They reached the rocket sooner than Sky thought they would. They all boarded and she helped Zach strap Rose into the seat next to Toby and Danny, directly behind her own. Then they all fastened themselves in, Sky beside Zach in the co-captains seat.
"Dislocating B clamp. C Clamp. Raising blu-nitro to maximum. Toby, how's the Negapact feed line?" As they talked, Sky turned her head and looked out the small window to her side, just about being able to look back at the base they had abandoned.
"Clear. Ready to go, sir. For God's sakes, get us out of here!" Toby replied.
"Captain, I think we're going to have a problem passenger." Sky turned slightly to look at Rose as she started to come to.
"Keep an eye on her." Zach said after looking back wearily.
"Wait. We're not..." Sky was worried about Rose hating her now, or not being able to trust her. She knew if the same had happened to her then she would have not been able to trust them. And having just met the girl, she wanted Rose to trust her, she didn't want the Doctor to think she had treated Rose with any disrespect.
"It's all right, Rose. You're safe." Danny spoke softly to her as she awoke.
"I'm not going anywhere!" She jumped to life screaming. "Get me out of this thing! Get me out!" The rocket started to rumble as they got closer to taking off. Sky gripped the seats and stayed silent.
"And lift off! Whoo!" The crew all smiled and screamed as they powered forward, picking up speed by the second. But Sky could only watch out the window, she was flying away from him once again and it hurt. But then out the corner of her eye, she saw Rose's hand grab the dart gun that had been sat beside her and pointed it at Zach.
"Take me back to the planet." She moved the gun to Sky but soon moved the aim when the Time Lord turned around. "Take me back!"
"Or what?" Sky spoke honestly, watching the girl. Sometimes you had to be cruel to be kind.
"Or I'll shoot." Rose said shakily and kept her aim on Zach.
"Would you, though? Would you really?" Sky frowned while watching her. "Is that what the Doctor would want?" Sky held her hand out for the gun. It took a while but soon enough Rose passed it over and Sky placed it back down beside her.
"How could you just leave him?" Rose slumped back in her seat. "He's your husband."
"Huh, you kept that quiet." She heard Danny quip from the back but now was not the time.
"It's what he'd want." Was all Sky could say as she let a tear escape once more, this time not bothering to hide it. "And he'd want you safe too."
"Sorry, but it's too late anyway." Zach interrupted. "Take a look outside. We can't turn back. This is what the Doctor would have wanted. Isn't that right?" They pulled further and further away from the black hole, soon they wouldn't even be in its hold anymore.
"What's the joke?" Danny asked as Toby began to laugh.
"Just, we made it. We escaped. We actually did it." He was grinning, but surprisingly not everyone shared his bright outlook on it all.
"Not all of us." Rose mumbled.
"And we're not out of it yet. We're still the first people in history to fly away from a black hole." Zach reminded them. Sky didn't know if any Time Lords had in the past...probably. They did semi invent them after all. "Toby, read me the stats."
"Gravity funnel holding, sir. Always holding." Something felt wrong, Sky sat up and tried to tune in to the Doctor. "Stats at fifty three. Funnel stable at sixty six point five. Hull pressure constant. Smooth as we can, sir, all the way back home. Coordinates set for planet Earth." She tried to block out Toby's rambling and mentally called for him but he wasn't listening, the distance between them didn't matter, he just wasn't listening. Too preoccupied to hear her reaching out most likely.
"It doesn't make sense. We escaped, but there's a thousand ways it could've killed us. It could've ripped out the air or, I don't know, burnt us, or anything. But it let us go. Why?" Rose started to speak this time and Sky listened, her eyes growing wide as she thought. It all made sense. "Unless it wanted us to escape?" Slowly, Sky reached her hand out and wrapped it around the dart gun, pulling the weapon into her lap as subtly as she could.
"Hey, Rose, do us a favour. Shut up." Toby sneered and then looked back up to his screen. "Almost there. We'll be beyond the reach of the black hole in forty, thirty nine-"
The Doctor raised a rock to smash an urn that he had discovered but then dropped it. "But then you're clever enough to use this whole system against me. If I destroy this planet, I destroy the gravity field. The rocket..." The Doctor drifted off and stepped back from the vase. "The rocket loses protection and falls into the black hole. I have to sacrifice them...I have to give up Sky again and leave her to die."
The situation was all too familiar, he had been in the exact same place before. Having to decide between ending it all, saving millions, and letting her live.
"So, that's the trap. Or the test, or the final judgment, I don't know. But if I kill you, I kill her." He thought about it. Last time he had chose to let her die, he couldn't do that again. He couldn't loose her again, not this soon. But then again, she had survived. She was still here wasn't she? He'd left her to die but she had fought and escaped. She lived.
"Except that implies in this big grand scheme of Gods and Devils that she's just a victim. But I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi-gods and would-be gods, and out of all that, out of that whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing, just one thing..." He breathed and focused on her presence in his head. "I believe in her."
He smashed the first urn and then the second almost instantly after. "This is your freedom. Free to die. You're going into that black hole and I'm riding with you." He had no escape, but she might have. He did believe in her, he trusted her to get herself out of this and Rose too.
Suddenly the Rocket started to shake rapidly, alarms started to sound and lights started to flash in warning.
"What happened? What was that?" Danny asked, leaning to look at the Captain who was playing with the controls.
"What's he doing? What is he doing?" Sky looked back, seemingly to make sure Rose was okay but eyeing over Toby as well. He was acting panicked again, his smile had dropped. Sky looked back to Rose and the girl eyes locked on her, silently asking her a question. But Sky just shook her head once and turned back round.
"We've lost the funnel. Gravity collapse!" Zach announced and grabbed the steering of the rocket tightly.
"What does that mean?" Rose asked quietly.
"We can't escape. We're headed straight for the black hole!" Sky looked back out the window and back down to the base.
"It's the planet. The planet's moving. It's falling." She frowned as she spoke, the last time that happened...she turned instantly, but it was too late and Toby's face was already covered in those symbols. Sky couldn't gasp like the others did when they realised, she knew it was coming, something had always been off. Turns out the 'beast' had been hiding, remaining dormant in Toby until the time was right so he could escape.
"I am the rage." His eyes had turned red again and his voice deeper and gravely.
"It's Toby. Sky, do something." Sky was surprised by Rose turning to her for help. But, given the circumstances, there wasn't really time to smile and Aww at that point.
"And the bile and the ferocity. I am the Prince and the Fall and the enemy. I am the sin and the fear and the darkness." Toby continued. It was no use listening, it was just repeating everything it had already said.
"It's him! It's him! It's him!" Danny screamed, clinging onto his seatbelt.
"Stay where you are. The ship's not stable!" Zach spoke when he saw them trying to undo their seat belts. But then Toby breathed out fire, Sky leaned back into her seat to dodge it and almost screamed in frustration. "What is he? What the hell is he?"
"I shall never die. The thought of me is forever. In the bleeding hearts of men, in their vanity and obsession and lust." Sky's hand tightened around the bolt gun. "Nothing shall ever destroy me. Nothing!" Sky was sick of this beast or whatever it was and it was time for it to just shut up! Even if that meant dying themselves. So, rolling her eyes, she held the dart gun out pointing at the window and smirked.
"Go to hell."
She shot the front screen, blasting the glass wide open and catching on quickly, Rose unclipped Toby's seatbelt sending his flying out the open window. He was still roaring as he left, the terror remaining even after he was gone as the air was sucked out around them.
"Emergency shield!" Zach commanded the rocket, a steal shutter sealing the broken window. "We've still lost the gravity funnel. We can't escape the black hole." Sky knew that, she'd always knew none of them would get out that easily. No one ever did. It was never a deal of simply flying off.
"But we stopped him." Rose said, looking at the back of the woman's seat. "Sky stopped him. That's what the Doctor would've done." It was almost a reply...an apology for what she had said before about Sky leaving him behind. And if it was, Sky accepted it.
"Some victory. We're going in." Looking out the side window, towards the black hole, Zach sighed and closed his eyes after a moment.
"The planet's lost orbit. It's falling!" Danny said this time, but it wasn't interesting anymore. None of it. Once all hope was lost, so was all interest. All Sky could think, was that somewhere on that planet the Doctor was still alive and they couldn't even spend their last moments together. "The planet's gone. I'm sorry."
"Accelerate. I did my best. But hey! The first human beings to fall inside a black hole. How about that? History." They all sat in silence, no one cried or spoke or moaned. Then the shaking stopped.
"What happened?" Rose was the first to ask. Then they tipped to the side, all of the crew sliding in their seats as the rocket turned, almost as though they were being pulled.
"We're turning. We're turning around. We're turning away!" Zach exclaimed, almost close to laughing. But how? Then a voice crackled through their communicator.
"Sorry about the hijack, Captain." Sky heard Rose's sigh of relief as she herself almost laughed, feeling her heart start to beat the fastest it had in a while. "This is the good ship Tardis." He was alive, actually alive. Well she knew he was alive but he was safe, today wasn't their last day. She grinned and held on tight to her seatbelt. "Now, first thing's first. Have you got a Miss Rose Tyler and a Miss Sky on board?"
"I'm here! It's me!" Rose couldn't contain her grin, leaping out of her seat as she raised her hand. "Oh, my God."
"I'm here." Sky slowly chuckled but couldn't contain her curiosity. "Where are you?"
"I'm just towing you home." She could hear his smile through the comm and felt the hum get stronger in her head.
'I told you I'd come back' His voice filled her head.
'I know, you always do...finally' Sky grinned and she laughed aloud finally.
"Gravity schmavity." The Doctor continued out loud. "Our people practically invented black holes, you know that Sky. Well, in fact, they did. In a couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe. Oh, and Captain?" The Doctor asked curiously. "Can we do a swap? Say, if you give me Rose Tyler and Sky, I'll give you Ida Scott? How about that?"
"She's alive!" Zach finally looked ecstatic. Things were finally starting to get better.
"Yes. Thank God." Danny smiled.
"Yeah! Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be all right. I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip." They all seemed to look back at the disappearing planet falling away slowly, getting sucked into the black hole. "They went down with the planet." They did their best at least. "Ah! Entering clear space. End of the line. Mission closed."
They did do a quick swap as agreed, all of the crew exchanging hugs and good luck greetings before Rose and Sky climbed out of the rocket, into the TARDIS, as Ida did the opposite. Rose ran up the familiar grated flooring as the door to the TARDIS shut behind them, straight up to the Doctor and into his arms. He hugged her tight but the whole time his eyes were planted on Sky who slowly walked up to the console.
Rose saw her and pulled away, stepping back from the Doctor. She may have liked the Doctor and Sky's appearance may have been unwanted at some points but she saved her life, all their lives. Besides they were connected, Rose could see it in the Doctor's eyes. She knew him well enough to see that look in his eyes.
Once Rose was away, he turned to Sky and they just looked to each other. Both too scared to make the first move. But he was the first one to grow impatient and opened his arms to her.
"Come here." The Doctor smiled and she ran to him, actually ran to him, jumping into his arms and wrapping her legs around his waist as he picked her up and spun her round. His arms held her so tightly, as if her never wanted to let go and hers wrapped around his neck as she finally let the tears fall.
"I thought I'd lost you." She whispered by his ear, unwilling to pull away and let him see her cry.
"Nah." He lowered her softly to the ground and put a hand on her cheek, forcing her to look up at him. The Doctor wiped her tears away with his thumb and smiled down at her. "Takes a lot more than that."
"Well..." Sky looked up at him and very slowly he lowered his head so his forehead rested upon hers. "You certainly showed me the ropes." The Doctor only laughed and hugged her closer until they both remembered the spaceship attached to the TARDIS still.
The Doctor reluctantly stepped away, over to the TARDIS's own intercom system. "Zach? We'll be off, now. Have a good trip home." He smiled into the communicator. "And the next time you get curious about something. Oh, what's the point. You'll just go blundering in...The human race."
"But Doctor, what did you find down there?" They heard Ida reply as Rose joined them again by the console. "That creature, what was it?"
"I don't know. Never did decipher that writing. But that's good, Day I know everything? Might as well stop." The Doctor answered her, his voice dropping.
"What do you think it was, really?" Rose asked, looking over at the Doctor with curiosity.
"I think we beat it. That's good enough for me." Sky watched the Doctor closely and there was something he wasn't telling them. But maybe it was best that they didn't know, it wouldn't exactly be good if a group of humans returned claiming they had spoke to the devil himself.
"It said I was going to die in battle." Rose's face was the picture of fear, even if she was trying to hide it. Sky doubted she had stopped thinking about that since the beast had spoke it aloud.
"Then it lied." Sky could read him like a book...and...what she concluded was better left unsaid. "Right, onwards, upwards. Ida? See you again, maybe."
"I hope so." Ida smiled.
"And thanks, boys!" Rose laughed, grinning, the Doctor had obviously settled any doubt in her mind which was good, she should stay happy.
"Hang on though, Doctor. You never really said..." Ida stopped them once more. "You three, who are you?" The Doctor looked up at Sky for a second and smiled lightly.
"Oh, the stuff of legends." The rocket detached and was on its way, back home to Earth. It was sad, like the end of an era...a sad, terrifying, stressful era...but an era.
The TARDIS was silent for a few seconds then, the three of them not really knowing what to do. They could all breath easy, stand still and just...smile. Finally there was nothing to think about or do. There was no where to run.
"Well...I don't know about you two but I'm knackered!" Rose smiled, swinging her arms by her sides lightly.
"Yeah...yeah and...starving." Sky started to laugh as she focused on herself for the first time in the past 72 hours at least.
"Well I know a good place...if you're, well." The Doctor began awkwardly, his eyes avoiding Sky's. "Joining us?" Rose turned to her as well then, waiting for an answer. Honestly, Rose didn't know how she would feel towards any answer the woman gave. If it was yes then the Doctor wouldn't be hers anymore but if she said no, she didn't know what the Doctor would be like.
"I...er...well..." Sky stuttered, glancing at Rose briefly before returning to the Doctor. "I guess...I think." She felt stuck as both of them stared hard at her. She still didn't know, it wasn't as if she had been able to think things over in silence over the past couple of days. "I think I need to sleep on it...and eat on it first." The Doctor looked back at her and nodded slowly, understanding what she was trying to say. They needed to talk first, they hadn't had a chance to. They hadn't even been around each other really either, they just needed to sit, alone and in the quiet and talk.
"Sounds good." He nodded and Rose even had a hint of a smile on her face.
"Yeah, but first I need to catch up on some sleep." Rose said and started walking back towards where the TARDIS deepened. "I'll see you both in the morning, night night to you two. Don't stay up to late."
"Night." The Doctor greeted her.
"Night..and Rose?" Sky called out, causing the young girl to stop and turn back. "I'm sorry, for before...you know with the-"
"It's fine, it was for the best." She nodded in reply, smiling back at Sky. "Night." She walked off then, to her room the TARDIS had made for her Sky guessed. And the air seemed lighter, like there was no longer a big elephant in the room.
"What was that about?" The Doctor asked.
"Wouldn't you like to know." She quipped and smirked at the Doctor. He laughed lightly and then worked his way around the console, flicking random switches to keep them hovering calmly in space as they all rested. She didn't know what to say or what to do. She wanted to sleep but she didn't. A part of her just wanted to sit next to him and feel the hum there in her mind. Talk to him through that link just like they used to, but everything felt strange.
The last time they had been like this, together and alone in the same room, the same calm room where they could just be them...it was years ago...decades. And they had had so much more than just a TARDIS and a sonic screwdriver. So much more.
"I know you want to ask." Sky spoke up suddenly but instantly regretted it and squeezed her eyes shut. "I'm sorry, that was very...blunt." Sky dropped her head down and sighed but was surprised when a finger touched her chin and lightly brought her head back up.
"But right, I've been dying to ask since you opened that watch." The Doctor spoke as softly as he could, putting a hand on her waist to pull her closer as her eyes fluttered open. "But we don't have to, if you don't want to."
"I want to." She spoke quickly. "I want to tell you everything and I want you to tell me everything. I want to know everything that's happened, everything you've done. How you...changed." Sky stalled and let her eyes flicker over this new face. He'd had worse...but that's all the sloppy stuff she'd say on the matter. "What stars you've seen, where you went, how you ended up in the 1950's, why-" Suddenly her eyes locked on to something that was just visible behind him when she looked to the floor. "Why you have a hand in a jar! Why do you have a hand in a jar!?" She stared at him now and the Doctor laughed just like he used when she drifted off the subject to shout at him.
"It's...it's a long story." He grinned and looked down at her, unable to take his eyes off her smile. He hadn't realised how much he missed her smile, how much he had missed everything. Even now, when she stood in front of him, she didn't seem real. Which is why he couldn't stop himself from touching her in some form every few minutes.
"I have all night." She said and took hold of his hand. "Just, find me a seat and something to eat."