The many palace corridors felt much, much darker than they should have been that one fateful evening. Marceline and I walked in step, defending our flank whilst Ben and Robin swiftly scouted the path ahead. I felt a terribly foreboding atmosphere as we silently crept our way to the throne room. Like a premonition, the thought pressed deeply on my heart, it weighed heavily upon me, a certain sense of impending disaster. I felt my time was steadily slipping by, that every fleeting moment led me ever closer to some impossible trial. Despite these thoughts, Robin's confession had left a warm afterglow on my heart, like a force watching over me. It gave me hope that somehow this would turn out okay, as if to tell me something finally worthwhile lay ahead, if and only if I could make it through this test, I could truly fulfil my duty.

Marceline perked up a notch. A sly smile spread from one cheek to the other, she pursed her lips and I could just tell she was phrasing some concoction of words. She caught ahold my hand "Wow the Princess has landed her catch! That is an awfully pretty ring you've got there, finally managed to bridle him I see! Sheesh just what did you two get up to in there?" Marceline chuckled tauntingly. Mm nice to know we've got the usual Marceline back but…..

"WOW" I exclaimed in a hushed tone. I stretched out my fingers before my eyes to admire the object which had me lost for words. "This is Robin's ring, he gave me his ring!" I gasped amazed.

"Well yeah obviously, der." Marceline laughed at my slow reaction.

"No, I mean I didn't even know he'd put it on my finger. It must be his most precious possession, well after his TARDIS." I said perhaps a little too loudly. Habitually, knowing me I probably blushed, and so quickly looked up hoping no one else had noticed the commotion. To my relief Robin was too busy checking that the path ahead was clear. I couldn't believe it, this was probably Robin's most closely guarded possession and he had given it to me.

"No way." Marceline gasped. "Not just any ring, that's a Venusian love diamond, they're incredibly rare." Marceline explained, mirroring what Robin had previously told me himself. But how did she know?

"What, how do you know?" I said surprised by her knowledge. Particularly for this being knowledge of something which I knew nothing.

"Um, well for starters it glows whenever you look at him. I've heard of them but never actually seen one. Wow you two must have it bad…" Marceline teased once more. Was there any stopping her? It felt a little odd to be wearing something which so openly displayed such an intimate and inner emotion, yet it also felt very right.

"Well for the record I am not babysitting for you two." Marceline said abruptly.

"WHAT?" I replied caught off guard by her outlandish suggestion. This time Robin did indeed notice as I realized when my gaze met his own. I was very much smitten by that same gentle smile of his. The ring glowed brightly once more which attracted Marceline's teasing sneer. My attention quickly returned to her "Marceline where'd you get that idea from!" I spoke in a whisper.

"What? I am immortal remember, to me it's just a matter of time. I've seen it all before." She giggled with a mocking grin. Marceline!

"Shut up." I receded, pursuing arguments like these was a lost cause with an opponent like Marceline. No matter what, further reaction would always be turned around to rile you up some more.

"Ooh so you're open to the idea then?" Marceline continued the matter of conversation. Oh wonderful, here she goes again. I could only blush and hope Robin's hearing wasn't as acute as her own. Not really sure what to say, I said nothing when then…

"BEHIND YOU" I heard Ben and Robin shout. Before I could even blink a soldier had knocked Marceline to the wall and her axe fell from her hands. The soldier was clearly a possessed villager, dressed up in armour of that of my own guards. The man took little notice to me, probably because I didn't carry a weapon. He raised his sword to strike her and I could see in her expression Marceline prepared to strike back, then everything became a blur. Before I could even think to react, before even Marceline had made a move, my body took over. On pure instinct it felt, as if I knew precisely what I was doing I delivered a pin point blow to the man's lower back. The blow dropped him to his knees and he looked at me in shock. Then without any anticipation of what I was doing, my hand had pinched his shoulder near the neck. The man was rendered unconscious and fell to the ground, dropping the sword from his hands on the way down.

"What. Was. That?" Marceline asked jaw agape. At that moment, Robin and Ben had finished the run to where we stood. I still hadn't a clue what I had done.

"You didn't think I'd leave you defenceless did you?" Robin grinned having read my confusion perfectly. Though I still didn't have a clue what he was saying. "I picked up a few lessons on Venusian Aikido from a chap I once met. Became rather good at it in fact. And now thanks to our little psychic transfer you do too!" Robin explained. I face palmed. Of course, I should have known. Ah!

"You're kidding" I questioned but Robin just shook his head. "No but wait, I hurt him, he's just a villager, he couldn't help himself! He's under mind control! His actions were not his own minds making!" I panicked looking to my 'supposedly'' innocent hands.

"No, no you didn't harm him at all, Anne." Robin spoke as he gripped a supportive hand to my shoulder. "Venusian Aikido is purely defensive, it's all about pressure points and weak spots. Couldn't hurt a person if you wanted too, he'll come around in an hour or two and be completely fine." Robin filled me in on all the info which I found very much relieving.

"Wow" I spoke, again, to my amazement. "Quite adept in Venusian culture aren't you! Anything else you plopped into my head?" I grinned back at him.

"Let's find out shall we." Robin smiled and handed me the sword the man had carried moments before. Robin led me by the hand and we pressed on down the hall.

Ben meanwhile pulled Marceline to her feet though she did her best to make it very clear the help was totally unnecessary. "Try to keep up" Ben teased her.

"Watch it, hero" Marceline taunted him back. "First and only time anyone gets the drop on me." She stressed that point.

"For both our sakes, I hope so" Ben laughed back at her. 'Nice one Ben' I laughed to myself while I gripped Robin's hand. "Just play nice kids." Robin called back to them.

"Oh speaking of kids" a sudden thought occurring to me "You are sure Bonnibel will be okay on the TARDIS? I mean if she touched anything…" I shuddered to think what could happen if Bonnibel messed around with the controls and where she might end up.

"Not to worry, I engaged the parental control features." Robin stated kissing me on the cheek. What? Parental control features? Robin took a deep breath, preparing himself to say something more. "And if the worst should happen, if we fall and this world should fall along with us, 'Emergency Protocol five' will activate. That means the TARDIS will seek out a suitably safe and advanced world which would welcome in a girl like Bonnibel. So don't worry, whatever happens she at least will be okay." My heart shuddered at the reality of Robin's words, "If we should not return?" -I didn't think I would ever hear him say that. Still I nodded in agreement, because in the stark reality of it all, he was right. "Here we are." Robin stated as we arrived affront the throne rooms' large wooden doors. They were ominously barricaded closed. An eerie and malevolent atmosphere felt ever more evident as green lights pierced through the cracks in the door. "As we planned it, Ben." Robin gestured to the young Knight. It was a short emotional respite to see the two working so closely, they'd formed a close friendship in these most testing times. I watched the two work as a team, Robin unscrewed the door hinges with his sonic whilst Ben levered them off. Come to think of it they had a lot in common too, both with that joking, witty and at times impulsive nature which led me to think… Hang on a moment, did they say 'plan'? That was quite a bombshell. There was a sombreness that stuck in the air. I looked to that door and I could only feel that I was somehow marching to my death. What made it more terrible was that it wasn't just me, sure I made my decision. I had to do this, it was a moral decision, for both me and my Kingdom. If my Kingdom must die then so must I, it was something of an unsaid tradition, a last act of compassion perhaps, my final statement as a leader like a sea captain going down with his ship. What made it so much more terrible was my company. These were the best people I had ever known and they were being dragged down with me. The Vampire: my closest, oldest and dearest friend, this wasn't even her Kingdom and yet she accompanied me none the less. The Knight: my most loyal subject and my fondest companion, while others had taunted me, focused on my differences, Ben had been one of the few humans to see past them and he had been there by my side, unquestionably. The Time Lord: the man I had known shortest of the three. He had perhaps the most profound effect on me of all. He made this journey not because of friendship or trust or desire or fear, not even for the kinship that was of this land. Even if he had not loved me, he would have still come. For he was not of here, he was a man from across the stars. It was a matter of principle that he could never turn his back on those in need. He could not deny the cries of fear or the pleas for help from cornered people. He had nothing at stake and could have continued on his journey at any time, this world need not have been his concern. But he held his principles before nothing else, and if he had to die for them then he would have welcomed it with open arms. Not with fear but love he would close this chapter of his life to the winds of time.

"Well then..." Robin spoke up breaking our contemplative silence. "I guess there's no point talking any of you out of this?" The three of us needed give no answer, we all knew too well there was no talking one of us out. But that wasn't to say it wasn't worth a try. "Before we do this I just wanted to say that…" He paused, his eyes searched my expression and he turned to Ben patting his shoulder. "You were brilliant." He said with a friendly smile before then turning to Marceline. "You were brilliant" He spoke with saddened eyes… "And you" he said turning back to me most difficultly "I don't think I've got any other word for you so, you… ah..." I couldn't hold back a second longer and I wrapped my arms around him. The situation felt so hopeless, glob knows what would happen next, what we would find behind those closed doors. "You were Brilliant" He whispered to my ear, the words transfixed me completely.

With my head on his shoulder I pleaded my last request "Robin you don't need to do this, really you don't. It wouldn't change how I thought of you, not for a second, you don't need to die for me. Really, all of you. You could all go, please." I begged, "Take Bonnibel and go."

"We're not going anywhere Princess, we've come this far, I think we can go a little further." Marceline spoke up warmly. She had such strength in her and it showed so strongly in this testing time.

"Me too, I have yet a few steps left in me." Ben also reassured me.

"Every step of the way." Robin told me too. I only gripped onto him harder

"I love you" I whispered back "Always I will."

"And I you." He told me with all his heart "I will always be here for you." That was the most wondrous moment, to hear him say that. It was awful though, it was in such terrible contrast to what happened next.

The doors burst down and guards surrounded and forced us to our knees. That was the scariest moment, not knowing what would happen next. The knowledge that this, that one single moment was the moment that sealed your fate in stone. That of this dreadful moment I and all my friends were being dragged to our death place. The guards we're rough, their cold rough hands chaffed on my neck like sand paper. They let go, but only to hurl me across the icy stone floor to where I then lay hunched, bruised and battered before those ghastly feet. "ANNE" I could hear Robin call repeatedly. "DON'T TOUCH HER YOU MONSTER".

The Lich peered down on me, he outstretched his bony arm and poked fun at my smaller figure. "You are the Princess of this Kingdom are you not?" The Lich asked me with sadistic delight. The smell of death surrounded him. It smelt toxic, so much that you could choke on the smell alone.

"I am." I answered as I clambered to my feet. "And you will release my citizens immediately, you have me. That should be enough." My words only made him chuckle and laugh uncontrollably in a deep rumbling voice which seemed to pierce through flesh and bone, into the mind itself to where it could invoke the most fear, preying on it, actively seeking it out.

"Do you really think for a second I would release them, oh what fun I will have with your people. I will make you hate them." The Lich gnarled through his toothy smile. His words took a turn down a new direction. "You will hate them as you should do. They are my play things now, not till each one has ravaged you, plucked every drop of compassion from your warm little body, only then will I kill them, only then will I feed on your soul. And what a pretty soul it must be" I gulped, his words put a lump in my throat. I turned my attention and found resolve in Robin's eyes. If but a moment respite, it was a moment of utter bliss. His deep hazel eyes placed such warmth in me, a hope I would never lose. Robin fought against the guards grip. In the struggle they violently pressed him down against the floor and his cheek slammed against the cold hard stone. I shuddered to see the red drops which ran down his rosy cheek, the blood which dripped on the icy floor.

"LISTEN WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU!" Barked the harsh voice of the Lich, bringing me back from my moment's distraction. A hard kick to my rib cage followed, knocking the breath right out of me. I immediately heard, and felt, a broken crunching sound from what must have been a shattered rib. I felt nothing however, the memory of Robin was all I could feel, the knowledge of the future we could have once had.

Robin's outrage filled the room, not that I could have really realized at that point. I was an entire world away. Robin broke loose of the guard and shouldered the man in the stomach, he pushed him aside as the man flopped over in pain. The Time Lord raced to me, skidding to a halt at my side. "Anne." Was all he got the chance to say.

The Lich knocked him several meters away and I prayed it would end there. Only it did not. The Lich proceeded to then walk to where Robin had come to rest and rolled him over so he could gaze on the fear that flowed through his veins. But that was not the case. "ROBIN!" I called helplessly. I wished he wouldn't fight it, I couldn't bear to see him further hurt. But the Lich took delight in playing on these emotions and this torment would not nearly be the end of it. The Lich just loved to see people feel pain for each other, to watch their hope wash away and view the grief that followed from loss. Robin struggled to his feet. He looked the Lich head on and wiped the blood from his lip. Robin had that searching expression, I knew the look, his incredible mind looking frantically for a solution, meticulously calculating all possible outcomes. I lay on the ground and hopelessly watched the encounter unfold. Robin stationed himself between me and the Lich tossing his Sonic Screwdriver from hand to hand. I guess no one had thought to take it from him, not that I figured it could possibly do him any good. "Not a step further Lich" Robin warned the Lich furiously. The Lich chuckled more and edged back and forth trying Robin's nerve.

"Tenacious one you are, with such spirit!" The Lich laughed and seemed to take great interest with the young red haired man. "Interesting, your mind is shielded. If only you'd just let me in, we could have such fun."

Robin laughed in return "Oh you're certainly going nowhere in here." Robin spoke gesturing to his head. The Lich paused at that comment and turned his head to face me.

"Perhaps the boy is right." The Lich said. Intuitively I feared the worst. My head filled with pain. And a ringing that seemed eternal without end. It reverberated throughout my cranium, rattling my thoughts to shreds until all I could feel and knew was the pain and the fire that was being inflicted on me. I began to scream in agony and tossed and turned uncontrollably on the floor. I clutched my head, wishing the pain to stop. I had failed, my mind was torn open and I could feel the Lich delve into my secrets and those which it held. Robin's secrets.

"What? WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HER?" Robin shot a stressed look from me to the Lich and back again. He knelt beside me, checking me over Robin tried to deduce what was happening to me.

"What an interesting mind! What information, such knowledge..." The Lich's voice turned a shade darker "...and power." I couldn't tell much of what was happening but I know with certainty two hands gripped each side of my head and the pain began to go way. I opened my eyes and saw those hazel eyes looking back at me, Robin's eyes, and it was his hands on either side of my head.

"Fascinating." The Lich started up again, though Robin didn't break eye contact with me.

"You have closed her mind to me? Very interesting. Your efforts are useless, I have already seen in. What was it she called you? Time Lord? Ah yes a Time Lord. Very fascinating. You are so petty, tying yourself to this girl. You could have escaped but you remained, to be together with her. And now I would so like to see more, needless to worry however. Once those mental barriers are gone I can sift through the both of your minds together. Would that please you?" My The Lich's twisted ideas infuriated Robin. I could see it, the rage bubbling within.

"No." Robin affirmed. "No."

"Oh but you can be together. In insanity and nightmare you will be together. Once I have what I want." The Lich explained without little qualm or feeling of exacting the tortures he described.

"I said NO" Robin emphasised his point. "You are testing my limits, I warn you." The young Time Lord gritted teeth. "Now under article 51, section nine of the intergalactic charter of the Shadow proclamation I invoke my right to fair trial and an audience." Only then did Robin turn his gaze. My mind was sealed, quiet, only my thoughts, all residue traces left by the Lich wiped clean. For a moment, if just a moment, I felt at peace. Robin's words seemed fruitless, and he himself knew it. I feared the best they could do was by us some little amount of time.

"I know not of such things." The Lich laughed and motioned ever closer, still Robin protectively stood over me, he held his ground.

"Got a Com system built in here right Princess?" Robin asked with a brief eye catching glance back to me, I could see a momentary streak of horror shoot through him. Only now did he fully realise the extent of my crippled figure. "Hm" I nodded. "Then like I said Lich, stay back." Robin reaffirmed his position and pointed his screwdriver. The Lich found the whole notion ever more humorous as he intimidatingly took step after step closer, trying to test Robin's resolve. Who would break first? "Warned you." Robin simply said and pointed his screwdriver to the ceiling, upon activation it squealed to life. Suddenly the entire room filled with an ear piercing sound, it made everyone drop to their knees in pain. Even the Lich. Robin however just stood there unaffected mumbling various things. "Got to find the optimum oscillating platform." among other things. For a moment I thought we may even have a chance, though only till the Lich managed to find a moments strength enough to knock Robin across the room with green flames. The noise dissipated immediately and his screwdriver skated to some far flung corner of the room. My eyes searched desperately hoping Robin would be okay, to my relief he stood back up unscathed, not even burned. To my horror however the Lich wasn't done with him, and neither was Robin. Before he could be secured once more Robin jumped to defend me, desperately, he landed several impressive blows but nothing to effect. He was flung once more across the room and landed not far from me, this time hardly moving. Ripples of golden energy flowed across his body. "ROBIN" I gasped in fear. What had the Lich done?

"You have a touch of death about you." The Lich spoke, not with intimidation but interest he watched closely, which worried me even more. Slowly I clambered over to Robin's side. I brushed his soft face and wiped away any bloodied marks away with the cuff of my sleeve.

"Robin." I spoke tearfully, he let out a struggled groan and ran his hands over the wounds which covered his face. To my amazement they disappeared instantly! "Robin!" I smiled once more. Marceline however let out a shocked gasp "He's regenerating!" 'WHAT? 'I let out a shocked and worried gasp.

"Mm no, I tried that already. The day you found me, during the crash I began regenerating. Though further injury halted the process when one of my hearts stopped, so the regeneration failed and some regeneration energy seems to have remained in me. I guess it meant I made a temporary recovery but now that cycle's at an end and the energy remains. It's burning me out." He said through red and glistened eyes. "Anne I love you, always." No, he couldn't be saying goodbye, no!

"Don't do this! You can't die! We decided we'd be together, forever! You were the one, the one for me! Robin you can't die, please." I sobbed into his shoulder. My wounds became a distant memory while I slumped my body over him, shaking him to not give up. "You gave me the ring, why would you do that if we couldn't be together?"

"To remember me by, of course I had hoped somehow things might turn out well for us. That maybe, this once might actually turn out well. The odds were so stacked against us but still I had hoped, even if it was but fools chance. Then it became something of a dying man's final fantasy, a future that could have been. You see we Time Lords get our name for more than just our technology, we can literally 'see' time. Its infinite complexities, all that raw beauty, everything that was, is or could ever be runs through my head simultaneously. And sure a lot of it's like white noise, BUT for one brief moment, for one short shining moment I could actually see a world where we were together." Robin spoke mesmerizingly.

"It can still be" I begged and tears spilled down my cheek. This couldn't be happening, he couldn't come and go from my life like this, not like this, never like this. This isn't how I planned it.

"Remember." Robin calmly stated and sat up to my level. He held hands with me once more and closed his eyes. "Remember." I lost focus at that instant, pulled into another place. An orange sunlit world with red grass and silver leafed trees, I stood upon the slopes of a mountain capped with shining white snow. Dotted with red where the tall grass poked above the sunlit snow. Gallifrey, not the replica in his TARDIS but the real Gallifrey. A modest cottage perched aside a tall and wondrous mountain appeared before me, distant plains of a shimmering world glittered below. Two young children danced in the sunlight whilst a couple obscured by view watched on happily. I moved closer, I couldn't mistake them, sat below a green vine covered veranda on an old couch chair the couple we're unmistakable. The woman nestled her head on her lovers shoulder, content with the happiness she had found, the happiness I could find If I should follow this path. For it was me, and the unmistakable figure of Robin who sat there. Appearing no more than ten years older physically, perhaps each around thirty years old? Although in reality it was difficult to decipher our true ages, we were both, after all, far older than thirty already. Incontrovertibly this vision bestowed more strength in me and even more when it faded away. I was driven by a strength to see it again, to live the moment myself.

I snapped out of the vision and landed back in the present with Robin who stood to his feet. "Lich shortly, when I die my body will discharge a huge amount of energy. Enough energy to keep you going for the next millennia, if you let my friends go you may have it. This is your last warning." Robin instructed him. He was bargaining for our lives.

"What makes you think I need your say so to take it? I may take what I wish and I will not wait a moment longer. The girl is first, don't worry boy you will both be rejoined shortly." The Lich grinned and came towards me, I gulped, knowing the horror that come next.

"BEN NOW!" Robin yelled. Ben quickly dispatched the guards holding him and sprinted straight at the Lich. Before he could get to the Lich however he fell to his knees and his eyes were overcome with that glistening darkness, the Lich.

Before Ben's mind could be wholly subdued however Robin stepped in behind and stared the Lich deeply in the eye with the full rage of a Time Lord. Robin placed his hand across Ben's forehead, connecting to his mind. "The optimum platform." Robin sneered at the Lich happily. The Lich couldn't have begun to imagine what awaited him next. Robin, Ben and the Lich slumped to the ground, their eyes all with that dark glisten. The guards, who were of course possessed villagers, awoke from their servitude, free men.

"Quickly, quickly all of you out." Marceline ordered before helping me to my feet. "What happened? Do you think that was their plan all along?" She questioned, but truly I had no idea.

A loud beeping, like the beginning of a countdown chirped to life. The weapon, up hauled through the floor, had begun its countdown. "Time to disarm the bomb." I informed Marceline whilst I watched the last of my freed citizens leave the room. "Thank you." I whispered in Robin's ear and I kissed his cheek. I had no idea if he would live or die but he had given me the chance, the chance to save everyone in the entire kingdom, everyone in this entire land now had a chance. "Good luck, somehow, we will meet again." I whispered to Robin's ear. I got to my feet again, leaving Robin and Ben's unconscious bodies where they lay. It was up to me now.

Authors Note:

First of all big thanks to my Cartoonanimespazz15 and my other Betas.

On note of the Venusian Aikido, the Doctor, particularly in his 3rd incarnation, has shown himself to be very skilled with it.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you think in reviews! Please let me know what you think will happen next!