**Notes: Thank you for the reviews, guys! Glad to know you're enjoying it. Still working on exciting stuff to keep them running. If anyone has any ideas for things they'd like me to include, please let me know... ideas are always welcome. Any particular aliens you want included or something, just post it in the reviews or message me :D **

Chapter Ten – Rising Waters

By the time Evander finished watching the video Rose had just sent him, the Oncoming Storm was blazing. His path through the labyrinth was no longer cautious. He strode forward tall and glowering. If there had been any sort of breeze, his coat would be flapping behind him, red satin on display. But the air in this horrid place was deathly still and silent.

He was close to her now and could feel her worry at the rising water in her prison. She wasn't panicking. Rose was used to this sort of thing and there was no need to panic until the last minutes. Even if the water filled the room completely, her respiratory bypass would give her some more time to make her escape.

Standing outside of her location, it did indeed look like a red cube. Narrow wooden boards covered all sides and, he presumed, the top as well. The whole structure was painted bright red and there was no obvious door anywhere. He circled the cube and examined all sides for any imperfections that might indicate a door.

Finding nothing that way, the Doctor jumped up to grasp the top edge of the cube and pulled himself on top. In the centre of the roof, there was a small door, just big enough to pull her through. He ran to it and immediately ripped it open.

Inside, he could see Rose swimming around the room as she searched for a way out.

"Rose!" he called to her. "Swim to the middle, darling! I'll pull you out!"

As soon as she was within reach he pulled her up and she collapsed on top of him, drenching them both with the frigid water. She shivered a bit, despite her advanced biology. After swimming for several minutes in her search for an escape route and suddenly being out in the air, she couldn't help but feel the cold.

Evander held her tightly and rubbed her arms to help warm her up. Placing his forehead against hers, he basked in their renewed connection for a few moments. His head had been aching without her there. He had Alex there for a bit when they were trying to reach her, but it wasn't the same. He still felt the pain of the dampening field on that bond, but feeling Rose again was a huge relief.

They kissed each other passionately and then flopped onto their backs side by side.

Rose finally broke the silence, "Thank you, Doctor. I don't think I would have found it in time."

"Of course you would have, Rose," he assured her with a kiss to her temple. "It was easier from out here though, the sides are smooth, so openings were more obvious."

"We need to find Alex and then, we need to get to the TARDIS. Any idea who that person on the video was?" Rose asked as her mind refocused on their current situation.

"I have a few ideas of who it could be," he answered. "But just from the nature of this whole situation, not so much from the video itself. Even with all of those possibilities in mind though, that knowledge isn't going to help us get out of here. So, unless they feel like showing themselves, I'm more inclined to focus on leaving."

"Alright, so Alex is going to try to get to the spot right underneath where we are now. What do you think he'll find there? We can't see where he is from that game board anymore and I'm afraid to use the sonics to communicate again in case our captor wants to punish us for breaking the rules." Rose was working out a plan now that she had one of her husbands back.

None of them had been thinking about how to get out of the place after finding Rose, it was always about just reaching her. Now they needed to keep together and find Alex as well as the TARDIS.

"Well, I'm sure he can tell from our feelings, that I've found you and you're safe. We don't need to send him a message to let him know that. It's hard to feel the TARDIS with that bloody dampening field in place, but I don't think she's moved from where we landed," Evander replied as he stroked her hair.

They were still lying on top of the red cube that had served as her prison. Rose sat up and looked in the direction of the labyrinth that Evander had just escaped. Squinting into the distance, she was able to look over the top of the walls and back to the TARDIS.

"I think I can see her! Do you think we could climb over the top of the walls from here?" Rose wondered.

"Hard to say," he answered with a wince as he remembered the shock he received trying to get on top of the walls earlier. "We tried to climb on top when we first started, but there was a force field in place to prevent it. It may still hurt us from the other side as well. Of course, with this bird's eye view, I could plan our route through from here and we wouldn't get lost."

"Ok, we just have to get Alex here somehow," Rose said with her brow furrowed in thought. "Do you think that you and I could reach him telepathically together? Would that be against the rules?"

"I have a feeling that the 'rules' are made up as we go along to suit the whims of our jailer. We aren't currently in danger, so anything we do is likely to trigger something. Then again, not doing anything might just give us a penalty for giving up or something," Evander told her as he slowly paced around the rooftop. After a moment, he added, "As for whether you and I could reach him together, I'm not sure. We've been a bit negligent with your training.

"Well then, no time like the present," Rose said as she sat cross legged and looked up at him expectantly. "We have a task to work towards, teach me how."

The Doctor unconsciously ran a hand through his hair in a manner reminiscent of Alex. As that thought occurred to him, he quickly thrust his hand into his pocket instead. Rose smirked at him and with a sigh, he sat in front of her. Guiding her hands to his temples and placing his fingers against hers, he set about teaching Rose how to project her mental voice more strongly. They spent several minutes working on that before they tried to contact Alex.

Doctor Alex Tyler was angry. He was beyond angry and well into furious. He was like fire and ice and rage and the storm at the heart of a sun. Someone was trying to drown his wife. Yes, Evander would probably reach her in time to help if she couldn't get herself out of it. Yes, Rose could regenerate again if absolutely necessary. But it didn't matter. Whoever this nut job was that trapped them here, had every intention of drowning Rose.

He blazed his way through the stupid hallways, along the path he had figured out would lead him towards the red cube on the game board that Rose had showed him. He could feel Rose's worry rising as her task became harder as well as Evander's fury that matched his own. But Evander was in a far better position to help her. He, on the other hand, just needed to find the way out of this damned place.

A labyrinth. Honestly? He almost expected David Bowie dressed in grey tights as the Goblin King to come waltzing around the corner juggling crystal balls. That was ridiculous of course. He and David were on great terms after he had managed to reconnect the rockstar/displaced alien with his home world. He was making even more money from his albums there than he had on Earth.

These thoughts were put to an end when he finally felt that Evander had found Rose, and his mood lightened a little. He was still going to do horribly nasty things to whoever was behind all of this. But none of them was currently in danger, so he managed to relax a bit.

"Everything I've done, I've done for you... I move the stars for no one..." he sung quietly to himself as he continued stalking through the maddening hallways.

Alex grinned when he felt his wife and, well, his husband (and wasn't it odd to place that title on a man who had once been the same person as himself) as they tried to connect with him telepathically.

~'Alex! Can you hear us?'~ the dual voices of Rose and Evander sounded in his mind.

He knew that they likely wouldn't hear his voice, but he might be able to send the intentions of his thoughts. As strongly as he could focus it, he sent, ~'Yes!'~

~'We can see the TARDIS from where we are. You just have to get back to us. We'll try to find a way through, but we won't leave this area in case we get separated again,'~ they informed him.

Alex sent them another affirmative thought and continued towards his goal in the hopes that there would be some way through once he got there. He still felt Evander above him and Rose below, but as he concentrated on that further, he realized that he was feeling both of them now, in both places. Now that was odd. Could these levels be somehow looped?

It occurred to him then that the lowest level, where he had been sensing Rose, was oriented the same way on the game board as the top level. They were identical. Maybe the levels were looped. If you kept falling through, you'd then find yourself back on top again.

The thought was helpful in that it didn't matter if he couldn't go up, he should be able to go down and still get back to them anyway. Now it was reminding him less of the movie Labyrinth and more of a silly video game. Who was behind this ridiculous trap?

He finally reached his goal and found a large red cube. It was taller than him, but not much and made from narrow wooden boards. The bright red paint reminded him of Rose's favourite skirt, but he tucked that thought away as he made his way around the box to find some clue as to what to do with the bloody thing.

There were no hidden panels or buttons on any side, so he decided to check the top. That, of course, was easier said than done with a dislocated shoulder. With his good arm firmly grasping the top edge of the cube, he jumped sideways to throw one of his legs on top of the structure. With much cursing and a fair amount of discomfort, Alex finally made it on top of the red cube.

In the centre of the roof, there was a small, square hatch that was just big enough for one person to fit through. Prying it open, he found that through the hatch was a dark abyss. Did he dare take a leap of faith in a world created by someone who wanted them dead? Who had sent a Hoix after them, dropped him from a dangerous height and then tried to drown Rose? This mysterious person had been making up the rules as they went along and they were undeniably NOT in his family's favour. But what other choice did he have?

Being the Doctor, he jumped.

Rose and Evander jumped down from the top of the cube as soon as they finished their message to Alex. The two of them were searching all around the box that was her prison for some access to the level below them. They were hoping for a staircase or elevator, but even just a hole would be something.

As they searched the stones on the ground in the area, Evander suddenly broke the silence, "Rose, darling? I need you to quickly and carefully come over here."

Rose could hear the slight alarm in his voice and realized that she could hear something breathing behind her. Looking up at the Doctor and definitely not behind her, Rose stood up and braced herself for whatever was about to happen.

At the roar that sounded behind her, Rose raced towards the Doctor as he quickly boosted her back up onto the box and grabbed hold to follow her. He made it just in time for the Hoix to crash into the side of the cube. It clawed at the sides, but didn't seem able to climb up after them.

"Oh, not one of those things again!" Rose moaned. "I don't suppose you've got a red bucket in your pocket?"

"I thought it was blue?" Evander said thoughtfully.

"It was, and I quote, 'not blue.' The blue one supposedly made it worse," Rose replied with a glare.

He shrugged and reached into his pockets to see if there was anything useful there. "No red buckets, no pork chops, not even a banana," he told her. "At least it seems too stupid to reach us up here."

They both felt a sudden wave of emotions from Alex. A sense of thrill mixed with fear was followed immediately by immense pain. They instantly reached for each other's temples as they shouted to him mentally, ~'Are you alright?'~

Alex was falling through the pitch black abyss, when he suddenly landed on an almost identical red box to the one he had just jumped into. He landed on his feet, but not expecting that, he twisted and fell over onto his already injured shoulder. He groaned painfully as he felt much of the healing that had been happening over the past hour or so end up completely undone. His shoulder was thankfully, still in place, but there was definitely some tearing of ligaments and such. He wished idly for the body of his last incarnation that had seemed so much more sturdy for handling this kind of abuse.

Shaking his head to clear it, he took in his new surroundings, he could see that he was indeed on top of a red cube that was almost identical to the last one he saw. There looked to be another maze on this level, but he didn't need to worry about that. Checking with his sonic screwdriver, he was indeed closer to his spouses and should be able to pass through just one more of those passageways to reach them. He wasn't looking forward to another landing like that, however.

Opening the hatch on this box, the abyss below looked blue. Thinking back, it was the colour of the sky when they first arrived here. He supposed that was a good sign that he would end up on the same level as the TARDIS.

"Well, allons-y!" he exclaimed as he jumped again hoping for a softer landing.

When he landed this time, he tried to roll with the fall a bit and directed himself to the side that was not injured. However, when he opened his eyes, he found himself face to face with a rather irritated Hoix. He heard Rose squeak and suddenly, two sets of hands were helping him up. Rose's arms wrapped around his waist tightly and she nuzzled her face into his chest, reassuring herself that he was safe.

Evander was already scanning Alex's shoulder with his sonic to assess the damage. Evander hissed through his teeth and frowned at what he saw. "That's going to take a while to heal," he said. "Best get you home."

"So what's the plan then, boys?" Rose asked. "The TARDIS is over that way," she said as she pointed across the top of the labyrinth. "And Mr. Grumblypants here isn't likely to just let us past."

"We could try your idea of jumping on top of the walls from here, Rose, but there's no guarantee that will work and then we would be in a precarious position with Mr. Grumblypants. And while I know perfectly well that we are all usually quite capable of out running a Hoix, since we've done it before, Alex is injured and that could be enough to slow us down," Evander stated as he visually scanned the area, taking careful note of the increasingly irritated alien growling in their direction.

"Have you got any food in your pockets, love?" Rose asked Alex.

He checked his various pockets and eventually pulled out a banana, a granola bar and some gum.

"Will that be enough?" she questioned again.

"Better than nothing," sighed Alex. "Have you mapped out a route through yet?" he directed to Evander.

"Yes, but I don't want you at the back. I'll take the food and worry about the Hoix, you take a look at the path, because you are leading the way," Evander told him.

"I'm fine, honestly," Alex huffed. He could feel that the other Doctor was worried about him, but it was his shoulder that was injured, not his legs.

"Then you can make sure that Rose gets back safely. I've got the Hoix." From the tone that he used, there would be no arguing the point further.

"Fine," Alex sighed as he took Rose's hand. "Whenever you're ready."

Evander decided to start with the food that might take the longest for the creature to both go after and figure out. He tossed the pack of gum past it to land as far from the entrance to the labyrinth as possible. As soon as it turned toward the smell of food, he whispered, "Now." They leapt from the top of the cube and were all off running.

The trio made it a fair distance before the Hoix roared again and they heard it coming. Alex pulled Rose around the corners roughly as they raced back toward their time ship. When they could hear the alien breathing heavily behind them, Evander opened the granola bar and tossed it off in a direction they were not heading in the hopes that it would get turned around and not follow so closely.

They made it back to the garden and raced across the courtyard towards the wooden doors and their way out. Rose and Alex crashed into the doors only to find that they wouldn't open. There was no lock visible, but no amount of wrestling would open them. Alex had his sonic out and was trying to find a way through, but he couldn't tell if they were sealed somehow or just stuck. He decided to try Donna's method and started kicking at the doors with everything he had.

While Alex and Rose worked on getting the doors open, Evander kept a close watch on the entrance to the labyrinth, in case the Hoix managed to track them here. Of course, with the noise his spouses were making while fighting with the doors, it wouldn't take long in any case.

The alien in question stalked into the garden area a moment later and gave one more menacing roar before it started to charge towards them.

With one more violent kick to the doors, they were finally open and the three of them rushed through. The Doctors slammed them shut just in time for the Hoix to crash into them on the other side. The door held as they leaned against it. Rose ran hurriedly to their beloved TARDIS and fumbled her key into the lock. Once the time ship was open, they ran to safety and as one, leaned against the inside of the TARDIS doors with a sigh of relief, knowing that one Hoix had nothing on the hoards of Genghis Kahn and they couldn't get through there either.

Rose almost immediately started giggling and ran to dance around the console. Alex smirked at her and Evander just shook his head.

"Oh, I love the running!" Rose said and both Doctors suddenly tensed at her words. She felt their sudden melancholy at what she said and looked at them both with confusion. "What is it? What did I say?"

Alex and Evander looked at each other and nodded. "Let's go fix up Alex's shoulder a bit first and then, we'll tell you about it," Evander told her. Their grief over whatever memory she had brought to mind was readily apparent, but Rose decided not to push.

"Alright," she said quietly. "You boys go to the medbay and I'm going to have a shower and change into some dry clothes. Meet me in the library after?"

"Yeah," Alex said and kissed her on the forehead before heading through the doors leading deeper into the ship.

Evander flicked the controls that would put them into the vortex and away from wherever they had been. He would find out who it was that had trapped them there and tried to kill them. Whoever it was had been playing a game and it wasn't over yet.