more weight. Immediately after grabbing hold of the line, the alien began to climb, making enough room for his blonde human to jump and grab the rope as well. She did, hitting the rock and dirt of the other tunnel wall as she swung to the side with momentum. Rose had only just inched up a bit when a black mass jumped for the hemp as well, sending all three swinging and clutching to line for their lives. It made grotesque, slithery and garbled noises under the blonde and she panicked, climbing up as fast as she could.

And then her pant leg was torn.

Rose shrieked, shaking her leg wildly and grimacing when the clawed hand came to swipe at her again, this time tearing her skin. The third time, it grabbed her ankle, claws poking holes in her flesh as it pulled her downwards, her hands chafing painfully against the rope as she screamed. Rose kicked wildly, looking up towards the Doctor as he looked down, helpless. For the first time in a very long time, he was powerless. He had no idea what to do, and couldn't do anything even if he did.

He could only watch.

A garbled shriek, and then the black mass was flailing as it fell, grabbing his companion's foot at the last possible moment. Rose lost her grip screaming as she reached out for empty space.

The Doctor didn't know how, but he slid down the rope and reached out just in time to grab her sweaty, slippery hand. The creature fell, losing its grip on the blonde shortly thereafter. The Time Lord grimaced. There was no way he could hold on, especially not if their hands kept sweating. He could feel that his palms were raw and grunted, looking up as he attempted to lift her with one hand.

That was when he saw it: string by string, the rope was fraying. He cursed, panicking as he attempted to swing them to safety, regretting the action when Rose almost slipped from his grasp. "Doctor?" she whimpered, nervously.

"It's going to be alright, Rose."

A lie.

Rose Tyler had always heard that when committing suicide, jumping off a tall structure was a good way to go. Apparently, you had a heart attack before you hit the ground, saving you from any and all possible pain.

That was a bold faced lie.

She knew this because she didn't have a heart attack, even when it felt like her stomach was in her throat and her heart would explode. She knew because she was still breathing when she bounced off one wall and then another, ribs cracking.

Rose knew because even when the Doctor fell into her, holding her clumsily and yelling his apologies, even when she gasped for breath, she was still alive. She remembered looking at the Doctor for what she thought was going to be the last time, having trouble seeing him in the dark and through her blurred vision. Tears or the wind, she wasn't sure, but she couldn't see him. Not really.

In that moment, nothing spectacular happened. There were no professions of love, no kisses, no dying words: just a look. And in that look, all was understood.

I love you.