A/N: Thank you as always to those who have alerted/favorited/and otherwise shown an interest in this story, a special thanks to those who reviewed. It is a wonderful experience to be able to hear back from people. A brief side note, the next chapter maybe a while in coming, I am going on vacation so it shouldn't appear any time before Thursday, my apologies. My thanks going out to my beta laurajslr, again she had done a phenomenal job. If you feel so inclined I would love to hear from you, thanks. Without further ado…Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, if I did we wouldn't have to wait the extra week for Silence in the Library

Chapter Fourteen:

Julius dismissed Jack, sending him back to the clearing adjacent to the larger one. The darkness served a better jailer than stone walls. Jack was completely powerless, lying on the cold damp earth. If he concentrated he could hear the faint moans of Julius' enthralled lackeys and the soft footfalls of the wild animals that circled the camp, but that was all.

Alone in the dark, Jack's only company were his thoughts. He will pay; the words ran through his mind. Jack worried and picked at them until his mind skittered off into the horrible permutations of that statement. The Doctor dead…Rose dead or even worse…all hope of defeating the Tenebres gone…

Shaking his head, Jack tried to force the images from his mind. The Doctor had faced worse enemies and succeeded. The Daleks, Cybermen, and who knew what else…all of their threats were eliminated thanks to the last Time Lord. Still, those were known quantities; the Doctor knew the threat he faced when he went up against them, but this Darkness was a whole new ballgame. Jack sighed; his efforts would be better used in trying to escape than contemplating the untimely demise of either the Doctor or Rose.

Keeping that thought in mind Jack tested the ropes, but they remained tight as ever. Julius' minions had bound his feet loosely, enough so that he could stumble along under their guidance, but only just. With hands and feet bound he would be easy prey to whatever lurked in the dark, if he dared to venture there. It was only proximity to the main camp that kept him safe now.

What he wouldn't give for a knife or even a sharp rock, but his questing fingers only met loose dirt. Jack's ears, ever alert for changes in the dense stillness, picked up a change of tone from the main camp. Sounds of moaning panic replaced the dull buzz of uniformed activity. Julius' harsh cries, muted by distance, sounded alarmed, "…attack…gather round the fire…"

Throwing caution to the winds, Jack shouted, "Help! Help! I'm over here!" After all, wasn't the enemy of his enemy his friend?

But Jack's cries for help weren't answered. Sounds from the main clearing slowly fell silent. A lone bird cried hesitantly out into the dark before diminishing into silence, ashamed to have spoken. Abandoned in the dark Jack held his breath, waiting.

Footsteps broke the deep quiet, approaching unevenly, as if the owner were uncertain of their path. The dark silhouette broke through the woods to the right of Jack's line of sight, weaving unsteadily. Harsh breathing filled the night between them, and then a rough voice spoke. "You called for help son?"

"Yes! I'm tied can you undo these ropes?" Jack said eagerly, twisting to show the stranger his bound extremities.

Dropping heavily to his knees the stranger pulled a knife from his belt, and sawed through the ropes tying Jack. The rank odor of unwashed flesh and unfettered wilderness rolling off the stranger nearly made him gag. Jack could see that the man favored his right side, the feathered shaft of an arrow poked from his shoulder.

"Come, haven't delayed 'em for long," the man grunted through gritted teeth as he severed the last of the ropes.

"Thanks." Jack rose to his feet, rubbing feeling back into his numb hands. "I'm Jack."

"Introduction can wait. Right now we have to move, they won't be far behind us." Like a feral deer he retreated to the edge of the forest, glancing around nervously. "Well are you coming?"

"I have to find my friends; I left them in a clearing somewhere around here. I don't know where exactly." Jack glanced about, debating which route to take.

"I don't care if your friends are from the stars themselves, in a moment the crazies are gonna come howling through here, and here is not where you want to be." He paused and then tempered his rough dismissal, "Come with me, and I'll see what I can do 'bout reuniting you with your friends. But we gotta go; I'm not going to leave my job half done and let 'em crazies get you again."

Jack's dilemma flitted across his face, his eyes skirting around the edges of the clearing. His mind was made up at the sound of approaching footfalls, crashing through the underbrush. Without a backward glance, Jack darted across the clearing and passed his rescuer into the dark beyond. Breathing heavily the man followed Jack's retreating form.

They ran through the night, meters ahead of their hunters. Finally, through a combination of fool's luck and a convenient overhang, the sounds of pursuit faded into the distance. Emerging from the entangled roots of a fallen tree Jack glanced reflexively at the stars to check their position. His eyes met only the shaded canopy of trees and then beyond…nothing. A stark reminder of which world he now inhabited.

"Don't bother checking, they're not there. Sometimes I doubt they ever were there. Fantasies to entertain little children, the stars and the moon, that's what they were. Don't even get me started on the sun. Ha! A giant fireball in the sky, preposterous! Harriet Jones is the name, after the Prime Minister who tried to save us. Jones for short." Jones held out his hand for Jack to shake.

Jack gingerly took the man's hand, trying to avoid contact with his stinking flesh. "Captain Jack Harkness. Just Jack will do."

"Captain, eh? Little portentousisn't it? Grandfather an army man or something?"

The aforementioned Captain chose to ignore the questions. "You said you would help me find my friends. I left them in a clearing; two big pines framed a big hill. Any idea where that might be?"

Jones paused for a moment, scratching a stubble coated chin in thought. "Indeed I do. If you don't mind, I'll need to stop by my camp to take care of some business before I take you there. Arrow in the shoulder is a mite painful."

Jack flushed invisibly in the dark; he had forgotten about the older man's injury. It hadn't seemed to slow him down during their flight. "Lead on. If I might impose, my recent experience has left me rather hungry."

"Nahh, it's no problem. Crazies usually don't feed their captives. In fact I'm surprised you aren't dead, normally you would be gracing their stewpot by now." Jones shot Jack a penetrating look. "Now that I think of it, this band was a bit more organized than the ones I usually bust up. Any idea why?"

Jack shrugged; he really didn't feel like explaining their quest to a stranger, "No idea."

"I reckon you do have some idea." He held up a placating hand. "It's alright, I won't pry. I just wanted to let you know I'm willing to help if it involves hunting crazies, they took my parents from me a while back."

With those words lying between them Jones led the way to his camp hidden in the cradle of two spurs of rock. From the exterior it appeared no more than a crack in a boulder but when Jack wormed his way into the interior the crackling light of a fire met his eyes. It was clear that Jones had lived here for a while, cured animal skins blanketed the floor and ancient faded photos were tacked to the walls. The smoke escaped through a small chimney in the ceiling, giving the room a hazy, dreamlike quality.

As Jones pulled the arrow and dressed his wound with practiced movements, Jack examined the faded photographs. They were ancient photographs, showing a family of five on Christmas, three boys tackling their parents, dressed in Santa hats. Again, the same family was captured, grinning from around a table laden with turkey and gravy. The final photograph was a Polaroid, a haggard but smiling couple dressed in military uniforms, behind them the window was pitch black.

"My great-grandparents, right after the Tenes came. Got married the day the eternal night fell. Romantic isn't it? 'Course they didn't last very long, dark was too much for 'em, it got 'em in the end. Tenes and crazies, that's our life, grand one isn't it?" He winced then chuckled bitterly, "Sorry, usually not this sentimental. Pain must be getting to me." Jones paused and then gathered himself, "Friends, you say?"

Jack nodded mutely; this was the life Rose had faced day in and day out for the last 125 years. A grand life, a grand struggle for survival, broken by the rare human companionship, before that too was snatched away. This old man, who had survived his entire life not knowing the sun or the stars, who believed them to be children's fables; he deserved to know the truth. "You're right about the 'crazies' back there. They are being led by a man, a man from my world who wants to use this one to pursue power and revenge. I come from the next world over, one where the sun still shines in the sky. My friends, the Doctor and Rose, and I came here to defeat the Tenebres."

Jones stared at Jack, then, absurdly, started to laugh. "What a story if I ever heard one. Next world over? Defeat the Tenes? Bah! You're a crazy my friend, a crazy if I ever saw one."

"Take me to the Doctor and I'll prove you wrong," Jack said as he clambered to his feet.

"I hope you do, son, I hope you do."

OOOOOOOO

They are our children

The Doctor reeled. Children? he queried. On the edges of his awareness the connection with Rose flickered then firmed.

Children

The vast awareness of the Tenebres faded, shifting away from the Doctor, instead moving inward. They were slowly excluding the outside world. The Tenebres expelled the Doctor from their midst, sending him spiraling away into the void; streaming sparks of his being behind him. Desperately the Doctor reached for the bit of him safely bound to Rose, trying to spin himself back together before too much of his being was lost into the abyss. Slowly his descent ground to a halt, the tether between him and Rose drawn tight, and the Doctor found himself hovering at the edges of the Tenebres' consciousness again. Why? Why do you seek to harm me?

The soft reply was fringed with hot leaden anguish.

Our Children…they hurt us…Doctor must go…he too causes pain…

The Doctor groped at the closing edges, Why do I hurt you? Why do your children hurt you?

Children are different…we must teach them...teach them to be the same…Doctor must go…he is linked to the…

The faint image accompanied the fading words. It was a glowing pyramid of black light, radiating malevolence. The Doctor faltered; it was the same pyramid, the one that he now knew Rose clutched to her chest back in the cave. He could vaguely sense the smooth surface underneath her fingers through their shared awareness. Wait! he called after the Tenebres, but his voice echoed in the dark surrounding him, the light of the great mind was banked, inaccessible. The Time Lord sighed and felt for the anchor that bound him to both his body and to the mind of Rose.

Gasping, he surfaced. He became aware of his stiff body, and the quiescent form of Rose lying beside him. The Doctor was still bound to her, but Rose's mind had retreated, diving into dreams. Gently he severed their connection, savoring each moment as their hearts still beat in unison. He was exhausted; the desperate attempt to prevent the fraying of his mind had depleted his meager reserves. The Time Lord could feel, with each beat of his heart, a throbbing where the bullet had recently punctured his flesh. Exhaustion pulled at the edges of his vision, a dull haze fell over everything. Unable to resist any longer, the Doctor dropped down besides the silent Rose and drifted into dreams.

OOOOOOOO

Rose fled. Any illusions of being a great tree were shattered, that peace now eluded her. Children. The word haunted her through her dreamscape, taunting her. The Tenebres ruined her world for…children? It made no sense. In her dream she reached for the steel pyramid, the one comfort she still had. She almost dropped the dream pyramid when she felt it, the real one, clutched in her hands. Somehow she knew it was real, no figment of her imagination, the awareness she shared with it was too raw. It almost seemed if she held her own severed limb in her hands.

As she watched, the shape shifted; it fused with her hands, the metal burning its way into her skin. Screaming, Rose tried to drop the pyramid but she couldn't, it was a part of her now. Blisters formed and popped at the edges of the molten metal, the sweet stench of burning flesh wafted up to Rose's nose, causing her to gag. Desperately she repelled her mind away from the brooding connection between her and the pyramid.

Tumbling through vague images Rose found herself on the edge of a pond, a giant pregnant moon hanging above her. She was entirely alone, no menacing connection with the pyramid, no shining golden bond with the Doctor. Alone…the Doctor? She fumbled for the anchor, she had promised to hold the Doctor to this world and now she had left him alone. She had no choice; she had to brave the pyramid again if she was to uphold her promise to the Doctor. She opened her mind again. The pond became an ominous void in the dreamscape, while the moon took on a golden hue.

Ignoring the pond lapping meters from her feet Rose stared at the moon, focusing urgently on its golden surface. The moon seemed to fade, as if clouds passed in front of it, but Rose held on, memorizing its surface. Finally it reappeared, blazing gloriously. Rose fell back, and watched as the tint drew back, the Doctor was safe. The pond pulled at her feet, one bond that was not gone. The pyramid was more than what it appeared, that was finally obvious to Rose. Retreating from its unwanted link and this confusing knowledge, she dove into comforting memories of childhood.