AN: Here's the new chapter. I've been sporting a headache on and off for the last few days so I would've had this up on Saturday had it not been for that. Sorry. Anyway, enjoy! :D

------

Rose and Jinx came around the corner running. The hallway was empty, just as Jinx had seen. She came to a halt, just outside the large wooden door. She held up a hand. Rose stopped.

"What is it?"

Jinx shushed her. She closed her eyes, pressed her hand against the door and focused.

"Go back around the corner." Jinx whispered to Rose. She was about to ask why when Jinx interrupted, "Don't ask why. You'll see."

Rose hesitated for a moment before she reluctantly went back around the corner, her head peering out around the edge.

Jinx opened her eyes, raised her hand and knocked. She then moved off to the side of the doorway.

Rose leaned back around the corner when the door opened.

A man looked out at the empty space in front of him. He was sure he had heard a knock. And yet no one was there.

Jinx, hidden by the open door, moved her hand again.

Knock…knock…

The man frowned, and moved into the corridor in order to peer around the door.

Jinx smiled, "Hi."

And then she punched him in the throat. The man gasped, his cry of surprise stolen, leaving behind a ragged breath.

Her fist collided into his stomach. He doubled over. Jinx quickly brought her hands to the collar of his jacket, and spun him around; throwing him against the wall as she quickly closed the door he had entered through behind her.

The man recovered quickly from her attack. He advanced, moving his fist forward to punch. She ducked, and drove a hard punch at stomach level.

Something collided with her head. An elbow, she realised after a dazed moment. Her ears rung, but she was lucky. Her own blow had lessened its impact.

Jinx quickly moved back, blinking in an attempt to rid her head, but she was caught by the throat and once he was assured of his grip, he lifted her upwards by the throat; her feet lost the solid contact of the ground beneath. She began to kick at her assailant, struggling in her increasing panic, as he applied pressure to her throat. He was an expert, she could tell, had probably done this hundreds of time. Not many knew the exact spot which would induce unconsciousness, but she was losing consciousness fast.

Suddenly, there was a sound of crashing. The grip on her neck loosened. Gravity forced her back on solid ground. Shards of glass surrounded her.

Jinx blinked repeatedly, confused by what had just happened.

She looked up, and saw Rose. In her hand, she held the remains of a broken vase.

"Did you just-"

Rose nodded, "Yeah. I did."

There was silence as they stared.

"Thanks."

Rose looked between Jinx and the unconscious man. She smiled. "No problem."

She let the remains of the vase drop to the ground, and reached forward to give a hand to help Jinx up. She took it.

"Let's go." Jinx said, rubbing at her neck. Her voice sounded slightly hoarse. "We wasted a lot of time."

She opened the door, and they both entered. Jinx pushed her down until they were both crouching. She pointed over the balcony. They crawled over, until they could see the view below.

Rose's eyes widened. Below them, the room was filled with twelve people, shrouded in robes. Their faces were covered, all save for two: Sleev and Edmund. The latter was being strapped to what she could only presume was an altar.

"We've got to save him." Rose whispered.

Jinx nodded, pressing her lips together in a suppressed laugh, before saying, "I know. That's why we're here."

Rose shot her a look.

Jinx smiled. "Ok, I'm going to climb over there as soon as the Doctor comes in."

"Will he be okay?" Rose asked, "The Doctor?"

"Sure. As long as we can create a distraction for him." She looked around the space surrounding her. A large vase caught her eye. Jinx pointed. "Seeing as you're so good with vases, I think you'll have no problem with that one."

Rose smiled at where Jinx was pointing.

"I think I'll do alright with it."

"Good. That's good." She murmured offhandedly. Rose looked over at her; she could notice that she'd closed her eyes again.

Rose couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to see into the future. She wished she had that back when she'd met Jimmy Stone. He'd messed up her life good and proper. She'd probably be in university if it hadn't been for him, but then again, if it hadn't been for him, she'd have never met the Doctor. The former should have been the life she'd wanted but a life without the Doctor could never be a life she'd want. Not now. Not after he'd came into her life.

She smiled. The Doctor. He made things better. Just like his name, he made people better. He'd made her better.

And she loved him for that; for who he was, for what he did. He was the Doctor. And she wouldn't exchange meeting him for anything.

With a sigh, the diary popped into his head. Jinx had told her earlier how the Doctor was reacting to it. A twinge of guilt surfaced. She should tell him the truth about it. It was only right. She didn't want to risk her life with the Doctor over a prank.

"Rose."

Jinx interrupted her from her thought. Rose looked at her; she was nodding towards the door below. The Doctor had just sauntered in.

"That's my cue. Now you remember yours. It'll be a wave."

Jinx waved enthusiastically to demonstrate.

"Oh, and once you push it, get out of here. Head for the elevator and hide nearby. Don't let them catch you." She smiled, "Good luck."

"You too."

With that Jinx moved over to the carefully placed ledge. Thank heavens for the rich having urges to paint detailed masterpieces. Her hands splayed over smooth paint. Nothing to grab a hold of.

She looked below her. And it was a long way down if she fell.

"Why am I doing this?" She muttered to herself, as she climbed over the balcony railing. She closed her eyes, saw a future where she crossed safely over; saw an alternative where she fell and broke her neck; saw another where her foot slipped and she got noticed by every eye in the room. There were countless others, each of which differed from another.

You're saving a life. She reminded herself.

Jinx hoped the first future would come to pass. She quite liked being alive.

-----

The Doctor opened the doors to the room and walked in. Twelve heads turned to look at him; ten of them had faces obscured by their hoods. The other two consisted of the one being sacrificed and the other doing the sacrificing. Sleev was holding a knife over a gagged Edmund. The Doctor was almost entirely sure that if he had not made his entrance at that particular moment then the sacrifice would've gone ahead.

"Hello there." He looked around the room and smiled, "I'm the Doctor. And I heard there was a nice sacrifice going on. Thought I'd pop in and say hello." He came to a stop in the middle of the room. He turned around 360 degrees and his eyes caught movement. Jinx was climbing across. Rose was on the balcony. He needed to keep twelve sets of eyes on him and away from them.

Easy-peasy.

"Now, this reminds me of a time on Caceta. Have you heard of it? It's a planet about…" He paused, thinking, scratching at the back of his neck. "Oh, about 36 million light-years away from here. It's a lovely place. Purple sky, purple trees, purple rivers. Did I mention they're a big fan of purple? Well, they are. Still… lovely place and all. So I was there a few months back and I came across these ugly brutes, a bit like you lot; not that you're ugly. I can't really see with the hoods. Well, I can see your face." He looked over at Sleev, "Lovely bone structure. Shame about the dress sense."

Rose, who was placing the vase to the edge of the banister, quickly covered her mouth at that to muffle the laugh.

"Now, as I was saying," The Doctor continued, "Here I was walking straight into a sacrifice. Not a pleasant one may I add. And I-"

The Doctor was interrupted from his ramblings.

Open-mouthed, knife raised in hand, Sleev looked across the room and asked, "Who are you?"

"Well, that's what they said, but did they listen to hear my answer?" The Doctor shook his head, "Oh no, they didn't. No, they just tied me to a post naked."

"What?"

"No, they didn't really." He looked away, momentarily wistful before grimacing, "They left me in my boxers, but I might have well have been naked; taking away my suit. Who takes away a man's suit?"

Rose remembered that day. He'd come back only in his boxers. When she'd asked what happened to his suit; he hadn't replied. Only went to the control panel, turned and twisted a few dials and pulled a lever here and there.

When they had landed, he walked out – still dressed in only his boxers – and told her to stay there, muttering something about not wanting to risk another paradox, considering her history. When he'd come back, half an hour later, he was fully dressed and smiling.

He never told her what exactly had happened. She had left it at that.

--------

As the Doctor continued talking, Jinx chose to tune him out, not wanting to burst out laughing as he drew his audience in. She forgot how amusing his rants could be, distracting and amusing. It was not a good time for her to be distracted now – she was barely stopping herself from falling as it was - but a minute or two later she did catch him saying something about getting a sonic screwdriver out of his sock using only his teeth.

Impressive, her mind thought, then shook her head. She didn't want to know. She really didn't.

Well, she didn't need to know. Not now. Now was not the best time.

By the time she had managed to climb her way over, she wished she had taken a few more painkillers. Her side was aching.

The Doctor's voice drifted up from below. Crouching, she looked over the balcony, being careful to not be seen. She didn't want Sleev recognising her.

"-and don't even get me started on how difficult it was. I couldn't use my big toe for a week. And I quite like my big toe. I can play the banjo with my big toe. Difficult to do mind you, but-"

He stopped talking suddenly.

The Doctor sauntered forward, towards Sleev. He stopped in front of him and squinted, taking check of the knife in Sleev's hand before he abruptly reached forward, yanking the knife away from Sleev. He then tutted at him once he was out of reach from the shocked sociopath.

"Don't you know knifes are dangerous? You could conveniently sacrifice a person therefore killing them in the process in order to appease a god that may or may not exist in this universe? Didn't you know that? It's best we get rid of this." He looked behind him and knowing it was clear, threw it into a dark dank corner. "Now that's better. Don't you feel better knowing that I put that knife out of harm's way?"

Sleev's eyes flared in anger.

He moved towards the Doctor, who moved back cautiously.

Jinx smiled. This was going better than planned. Sleev was moving exactly under where Rose was. If this was timed perfectly, he'd get hit and she wouldn't have to lift a finger.

"Woah! Woah! Now hold on!" The Doctor said, holding up his hands to slow the angered man's movements.

Sleev kept walking. The Doctor still retreated.

"Now, let's talk about this."

Jinx moved to raise her hand.

"I'll tell you what we're going to do." Sleev began, "And it doesn't involve-"

Jinx waved frantically at Rose.

Rose pushed the vase.

The vase made contact with Sleev's head. He crumpled under the sudden force and was unconscious within seconds.

The others in the room grew frantic, eyes wide in shock. They looked up, but none of them could see Rose, who had carefully moved away from the edge. Jinx could still see her though, and she mouthed 'Run!' at Rose.

"Well, I think I should be leaving now, don't you think?" The Doctor said, from below. He had a hesitant grin on his face.

He ran.

And just as Jinx had foreseen, the others followed. Some of them shouting and screaming after him, but most of them she knew were hightailing it out of there.

They were most likely rich and pompous and had a high standing. If they were to be found out, then their lives would be on show for the entire planet to see. They would be ruined, and so they did what was natural to them: they ran in order to preserve their lifestyles.

------

As soon as the coast was clear, Jinx climbed down. Luckily for her, there were a few decorative pieces in the room that were placed below her made a very good substitute ladder. They would work well enough to hold her weight going down.

She hoped, at least.

She climbed over the railing and hung from it, easing herself down. She tentatively placed a foot down on one of decorative pieces.

It creaked.

Jinx swallowed. Not a reassuring sign, but she didn't have much of an alternative available to her.

She placed more weight on it and let her other leg join it before letting go of the railing. Holding her breath, Jinx stood very still for a moment, half expecting it to fall underneath her.

Nothing happened.

She let herself breath again. And then began to move down, carefully, until her feet came into contact with solid ground.

Solid, dependable, uncreaking ground.

Turning around she moved towards Edmund, who was staring at her, eyes wide and imploring. They spoke volumes to her, at least the volumes that said 'Help me!', 'Get me out of here!' and 'I don't want to be a sacrifice' along with a few selective others.

She smiled at him as she got out her knife. His eyes widened even more. Sensing his dismay, she quickly attempted to assure him.

"Hi, I'm Jinx. I'm here to save you Edward. The knife's not for you. Don't worry, Edward."

He relaxed again. She removed the gag from his face.

Even though, considering the circumstances involved him being saved, he couldn't help but say, "It's Edmund."

"Oh not this again." She mumbled under her breath and rolled her eyes, "Hear, how about this? I call you Ed. The problem is solved then."

"I don't like being called Ed…"

She put the knife against the leather straps, cutting them and releasing his from his bonds, "I'm saving you from being sacrificed. We won't see each other after today. I'm calling you Ed."

Edmund nodded, "Fair enough."

"Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine."

Liar. Jinx thought, but she didn't call him out on it.

She helped him sit up, surveyed the damaged he had undergone. Her eyes quickly picked up signs from his movement.

Head, ribs, arms, wrists.

All of them were affected in some way. There were bruises. Lots of bruises. That much was obvious, but she couldn't surmise what else. There was too little to go on from sight alone.

"Can you climb?"

"Up there?" He surveyed the path Jinx had taken coming down. The pieces were relatively strong, but he doubted it would hold his weight. He shook his head, "No, I'd be too heavy. It'd break."

"And people say having muscle is a good thing…" Jinx looked over her shoulder, the room was empty; the few people who had been in the room had chased after the Doctor, but the room wouldn't be empty for long.

Her eyes lingered towards Sleev. Her fingers tapped against the handle of her knife, temptation… Revenge. So close. So near, but hardly a fitting time.

She put the knife back in its sheath.

Jinx then closed her eyes, prodding at the possible futures.

"Too many variables…" she muttered after a few moments.

Edmund turned to her, "What?"

"I can't map out a proper safe exit in my head. Too many variables. Too much pressure. Too little time." Jinx turned to Edmund. He looked warily at her, "Ok, how do you feel about running?"

"Good."

"Right, let's do that."

They ran.

---------

The Doctor was running, corridor after corridor. The sound of footsteps sounded behind him.

Running had seemed like such a good plan earlier, but usually corridors branched off at some point. Why were there no branches in this corridor?

"Doctor…"

He looked around at the sound of his name. Rose was looking out from a room nearby; her blonde head just visible as she ushered him towards her. He quickly moved into the room, shutting the door behind him.

The sound of feet rushed by on the other side of the door. They leaned against the solid wood, relieved.

"Well, that went well." Rose surmised after a comfortable amount of time had passed in silence.

The Doctor and Rose looked towards each other and laughed.

To Be Continued...

AN: Another chapter down...hmm, this may be the time for reviewing...