A/N: Last chapter of The Velvet Web! Horray! Sort of. I love this episode so much, but by now I think I've sort of exhausted it, and gotten everything I can out of it. And while we're on the subject, and now that everyone reading this is familiar with Morphoton...does anyone know why it's called the Velvet Web? Because there's no giant spiders or anything in this. And quite right too. Mind control is so much cooler than giant spiders! Lower budget, but cool. But that still doesn't explain why it's called the Velvet Web. Anyway, hope you enjoy this bit, and if you do, REVIEW!

~M&M

Laura Harkness: Did it!! I went out to our own shed/barn and had a good old read-aloud where my crazy family couldn't get to me. And it worked! Which is great; I'm always re-reading my stuff in my head like a maniac but I'm definitely sticking to reading it aloud from now on. Thanks! And oh, I like the word forte. That definitely describes my angsty writing style. I've just been trying to go in a different direction with this particular fic, and erm, open up new ways of writing and try to excerise my funnier side. Thank you so much for the compliment about the Doctor's dialogue! When I first started writing I was sure that it would be characters like Rose that came more naturally to me, and that characters like the Doctor would be the big challenge. But now I'm completely amazed that it's actually the other way round. Proud of myself, but still amazed. And Ian/Barbara-wise, yeah romance does seem to be a bit overly present in tv and films today, (and I really wish writers would give it a break sometimes) but I always felt that Ian and Barbara's relationship was very natural, and that there was a sort of underlying chemistry there without them even trying. Plus, according to the ever trustworthy source that is wikipedia, they got married in the end. :) But I'm still keeping it to a minimum, just like the original writers did with Arbitan and Sabetha.

SciFiGeek14: According to wikipedia, they did get married in the end! Horray! And they had a kid; a rockstar named Johnny Chess, who actually sounds quite sexy. ;) But I suppose this is an alternate, Marinus version of Ian and Barbara. I just really wanted to give them a part in this fic, and I wasn't about to let canon get in my way. Techincally I have been to cool places. I go to England all the time, since I was born there. But there's only so many times you can go places before the initial excitement of being there wears off. And I'm so jealous that you got to go to Wales! I went once but I was too young to remember. All I can recall is getting a book on fire safety. (Yes, this story is going somewhere...I think) And there was two versions of the book, one in English and one in Welsh. (Which I had never heard of back then) And I was convinced that the Welsh book I'd been stuck with was French, which is just proof that I was raised in Canada. :|

Jasper winked: Awww yeah I think most people have heard of them. And yes, I did slip a little bit and add some Ten/Rose lovin' to the last chapter. It's so hard not to...Especially since I had quite a bit of fun writing that bit. :D

In the end it was Ian who stepped forward first, striding towards them with a hand held out and a warm smile on his face. "You must be the Doctor."

Now that he was no longer under the control of the Mesmeron, his voice had lost it's monotonous drone, and now sounded rich with intelligence. However, Rose couldn't help but back away slightly as he came nearer, and jumped when her shoulder collided with Donna's. When she turned around to see what she'd hit, the redhead gave Rose a confused look, but the girl shook her head to indicate that she was fine.

Meanwhile, the Doctor grinned and stepped forward, meeting Ian halfway with his normal enthusiasm. "Oh yes, that's me! Hello!" His grin stayed put, but he glanced sideways at Jack for just a moment too long, waiting for an explanation.

The time agent smiled. "Ian's-"

"Oh!" Rose broke her silence as realization dawned on her. "You're with Arbitan too!"

All eyes fell on her, and Ian looked stunned for a moment. "Why, yes," he replied in a surprised voice, before turning to Jack. "I thought you said they didn't know we were here?"

Jack blinked. "I didn't know they did."

Rose looked past where they stood, and found herself staring at...what was her name again? "You're...Barbara, yeah?"

Having let Ian do most of the talking until now, Barbara stepped forward with a kind expression on her face, seeming considerably saner than the last time the two women had met. "That's right. And you are...?"

Rose bit her lip. "You don't remember." None of them did. It seemed so alien to her that only she could clearly recall the true horrors of Mesmeron. She looked around sadly, and made eye contact with the Doctor. Apart from the two of them, no one could remember what had happened, and a small, barely significant part of Rose's heart screamed that it wasn't fair that Jack and Donna shouldn't have any memory of their adventure at Morphoton. And on top of that, Barbara had no idea of what they'd been through together. She shook herself out of her thoughts, returned to the present and forced a smile. "I'm Rose."

Barbara's brow creased slightly, and she stepped closer. "Have we met?"

Rose grinned. She recognized her! "You saved my life." At Barbara's confused look she continued. "We've met, yeah. I was running from the Morpho, and I found you. And then, um..." She gestured towards Ian nervously. "He was-"

"He attacked you!" Everyone stared at Barbara in surprise.

You do remember!" breathed Rose.

Barbara placed a pale hand to her forehead. "Just...it's just images. I remember that you were crying, and I had to save you, I was..." She shook her head. "It's hard to remember."

"So it was you who knocked me out!" Ian exclaimed, but his voice was calm and void of anger; he was teasing her.

"She was scared," Barbara replied with a frown, but then pursed her lips guiltily. "I'm sorry, Ian."

"I know," he replied gently, and the two exchanged smiles. Around them the roar of the crowd was beginning to fade as everyone began leaving the courtyard, slipping out through the long corridors. He turned back to face the Doctor. "They're planning on burning the city. The sooner we get out of here the better."

"Hold on," the Doctor muttered, pointing to the device he'd just noticed was hanging from Barbara's neck. "That's one of the keys!" His voice rose several pitches in excitement. "You are working for Arbitan!"

Ian nodded. "Yes, that's right. Barbara and I came with a man called..." He trailed off, however, as his eyes fell upon Jack, who was currently exchanging smiles with Barbara. Donna and Rose turned towards each other with suppressed giggles and raised eyebrows. Could it be that Ian was jealous?

The Doctor followed Ian's stare and pointed a finger at the time agent. "Oi! Don't start!"

Jack snapped back to the conversation. "I was just being friendly!" When no one replied he turned back to Ian. "Go on, then."

Ian frowned. "Well, we came with a man name Eprim, but he decided to go ahead to the fourth location."

The Doctor thought back to the map Arbitan had shown him. "That's Millennius, right?" At Ian's nod he turned to his companions. "Huge city in the western part of Marinus. Run by solely by law, extremely civilized and-Jack!"

Jack pulled his arm back from around Barbara's shoulder. "I was just-"

"Saying hello!" Rose and Donna chorused.

Barbara blushed. "I don't mind!"

"But I bet Ian does," Donna whispered to Rose, who grinned and shushed her.

The Doctor smiled at Ian, already pretending that nothing had happened. "So where were we? Oh yes! Your friend Eprim went ahead to Millennius. I was thinking of adopting a similar plan."

"You mean, some of us go ahead a few places?" Rose asked.

"No. Just one of us." His companion frowned. "Rose, Millennius is huge, and if I go ahead at least we'll have a bit of a head start once you lot get there. And there's five of you now; the next few places should be easy."

"Oh!" Donna cut in. "We found these in one of the storage cupboards by our room. I guess no one knew just how important they were" She produced several of Arbitan's wristbands and handed them out to Ian, Barbara and Jack; all of whom had had their wristbands taken away when they were given their robes.

"And I've memorized the map, Doctor," added Barbara as she strapped hers on. "So finding the keys shouldn't be a huge problem."

"Oh, Barbara! I like you!" The Doctor grinned as he took out his sonic screwdriver and began reprogramming his own wristband. "So two jumps ahead, and I'll try and find out what's happened to your friend Eprim. And I'll see you there in...oh, how about five days? That should give us enough time, considering the transpacial delay and anything else you may run into."

"Well, goodbye Doctor," said Ian. "Take care of yourself."

"Only if you take care of this lot," the Doctor replied. Both Ian and Barbara seemed capable enough, and he was more than sure that together the five of them would find the next couple of keys without too much hassle. Although, if everywhere else on Marinus was as bad as Morphoton...He tried not to think about it and pointed at Donna. "Especially her. If you see her right hand twitching than get ready to-JACK!"

Everyone turned back towards the captain, and Ian turned red at the sight of Captain Jack Harkness and Barbara locked in a deep and passionate embrace. At the Doctor's voice Jack let go of the woman, who stood by his side looking flushed and slightly dizzy, as if she were just as surprised about what had happened as everyone else; except for Jack, of course.

"W-we were just..." Barbara muttered breathlessly, and stumbled back over to Ian.

"Just getting acquainted!" Jack assured everyone.

"Jack!" the Doctor finally snapped. "If you can't control your hormones, then you shan't be allowed to have any!"

Jack backed away in terror. "You wouldn't!"

The Doctor crossed his arms and stepped closer, and in a fit of panic the time agent's hand flew to his wrist. He gave the dial a quick turn, and faded away with a triumphant grin. There was a pause.

"He-he..." the Doctor stuttered, and then turned back to his companions. "He keeps doing that!"

Donna rolled her eyes. "Well maybe if you hadn't threatened to take his hormones away..."

Barbara turned toward Rose. "Is it always like this for you?"

"What, getting you mind controlled, travelling through space, and getting snogged whenever there's a chance?" Rose thought about it for a second. "Pretty much, yeah." Barbara gave a stiff nod and Rose turned back towards the Doctor. "Shouldn't we be following him? I mean, 'cause of the transpacial delay and all."

"Right! Yes!" The Doctor ran to where Ian and Barbara were still standing and shook both their hands. "Lovely to meet you both, but I've really gotta go now." He lowered his voice. "Look after them will you?"

Barbara smiled and Ian nodded. "We'll do our best, Doctor."

The Doctor grinned and turned around just in time to catch Rose as she ran into his arms. Despite herself, Donna couldn't help but join the hug, and the Time Lord squeezed them as tightly as possible. Stepping back, he gave one last, cheerful smile, before placing his hand on his wrist. "See you later!"

And then he was gone.

For a moment Rose and Donna stared at the spot where he'd been standing, and Rose reached out and gave her friend's hand a squeeze. Behind them, Ian was getting ready to leave. "Right, we might have improved our chances by splitting our forces, but the sooner we get going, the better."

Everyone nodded and placed their hands on their wrists. "We need to time this right. When I say three, turn your dial. Ready? One, two-

"Wait!" Rose suddenly shouted. "We need to hold hands! The transpacial-"

Too late.

Across the water and far from the city, in a place that seemed worlds away from the dark and claustrophobic corridors of Morphoton, the darkness continued to stir.

A lone figure, clad in the long, white robes of a monk, stood before his greatest love; staring up at where it hung like an all-seeing, yet broken planet.

He never saw the darkness move.

He never saw the long, black arm which extended towards him as his predator came closer.

And still the darkness' stirring went unnoticed, and Arbitan never saw the sharp dagger held in the clenched fingers of the Voord.

Above him, the last remaining Key of Marinus hung in its proper place, shining in the light and seeing all that Arbitan didn't. But never saying anything.

And so the Key continued to glisten, and Marinus continued to turn, and outside the acidic waves beat mercilessly on the glassy shores before the pyramid, as if they could sense what one man could not; the truth...

Arbitan was doomed.

Yes, it's that time again!

Weeeeeeeeooooooo!!!!!!

Yes, I am humming the Doctor Who theme tune everytime we finish an episode. (2 episodes in! YESSSS!!!!) I'm even worse in real life. Whenever I'm watching it with my mates I actually full-out SING the theme tune. Which is really hard, now that they've changed it to something that's pretty much un-singable.

Oops, promised myself I wouldn't express any opinions I have of the new season on this fic. This is Marinus-land, not Moffat-land... *roar*

Wite the feme tune, sing the feme tune...

Also, just as a note, I've been keeping myself from putting in that line about Jack's hormones from day one. Can't help it; I've just always wanted to stick it in a fic. :D