AUTHOR'S NOTE-


How crazy was that last one, huh, guys? Yeah, I know – GIMME MORE FICTION, DA**IT. Fine. Here ya go, have another chapter. This one is largely a chase scene, but it's one of my faves. Enjoy!


I DO NOT OWN DOCTOR WHO OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS MENTIONED WITHIN.

DO NOT USE MY ORIGINAL CHARACTERS OR I WILL WITHHOLD ALL COOKIES.


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"Doctor, she's over here! This way!" Jack bellowed.

The walls of the tunnels were inset with pockets of bioluminescent life-forms – insects and bacteria that Rose was grateful for, despite her thorough dislike of creepy-crawlies. This bioluminescence provided them with surprisingly long-ranged blue lighting, if a bit dim. Their dull shadows danced around on the rough-hewn walls, playing tricks on Rose's mind.

Jack was using his vortex manipulator (which Hallstalker had not taken, he merely disabled its teleportation abilities for the umpteenth time) to track the Dragon. It was a challenge to keep the screen steady while he ran, and he could barely read the damn thing so he switched the output to audio. The leather-and-tech armband beeped, signaling a close alien life-form – this one was on the move, and it was fast.

The Doctor veered around a sharp corner, long coat billowing behind him like a cloak. His twin hearts thundered, but he was nowhere close to tiring. He'd once been forced to run for four days straight, and at the end of it he came out with enough energy and stability of mind to bring down a fake vulture god. No, in this instance he would have no problem catching the Dragon. The real problem was figuring out what to do when they caught up to her. His Gallifreyan mind was hard at work trying to figure out a way to make her understand that he really wanted to help her get home instead of killing her. The first priority, clearly, was to calm her down.

But how could he convince a terrified child that he wasn't going to hurt her if he was still chasing after her?

Rose followed close behind The Doctor. Her chest heaved, but she ignored the burning sensation in favor of their mission. (Good exercise, she told herself – mum would be pleased.) The Dragon was leading them on a genuine marathon – and not one that Rose had any real desire to be running. The soles of her trainers were wearing thin, and she'd already added about ten kilos worth of sweat to her hoodie.

"How can this girl possibly outrun three fit adult humanoids?" Rose thought, breaths shuddering with her footfalls. "Tell you what, though, as soon as we get back to the Tardis, I'm not moving for a week!"

They followed her through the maze with blind judgement, taking her movements as their only guide. They were gaining on her, slowly but surely, and it was only a matter of time before they finally caught up with her. What happened next was anyone's guess, but Rose had a sneaking suspicion that it wouldn't be preferable in any case.

Jack split off down a separate path, and The Doctor followed.

"Doctor!" Rose called out, losing sight of both men. "Wait up for me!"

The tunnel became infinitely darker here, and Rose couldn't see much past her own feet. Consumed by darkness, she slowed for fear of causing herself personal injury.

Unfortunately, it wasn't slow enough.

She stumbled over a gouge in the rock, stubbing her toe. Her momentum kept her going, only half-balanced. Rose looked up, but saw no sign of The Doctor or Jack.

Instead, she ran face-first into a wall of stone.

For a split second, she saw stars. Rose fell back, hands cradling her forehead. Her feet went out from beneath her and her bum hit the ground with a solid whumph. She moaned and rolled onto the ground. Her vision split into two swaying versions of the same image. Immediately she knew she had a mild concussion. It took everything she had not to faint, because she really wanted to, but The Doctor needed her. She lay on her back, still in pain.

"Come on, Rose..." she muttered to herself, words sluggish as her consciousness rolled downhill. "Don't give up...yet..."

Her vision started to go dark red.

Pain blossomed anew over her forehead, pulsing and throbbing in time with her heartbeat. She sound of internal bass against her eardrums roared. There was burning in her scalp... She was so dizzy... so... so... diz...zy... ... ...

And the last thing she saw was Hallstalker's face looming over her.


Artemis ran.

She ran even though she couldn't see. She couldn't breathe.

She hit herself on multiple low overpasses, and each time a few of her spectrum-colored scales sparked against the rocks. It didn't matter. There was fire in her chest and her Soul felt like it could give out at any second. But it didn't matter.

None of it mattered if she was going to die.

By luck and instinct alone was she still going, the momentum of her wings and body maintaining most of her speed. Artemis knew the rhythm now, and her tail commandeered balance. Her arms were useless. The only thing they were good for was bracing against the rock when she ran into a wall or wiping off blood.

And she was at a sheer disadvantage – she had never actually run in her life. She was smaller than the other humanoids, so she had less lung capacity. She was starving. She had very little energy. Her legs weren't as long. Not to mention the other humanoids weren't held down by extra limbs. It was true that her Soul provided a constant flow of new energy, but that didn't mean much - it had been working in overdrive since the day of her birth, and likely didn't possess what it would take to get her to safety.

This death-hunt was becoming more stacked against her by the minute.

The only thing that kept her going was fear – fear and adrenaline. Her terror was so strong that she swore the Timelord could probably smell her. All she could think was, "why"?

Why does he want to kill me?

Why did Hallstalker let him come for me?

Why?


The Doctor's thoughts switched into overdrive, which went a little something like this –

"/Artemis/Hallstalker said her name was Artemis/not bad/

goddess of the hunt/kind of ironic, but hey/maybe I'll start

by using her name/yes, that sounds about right/

I can work with that/ow, that stalactite hurt/where was I/oh

right, the Dragon/JACK GO FASTER/how do I calm her down/

does she like gold?/oh brilliant Doctor/that might be useful if

we actually HAD SOME/anyway, no/ that could be seen as

racist/gah what can I do/what do I do/what do I say/what/

what/ow/what/wait, where's Rose/"

"/Rose?/"

The Doctor ground to a halt, scraping his shoes into the rock. His head swung left and right, immediately coming to the realization that his companion was no longer present.

"Jack, wait!" he shouted. "We lost Rose!"

But it was too late.

He heard nothing, outside of his own breathing, which meant that he was completely separated from his friends. Now Jack was lost, too.

The Doctor cursed, slapping a hand against the wall in frustration. Why was it so difficult for the universe to allow him to do the right thing? A pinprick of something made itself known in the very back of his mind (whether it was intuition or instinct, he didn't know or care), and he knew without a doubt that Rose was in trouble. Over the past few years he'd become highly attuned to Rose's mental footprint, and right now her signal was screaming distress.

The Timelord called out again for Jack, hoping that the immortal might have noticed his disappearance.

But there was no reply from Jack.

And judging by the distant sound of roaring in the forked tunnel up ahead, it appeared he might have run into the Dragon.


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Artemis was curled up in a ball, wings wrapped around her in a feeble attempt at defense. She was shaking so hard that her teeth chattered. She couldn't see straight. It hurt to bind up her heaving lungs, but again it didn't matter. Her fear had never been so prominent.

And she was dead.

The male human had her backed into a corner – she had run herself right into a dead end that dwindled off until nothing could fit inside.

The human was tall, as tall as Hallstalker and physically stronger. She could sense the chemical storm in his system, predatory, almost gleeful. The thrill of chase was thick in his aura, and it terrified her. He had enjoyed this. She felt his eyes boring into her and resisted the urge to squirm beneath his gaze. If she moved, he might not leave.

Quiet fury channeled throughout her mind - fury that the shaking was not helping her to blend in. The human saw her shaking, she knew he had to. He was still there, still poised to attack. His shadow loomed at the mouth of the tunnel, cutting off all escape. She was, undoubtedly, trapped.

Now all she could do was wait for him to call for The Doctor.

Why didn't he end it already?!

Artemis peeked over the arm of her wing, and saw the human's silhouette hovering just three feet away from her.

When had he moved?!

She flinched, her eyes glazing over and forgetting to focus. She could smell him strongly now – she felt his aura wash over her, and her fear warped it into a thing of malevolence. Jack had no intention to harm her, but the torrent of chemicals in her brain sent all sort of strange signals through her conscious mind.

She could imagine his hands wrapping around her throat or her middle, dragging her back through the tunnels. She could imagine that any second now he would strike and send her back into unconsciousness.

Or maybe not – maybe she wouldn't pass out and he'd rain blow after crippling blow onto her scales.

That was most likely.

Artemis pulled her head back down like a turtle, bracing for the end.

"/Oh god/oh god no/no/no no no/I'm dead/this is it/ this

is it/no/why/why why why/please/no/please don't/please

human/no/please don't kill me/please/no/oh god don't touch

me/no/please/stop/please/DON'T TOUCH ME/OH MY GOD

/NO/NO/NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO!/STOP/AAAA

AAAHHHHHHHH!/"

If Jack had heard these thoughts, he made no indication.

He had, ever so gently, placed his hand on the membrane of Artemis's wing (at that particular moment was when she had started internally screaming). She jumped in response, but tried to cover the movement as though her resistance were the deciding factor of her fate.

Jack frowned with a great deal of sadness, and pity. Her fear was beyond what he'd imagined.

He moved his hand, ever so slightly, along the arm of her wing, trying to soothe her. He willed the physical contact to project his intentions to her - it was a lesser skill of certain psychics, but hard to pull off without direct mental connection. Apparently it wasn't working.

"Shhh…" Jack whispered, in the lightest volume he could manage.

Artemis jerked at the sound. She was shaking so badly that she caused Jack's hand to vibrate.

This wasn't looking good.

If she stayed in this state for too much longer, her heart might give out – like a rabbit or fish. She could go into shock or cardiac arrest, in which case Jack wouldn't be much able to help her. He would need medical expertise for that...medical expertise which The Doctor could likely provide.

But if he called for The Doctor, that could make the Dragon's condition worse. She might literally die of fright at that point, or she might try to kill him. Kill them.

Would she, though?

Had the Seeker really meant what he said? Even now, when Jack had her trapped and cornered, she made no move to attack. She was petrified, unable to move out of fear. She was just a scared kid – scared and alone and tortured for most of her life.

Yeah, Hallstalker truly was a heartless monster.

And Jack was quickly running out of ideas.


When Rose woke up, she was chained and shackled.

Her arms were locked against the sides of a cell. She was standing, somehow, but weak. Her head felt heavy and bloated, and she could feel a welt the size of mum's favorite china dish beginning to manifest in the middle of her forehead. She was thirsty, and ravenous, with no indication of how long she'd been unconscious.

Coherency swiftly returned to her thoughts, and in a flourish she began to collect herself.

What had happened?

Where was Jack?

Where was Hallstalker?

Where was the Dragon?

Where was The Doctor?

She looked around the cell – her field of vision was limited to the cells beside her, but she could see nothing of the outside world. In the cell to her right was a Dalek, and in the other was one of the potato-head aliens. So, she had been placed in Jack's cell.

The Dalek turned its metallic head towards Rose then, its eyestalk gaping eerily at her. Rose gave it a look of apprehension, expecting it to try to kill her, but it merely turned back around.

A single strip of lighting ran around the ring of cells, casting a shadow over the front of her face. The floors were patterned like checkers, here and there splotched with stains of red and grey and a myriad of other muted colors. The back wall was not glass but dingy cement – aged and cracked, and yellowed with age.

At this point, Rose really contemplated it – what it would really be like to spend one's entire life chained up like this. She felt like an animal in a cage – waiting to be slaughtered, or worse. And she knew that it felt infinitely worse for those who had already long passed the point of hope for escape. For those that had given up and submitted to this hell, there could be no describing the feeling.

And all of this suffering was caused by one twisted Seeker.

"Hallstalker!" Rose screamed, "When I get out of here, I'm going to kill you!"

But there was no reply.

She was alone.

The Dalek looked at her once more, as if wondering why she bothered to resist her fate. A part of Rose wondered it too, but as long as The Doctor was still alive she still had hope.

Didn't she?

"Please, Doctor." She thought, sending out a silent plea, "Find me."


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AUTHOR'S NOTE-


What did you think? The next chapter is my absolute favorite, so I figure I'll save it for tomorrow.

(This is a re-upload)

All reviews are deserving of a cookie.