"Open fire!" Jefferson ordered. He and the guard standing with him did, blasting the Ood with frankly more bullets than were needed. I couldn't really blame then though. Fear response will do crazy things to your brain.
As soon as the Ood fell, whatever was trying to push its way into my mind - Oh, who was I kidding, it was the Beast - snapped back, as if it had been using them as a focus and now that they were gone, I was safe.
For now.
Rose ran forward and grabbed the mic again. "Doctor?" she shouted. I unpeeled myself from door 25 and walked over to the Ood. "Doctor, can you hear me?" I closed their eyes. They deserved that small respect, at least. "Doctor, Ida, are you there?"
"Open door 25."
The door swung open. Jefferson and the other guard prepared to shoot. Danny came rushing in, holding his hands up in surrender.
"It's me!" he shouted, turning and sealing the door behind him. "But they're coming. It's the Ood. They've gone mad."
"How many of them?" Jefferson asked.
"All of them!" Danny cried, voice cracking. "All fifty!" Jefferson advanced on the door with a sigh. Danny tried to block it.
"Danny, out of the way," Jefferson said. When Danny didn't move, Jefferson grabbed his shoulder and shoved him. "Out of the way!"
"But they're armed!" Danny cried. I stepped forward to put a comforting hand on his shoulder since Rose was preoccupied desperately trying to get the comms to work again. "It's the interface device. I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon."
Jefferson opened the door anyway. I was hit with a wave of hate and fear so strong I stumbled back, pulling Danny with me. The leading Ood stuck its globe onto the guard-whose-name-I'd forgotten-to-ask's forehead. She screamed and collapsed to the ground. Jefferson opened fire again. He took out about ten Ood before Danny broke away from me and slammed the door shut again. He typed in a quick code, and the computer told us the door was sealed.
"Code 2543, then hit the red button," Danny shouted in my general direction. "We've got two more doors to seal!" I took off to the other side of the room as Jefferson finally, blessedly, got the comms to work again.
"Jefferson, what's happening there?" Zach asked.
"I've got very little ammunition, sir," Jefferson reported. I got my door sealed, pulled my mental shields back to where they were supposed to be, and jogged back over to Rose. "How about you?"
"All I've got is a bolt gun. With uh, all of one bolt," Zach said. Jefferson swore. "I could take out a grand total of one Ood. Fat lot of good that is."
"Given the emergency I recommend strategy 9," Jefferson said grimly. Rose shot me a look. 'Evacuation?' I mouthed. Rose nodded in a way that said 'I hope so'.
"Strategy 9. Agreed," Zach sighed. "Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose and Katelyn? What about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?"
Rose shook her head. "I-I can't get a reply," she said, very carefully hiding how scared she was. "Just nothing. I keep trying, but it's-" Static interrupted Rose, along with the tail-end of the sound the sonic screwdriver made.
"No, sorry," the Doctor said. "I'm fine. Still here."
Rose looked like she wasn't sure whether she wanted to kiss him or hit him. Probably both, in that order. "You could've said, you stupid-"
"Doctor," I interrupted, even though I usually very much one for letting the Doctor know how stupid he was. We needed to focus right now, and Rose's insult would only encourage me to be more creative with my own. "Both of you?"
"Yup. Me and Ida. Hello," he said as if this were just another Thursday. Good acting 'cause this was terrifying even for us. "But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this… chasm."
"How deep is it?" Zach asked.
"Can't tell. It looks like it goes down forever," the Doctor said, gravel crunching like he was leaning over.
"The pit is open," Rose quoted shakily. "That's what the voice said."
"But there's nothing?" Zach asked. "I mean, there's nothing coming out?"
"No, no. No sign of 'the Beast'." The Doctor said the name like he thought it was silly.
"Who said it had to be physical?" I said. Rose and Danny looked at me with horror.
"Katelyn, really?" the Doctor whined.
"Sorry," I mumbled.
"It said Satan," Rose repeated.
"Come on, Rose," the Doctor said gently. "Keep it together. Katelyn's just being a bit dramatic."
"As usual," I agreed, grabbing Rose's free hand. She stared at me for a second, then turned back to the comm mic.
"Is there no such thing?" Rose asked. The Doctor didn't answer. She gripped my hand tighter. "Doctor." He still didn't say anything. Rose turned to me. "One of you, tell me there's no such thing."
"Ida?" Zach interrupted. Rose swore quietly. "I recommend that you withdraw. Immediately."
"But," Ida paused. We could hear gravel crunching again, probably the Doctor pacing. "We've come all this way."
Zach sighed. "Okay. That was an order. Withdraw," he said firmly. "When that thing opened, the whole planet's shifted. One more inch and we fall into the black hole. So this thing stops right now."
"But it's not much better up there with the Ood," Ida argued. Rose scoffed.
"I'm initiating strategy 9," Zach said. "So I need the two of you back up top immediately, no arguments." That comment was met with crackling silence. "Ida. Ida!"
"I… think she turned the comms off," I said. Zach sighed, and there was the distinct sound of a head hitting a solid surface. Jefferson walked back over to us, looking how Zach sounded.
"Any chance the Doctor will talk sense into her?" he asked. Rose barked a laugh, mad and nervous. I scrunched my face and shook my head. "He does know they could die down there?"
"He knows they could die up here," I countered.
"Not that that's ever stopped him," Rose added. I sighed my agreement.
We waited in tense silence while Zach kept desperately trying to break through Ida's block on the comms. I paced and wondered why they even had that setting.
Eventually, without Zach's input, the comms buzzed back on.
"We're coming back," the Doctor said. Rose finally exhaled.
"Best news I've heard all day," she said happily.
"You are getting old," I teased.
"Katelyn-" he started, worry in his voice. He was cut off by Jefferson cocking his gun and aiming it at Toby, who was now conscious and trembling. Rose put the mic down.
"What're you doing?" she asked.
"He's infected," Jefferson spit. Toby backed up and pressed his back to some crates. He looked terrified, which meant either the Beast was a great actor or a tiny bit of Toby was still in there. "He brought that thing on board. You saw it."
"Are you going to start shooting your own people now?" Rose asked, sounding unimpressed. "Is that what you're going to do?" Jefferson ignored her. "Is it?"
"If necessary," Jefferson said.
"Well then, you'll have to shoot me if necessary, so what's it going to be?" Rose challenged. She crouched down next to Toby. "Look at his face. Whatever it was, is gone. It passed into the Ood. You saw it happen. He's clean." Jefferson didn't look like he believed her. "Katelyn, back me up."
I couldn't. I couldn't lie to her anymore.
Jefferson stared at Toby for a long time, then lowered his gun. Toby looked incredibly relieved, and I wished I could join him. "Any sign of trouble, I'll shoot him," Jefferson warned. Then he walked away.
"Are you all right?" Rose asked Toby, voice quiet and gentle.
"Yeah," Toby agreed, even though he was shaking his head. "I don't know."
"Can you remember anything?" Rose asked.
"Just, it was so angry," Toby breathed. "It was fury-"
"And rage," I added.
"And death," Toby agreed. Again, he fixed me with that stare that felt like it was looking into my soul in a very literal way. But he only looked for a second before he went back to Rose. "It was him. It was the devil."
Rose hugged Toby. I turned toward the capsule shaft, waiting.
...
"Okay, we're in," Ida reported, sounding like she wasn't too happy with that turn of events. "Bring us up." Rose walked back over. I'd been standing and refusing to look at Toby for the last minute.
Jefferson pushed a few buttons on the computer. "Ascension in three, two, one."
The power went out.
"This is the Darkness," the voice said. It seemed to be coming from everywhere and nowhere. "This is my domain." Jefferson lifted his gun, but he didn't know where to point it. Rose and I immediately stood back to back. The monitor flickered on with images of the Ood from the hallway. "You little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns which die in the-"
"That's not the Ood," Zach interrupted. "Something's talking through them."
"Only the darkness remains," the voice - the Beast - continued.
"This is Captain Zachary Cross-Flane of Sanctuary Base 6, representing the Torchwood archive," Zach said. "You will identify yourself."
"You know my name." The Beast sounded smug. Could probably feel the fear pouring off us all.
"What do you want?" Zach demanded, giving nothing away. God, he really was a good captain.
"You will die here," the Beast said, even if that wasn't really an answer. "All of you. This planet is your grave."
"It's him," Toby muttered with such fear I had to reassess the idea that he was already dead.
"If you are the Beast," the Doctor started, probably the only one of us actually shielding his fear well. "Then answer me this. Which one, hmm? 'Cause the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Archiphets, Orkology, Christianity, Pash Pash, New Judaism, San Klah, Church of the Tin Vagabond." My brain kept the list going with about 20 more, but the Doctor kept talking before I could interrupt him. "Which devil are you?"
"All of them," the Beast said, definitely smug but also annoyed. It kinda made me want to punch it, which was good. Any emotion except fear would be helpful right now.
"What, then you're the truth behind the myth?" the Doctor asked.
"This one knows me," the Beast said. The Ood all tilted their heads. "As I know him. The Killer of his own Kind." Rose and I exchanged nervous looks. It was not often a good thing when a telepathic presence could tell the Doctor's secrets.
"How did you end up on this rock?" the Doctor asked, scowl in his voice.
"The Disciples of the Light rose up against me and chained me in the pit for all eternity," the Beast sneered.
"Bang up job, guys," I muttered.
"93," Rose whispered.
"When was this?" the Doctor asked.
"Before time," the Beast said. My whole body rejected that thought.
"What does that mean?" the Doctor scoffed.
"Before time," the Beast repeated.
"What does before time mean?" the Doctor asked again, clearly annoyed.
"Before light and time and space and matter," the Beast answered. I took a deep breath. I mean, I was a fan of poetry, but this was starting to lean toward scripture. "Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created."
"That's impossible," the Doctor dismissed immediately. "No life could have existed back then."
"Is that your religion?" the Beast taunted. The Ood tilted their heads again.
I hear the Doctor's scowl deepen. "It's a belief."
"You know nothing," the Beast snapped. "All of you, so small. The Captain, so scared of command." Those of us in the drill room exchanged a look. It wasn't hard to figure out that was referring to Zach. "The Soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife." Jefferson turned around and refused to look at any of us. "The Scientist, still running from Daddy." Ida exclaimed quietly. "The Little Boy who Lied." Danny's eyes went wide. Toby started shaking, like he knew what was coming. "The Virgin.
"The Nameless," the Beast continued. My heart stopped. That was new. That was me. I took a shuddering breath and stared at the screen. Some small, strangely analytical part of me was amazed it could pull so deep a trauma out of me. "I could spend a hundred of your lifetimes spilling your secrets.
"And the lost girl, so far away from home." Rose looked a bit like she was gonna be sick. "The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon." She raised the mic again.
"Doctor, what does that mean?" Rose whispered.
"Rose, don't listen," the Doctor warned.
"What does it mean?" Rose insisted.
"You will die and I will live," the Beast taunted. The image of the Ood on the screen was replaced by a roaring, horned creature, a classic Devil. It was too cliche to scare me anymore than I was already scared. Everyone else jumped back.
"What the hell was that?" Danny asked, shaking.
"I had that thing inside my head," Toby whispered.
"Doctor, what did it mean?" Rose asked.
"What do we do?" Danny asked. He turned to Jefferson who was already lifting his wrist-comm. "Jefferson?" That's when everybody started talking over each other.
"Captain? What's the situation on strategy 9?" Jefferson said calmly.
"Zach, what do we do?"
"The planet, the orbit, the black hole," Toby muttered. "Everything's true."
"Captain, report."
"We've lost pictures, Mister Jefferson."
"Doctor, how did it know all of-"
"Did anyone get an analy-"
"Jefferson-"
"Stop," the Doctor tried. Everyone kept talking over each other, sentences blurring together, everyone asking the same questions and not giving anyone a chance to respond. "Everyone just stop," the Doctor tried again. All that did was make everyone talk louder to be heard over him.
Feedback echoed through the comms. Everyone finally shut up. I unclenched my hand from the locket, not even realizing I had grabbed it.
"You want voices in the dark, then listen to mine," the Doctor practically shouted. "That thing is playing on very basic fears. Darkness, childhood nightmares, all that stuff."
"But that's how the devil works," Danny argued.
"Or a good psychologist," the Doctor countered.
"Pretty sure that's a bad psychologist if they're focusing you on your fears," I joked. No one so much as snorted.
"Yeah, but how did it know about my father?" Ida asked. I took the mic from Rose.
"Basic telepathy?" I offered. "Doc, correct me if I'm wrong, but whatever that thing is, it's only picking up on things you think about a lot, even if you don't realize it." I waved my hand around. "Whatever you have nightmares about. Whatever haunts you when you think you're alone. Whatever traumas are always bubbling close to the surface." In the silence that followed, I could feel even the people who weren't in the drill room staring at me. I didn't look away from the mic. "Doctor?"
"Katelyn's probably right," he said. "If, again, a bit dramatic. So what makes 'the Beast's' version of the truth any better than ours, hmm? Cos I'll tell you what I can see-"
Nothing cause the screens are out, I thought it best not to say.
"-Humans," the Doctor continued. "Brilliant humans. Humans who travel all the way across space, flying in a tiny little rocket right into the orbit of a black hole, just for the sake of discovery. That's amazing! Do you hear me? Amazing, all of you." I could feel the fear draining out the room, just that bit, and I smiled, because this, this was what we traveled for. "The Captain, his Officer, his elders, his juniors, his friends. All with one advantage. The Beast is alone. We are not. If we can use that to fight against him-"
The sound of metal grating against metal cut the Doctor off. Those of us in the drill room looked over just in time to see the cable unwind itself and snap, falling down the shaft. It fell quicker than gravity could really drag it, stone dust blowing up from the hole where it fell.
Rose turned back to the computer immediately and snatched up the mic I'd dropped. "Doctor, we lost the cable!" she shouted. Silence. "Doctor, are you alright? Doctor!"
"Comms are down," Zach reported. Rose kept shouting into the mic, despite my attempt to get it away from her. "I've still got life signs," Zach said after a tense few seconds. "But we've lost the capsule. There's no way out. They're stuck down there."
"But we've got to bring them back!" Rose argued. It hurt to see her so panicked, and I wondered again if I should tell her. I'd tell her if she asked.
"They're ten miles down," Jefferson said. "We haven't got another ten miles of cable." Something banged at one of the doors. "Captain? Situation report." He walked over to check the door anyway.
"It's the Ood," Zach said. "They're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in."
"Yeah, it's the same on door 25," Jefferson confirmed. The fear was coming back. I pulled my shields tighter, only to realize it was my own.
"As the Doctor would say," I muttered. "There are many things about this that are not good."
"How long's it going to take?" Rose asked.
"Well," Jefferson sighed. "It's only a basic frame. It should take ten minutes." We heard another bolt get cut. "Eight," Jefferson corrected.
"I've got a security frame," Zach said. "It might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you."
"Right," Rose said, squaring her shoulders, ready to take command. I mirrored her. We were experts in crisis situations, after all. "So we need to stop them-"
"Get out-" I added.
"Or both," Rose finished.
"I'll take both, yeah?" Danny sounded like he'd already given up, and that just wouldn't do. "But how?"
"You heard the Doctor," Rose said. "Why do you think that thing cut him off? 'Cause he was making sense. He was telling you to think your way out of this."
"Come on!" I said. "Us humans, maybe not as strong as that thing-" I gestured to the door. "-but there's more of us, and we're smart. Pool your resources. Work in your area of expertise. Think about what we need, and take measures to get there."
"We need some lights," Rose agreed. "There's got to be some sort of power somewhere."
"There's nothing I can do!" Zach argued. "Some Captain, stuck in here, pressing buttons."
"That's what the Doctor meant," Rose insisted. "Press the right buttons."
"They've gutted the generators," Zach said. He paused. "But the rocket's got an independent supply." Rose and I grinned. "If I could reroute that… Mister Jefferson? Open the bypass conduits. Override the safety." Jefferson moved to do exactly that, voice full of pride when he called Zach 'sir'. "Channelling rocket feed in three, two, one. Power."
The lights come on. Rose and I clapped, cheering. "There we go!" she said.
"Let there be light!" Danny agreed.
"What about that strategy 9 thing?" I prompted. I couldn't remember exactly what it was, and we needed all the information we could get.
"Not enough power. It needs a hundred percent," Jefferson dismissed.
"All right, we need a way out. Zach, Mister Jefferson, you start working on that," Rose directed. "Toby, what about you?"
"I'm not a soldier," he snapped, standing and walking away. I frowned. "I can't do anything."
"No, you're the archeologist, and I happen to have a friend who thinks that's a useful career," Rose said. I rolled my eyes on principle. "What do you know about the pit?"
Toby looked panicked for a split second, then he shuttered it. "Well, nothing," he lied. "We can't even translate the language."
"Right." Rose and I turned away.
"Hold on," Toby said. "Maybe."
"What is it?" Rose asked.
"Since that thing was inside my head, it's like the letters made more sense," Toby said.
"Telepathic residue," I said, just to let the Beast know I knew what I was doing. "Not unheard of."
"Well, get to work. Anything you can translate, just anything," Rose said. "Katelyn, you and the Doctor get anywhere?" I shook my head.
"Didn't even make it past theory," I admitted, pulling the notebook we'd been scribbling in out of my pocket. "I don't think I'd be any help to Toby." Rose nodded and spun toward the others.
"As for you, Danny boy." She walked over. "You're in charge of the Ood. Any way of stopping them?"
"Well…" Danny started like he was about to go in a brilliant speech. "I-I don't know."
"Then find out," Rose said firmly. She was never one for giving up. "The sooner we get control of the Base, the sooner we can get the Doctor out. The Ood are telepathic, yeah?" Danny nodded. "Katelyn's our resident expert on that." She patted me on the back. "Shift."
I watched Rose walk over to the capsule tunnel and look down. I took a deep breath.
Another bolt snapped away on the door.
...
Jefferson stood at one computer, muttering to himself about junctions and filters. Toby sat silently to the side, scribbling and translating in the notebook I'd given him.
"There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood," Danny sighed. "Trouble is, we haven't got them on board."
"Well, that's handy, listing all the things we haven't got," Rose said sarcastically. "We haven't got a swimming pool either."
"No Library," I muttered. "No Media Room. No-" I stopped when I realized I was just listing TARDIS rooms and took a deep breath
She's safe. He finds her. We escape.
"Oh, my God. It says yes," Danny said. The computer screen in front of him was simply flashing the word 'AFFIRMATIVE'. "I can do it. Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, it can disrupt the telepathy. Brainstorm!"
"What happens to the Ood?" Rose asked
"Nothing good," I guessed.
"It'll tank them spark out," Danny said.
"There we are, then." Rose smacked his shoulder, grinning. "Do it!"
Danny inhaled, then frowned. "No, but I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation."
Another bolt snapped.
"Katelyn, can you do that brainstorm?" Rose asked.
"Touch telepath, remember?" I said, waving my fingers. "I'd need to get a hand on them, and I'm not sure I like my odds."
"Keep that as a last resort?" Rose offered. I nodded, because that was fair. "We'll go with Danny's plan, then." Rose walked away and Danny mouthed 'touch telepathy?' at me. I shrugged.
"Mister Jefferson, sir," Rose said, putting a lot of emphasis on 'sir'. "Any way out?"
"Just about," Jefferson said. "There's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here."
Rose smiled and turned to me. "Ventilation shafts!" she cheered. I smiled. They were a tried and true Team TARDIS escape route.
Jefferson sighed. "I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation," he explained. Rose frowned and leaned closer to the screen. "No air, in fact, at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms."
Another bolt snapped.
"But I can manipulate the oxygen field from here," Zach said. "Create discrete pockets of atmosphere. If I control it manually, I can follow you through the network."
"Right, so we go down, and you make the air follow us by hand," Rose summed up.
"You wanted me pressing buttons," Zach reminded us.
"Yeah, I asked for it," Rose agreed. "Okay, we need to get to Ood Habitation. Work out a route."
It only took three minutes for everyone to finish, but with a bolt snapping at every minute count, it was a very stressful last three minutes
Eventually, Jefferson ran over and started pulling up a piece of the floor. I considered the grating, then started taking my shoes off. Rose and Toby ran over to help Jefferson.
"Danny!" Rose called. I ran over, barely noticing the metal grating under my bare feet. Rose gave me a bewildered look, but probably realized she didn't have time to ask.
"Hold on!" Danny shouted back, still at the computer. "Just conforming."
"Dan, we got to go now!" Jefferson commanded. Danny bounced from foot to foot until the computer spilt out an orange chip.
"Yeah!" Danny cried. "Put that in the monitor and it's a bad time to be an Ood."
"We're coming back. Have you got that?" Rose said. I nodded, but the men just glanced at each other. "We're coming back to this room and we're getting the Doctor out."
Another bolt snapped.
"Okay," Jefferson said. "Danny, you go first, then you, Miss Tyler, Miss Laurin, then Toby." Danny had already climbed in, and Rose wasn't far behind him. "I'll go last in defensive position."
"I'm going after Toby," I said, giving Jefferson a determined look. "If anything happens to you, I'm the only one who can defend us." Jefferson opened his mouth to argue.
Another bolt snapped.
"Fine," Jefferson conceded. "Go, quick as you can!" I scrambled down into the maintenance shaft after the others. I did want to be second to last, last even would have been nice, but I still didn't like that Toby was between Rose and I. Well, beggars can't be choosers and all that.
"Just go straight ahead. Keep going till I say so," Zach said through the comms as I dropped down. The tunnels were barley tall enough to kneel in. Everyone got to their hands and knees and started crawling. We heard the last bolt snap just as Jefferson closed the grating over our heads
"Not your best angle, Danny," Rose teased, desperately trying to keep us sort of calm.
"Oi," Danny whined. "Stop it."
"I don't know, it could be worse," Toby said, sparing Rose a glance.
"Oi!" she cried.
"I can't say I disagree with him, Rosie," I added, cheeky.
"Channeling Jack back there, Katelyn?" Rose asked.
"Straight on until you find junction 7.1," Zach said. "Keep breathing."
"Damn, I was planning on holding my breath," I muttered
"I'm feeding you air," Zach continued. "I've got you."
It took about a minute to crawl to junction 7.1. By the time we were there, the air was a bit thin and starting to smell like sweat and human.
"We're at seven point one, sir," Danny reported.
"Okay, I've got you. I'm just aerating the next section."
"Getting kind of cramped, sir," Danny panted. "Can't you hurry up?"
"I'm working on half power, here," Zach defended.
"Stop complaining," Jefferson said. Rose turned to Danny.
"Mister Jefferson says stop complaining," she reported. Danny rolled his eyes.
"I heard."
"He heard," Rose said to Jefferson.
"But the air's getting a bit thin," Toby said. Everyone was panting, even Rose. I wasn't exactly breathing great, but they did seem to be exaggerating a little.
"He's complaining now," Rose said.
"I heard," Jefferson said.
Rose looked down. "Katelyn, I can't wait any longer. Why the hell did you take your shoes off?"
"Rose, you think touch telepathy can only be channeled through hands?" Rose blinked.
"Oh," she said quietly.
"Do I want to know what just went through your head?" I asked.
"I'm moving the air," Zach reported. "I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm or it's going to feel worse."
So of course that's when the Ood broke in. We couldn't see them, could only hear the bang of them opening one of the junction doors and their knees on the metal. Everyone's panic swirled around me, shouting for information. Closer, closer closer-
I slammed my slipping shields back into place. There were too many things to keep track of, and I was getting tired.
Jefferson assumed a defensive position. "Captain, what was that?"
"The junction in Habitation Five's been opened." Zach did not sound happy. "It must be the Ood. They're in the tunnels!"
"Well, open the gate," Danny demanded.
"I've got to get the air in!" Zach said.
"Just open it!" Danny shouted. "Sir," he added as an afterthought.
"Where are they? Are they close?" Rose asked, calmer than the others.
"I don't know. I can't tell," Zach said, which was of course exactly what we wanted to hear. "I can't see them. The computer doesn't register Ood as proper life forms."
"Whose idea was that?" Rose muttered.
"Open the gate!" Danny screeched. The door behind him lifted quickly, and everyone scrambled through. Zach fed Danny instructions and we all followed. Jefferson scooted along behind us, gun pointing down the way we'd come.
"The Ood, sir," he demanded. "Can't you trap them? Cut off the air?"
"Not without cutting off yours. Danny, turn right." Zach kept feeding us instructions, urging us to go faster but never once letting fear take over his voice.
"I'll maintain a defensive position," Jefferson said. Rose stopped moving.
"You can't stop!" she protested.
"Miss Tyler, that's my job," he argued right back, bracing himself on the sides of the tunnel. "You've got your task, now see to it."
"You heard what he said," Toby shouted. He grabbed my shoulder and yanked me away from Jefferson. My body moved after Toby without much input from me. "Now shift."
We went around one more corner before Jefferson started firing. My vision blurred, and I realized I was crying.
"Eight point two. Open eight point two," Danny shouted as soon as we were at the door. "Zach! Open eight point two!"
"I've got to aerate it."
"Open it now!" Danny screeched.
"I'm trying."
Danny starts pounding at the gate in a blind panic. Rose grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back.
"Danny, stop it," Rose said.
"Blind panic won't help," I agreed. "Just try to-"
"Zach, get it open!" Toby screamed. I glared at him.
Zach's didn't answer. The door didn't move.
Back from where we came, the sound of gunfire cut off, followed immediately by one more gunshot, then the sound of someone crawling very quickly. We could almost hear Zach's voice echoing, yelling at Jefferson to move faster.
Gate 8.2 opened.
Danny shouted in what was very nearly delight and crawled through as soon as there was space for his body. Rose and Toby followed. I hesitated just a second, but the window to save Jefferson was closed. If there had ever been a window at all. How powerful was the Beast? Could it affect timelines? Was that just another fixed point?
"Danny, turn left and head for nine point two. That's the last one."
We were halfway there when Rose glanced over her shoulder. "Mister Jefferson!" I stopped, ignoring Toby yanking on my shoulder, watching in horror as the gate closed on Jefferson.
"Regret to inform, sir, I was a bit slow." I could just hear Jefferson's voice echo from Danny's comm. I screamed and punched the wall. "Not so fast, these days." I felt a hand that was definitely not Toby's on my shoulder, urging me to keep going. I nodded, turned around, and kept going.
"I can't open eight point one, John," Zach said. "Not without losing air for the others."
We caught up with Danny, sitting against the door and not looking at each other.
"And quite right too, sir." Jefferson sounded proud. After all, this was a soldier's death. "I think I bought them a little time."
"There's nothing I can do, John," Zach said gently. "I'm sorry."
"You've done enough, sir. Made a very good captain under the circumstances," Jefferson said. "May I ask, if you can't add oxygen to this section, can you speed up the process of its removal?" Rose grabbed my hand. I squeezed back. We understood what Jefferson was asking.
"I don't understand." Zach's voice cracked. "What do you mean?"
"Well, if I might choose the manner of my departure, sir," Jefferson said. "Lack of air seems more natural than, well, let's say death by Ood." Jefferson paused. "I'd appreciate it, sir," he said with some urgency."
"Godspeed, Mister Jefferson," Zach said.
"Thank you, sir."
...
They fell silent. Danny closed his eyes. Toby looked up at the ceiling like he was praying. Rose held Katelyn's hand a little tighter, breathing deep and taking a moment to calm themselves down. Rose only let go when she realized she was holding the hand Katelyn had slammed into the wall, and that that probably hurt.
"Report," Zach began, voice shaky. "Officer John Maynard Jefferson PKD… deceased. With honours. 43 K 2.1."
"Zach," Danny whispered. "We're at the final junction, 9.2. And uh, if my respects could be on record. He saved our lives."
"Noted." Zach paused to gather himself. "Opening 9.2."
The door was halfway up when a hand shot through. The Ood were just on the other side. Katelyn screamed.
"Lower 9.2!" Rose screamed. Everyone scrambled away from the door. It started coming down, but the Ood had a hand under the door and was pulling it back up. "Hurry, Zach!"
"Back! Back! Back!" Danny shouted.
"UP!" Katelyn corrected, shoving a piece of grating up and hauled herself out of the hole. Rose followed immediately, reaching down as soon as she had her footing to help Danny up.
"Come on!" Rose shouted down at Toby, who seemed to be frozen. Rose turned to Katelyn. "If we both pull-"
"Help me!" Toby shouted. "Oh, my God. Help me!"
Rose and Katelyn helped Toby out of the hole. They were barely all upright again before the door behind them opened and more Ood stalked in
"It's this way," Danny said, running in the opposite direction from the Ood. They had to run for four more halls and as many thankfully unsealed doors. Then they were in Ood habitation.
Danny ran right over to the computer, fumbling with the chip he'd brought.
"Get it in!" Rose shouted. Katelyn ran over and past them. Rose followed her. There was a group of Ood coming up the stairs. "Transmit!"
"I'm trying!" Danny shouted back.
The Ood advanced. Katelyn bounced from foot to foot. "Danny, get that thing transmitting!" Rose shouted again, turning as if Danny wouldn't hear her if she wasn't facing him.
When she turned back, Katelyn was moving. She moved so fast, Rose almost had trouble following her. Katelyn dodged around the first Ood, jumping onto the rail and sliding down. The fifth Ood didn't have its translator out. It probably didn't think it needed it yet. Katelyn kicked it in the chest, spun, and pressed her open hand to the back of the fourth Ood.
For a moment, it seemed time stood still. Then the Ood all spasmed and fell. Rose felt something, some kind of pulse, brush past her. Behind her, Toby stumbled, eyes wide. Katelyn started her way back up the stairs.
"Basic 0," Danny read, astonished. Rose laughed.
"You did it!" As soon as Katelyn was on ground level, Rose pulled her into a hug. Katelyn was shaking. "We did it!"
"How the hell?" Danny asked. Katelyn pulled back and smirked.
"Touch telepath," she repeated, waving her fingers. "Most powerful one in the universe, as far as we know." Danny and Toby just stared, like neither of them could quite wrap their heads around the concept.
"Are you human?" Toby asked. Katelyn shot Rose a look, still smirking.
"Jury's out."
Rose rolled her eyes and grabbed the computer mic. "Zach, we did it," Rose said, smiling. "The Ood are down. Now we've got to get the Doctor."
"I'm on my way."
...
We ran all the way back to the drill room. I was feeling a little light headed and a lot heavy hearted. Today was one of my worse days, but at least I'd done something. Even if that something was going to happen anyway.
I started to feel a little dizzy. I found a crate and sat down, checked to make sure my shields were still holding. Rose snagged her favorite mic up again.
"Doctor, are you there?" Silence. "Doctor, Ida, can you hear me?"
"The comms are still down," Zach panted, walking in. "I can patch them through the central desk and boost the signal. Just give me a minute." Zach started typing. Rose came over and reached for my hand again. I gave it to her, but didn't move.
Zach nodded, stepping back from the computer.
"Doctor, are you there?" Rose said immediately, not hiding her fear, not from him. "Doctor, Ida, can you hear me? Are you there, Doctor?"
"He's gone," Ida said gently. Rose paused, stared at the wall, horrified.
"What do you mean, he's gone?"
"He fell into the pit," Ida said. She sounded tired, and I wondered how much oxygen she had left. "I don't know how deep it is. Miles and miles and miles."
"But what do you mean, he fell?" Rose asked.
"I couldn't stop him," Ida said, like she was terrified Rose would do something. "He told me to tell Katelyn what year it was. He said your name, Rose."
Frozen, Rose allowed Zach to take the mic out of her hand. She sat down on the crate next to me and buried her face in her hands.
"I'm sorry," Zach said to us. I smiled my thanks. "Ida? There's no way of reaching you. No cable. No back up. You're ten miles down." Zach stopped, shaking his head like he hated the words he had to say. "We can't get there."
"You should see this place, Zach," was Ida's answer, her voice still full of wonder. "It's beautiful. Well, I wanted to discover things, and here I am." She sounded like she was about to start crying, and, for the first time, I wished I'd gone down with the Doctor instead of staying here. I'd been useless up here.
"We've got to abandon the base," Zach said. His words were firm and clear, but his tone was gentle. "I'm declaring this mission unsafe. All we can do is make sure no one ever comes here again."
"But we'll never find out what it was," Ida protested, voice wavering.
"Well, maybe that's best," Zach offered.
"Yeah."
"Officer Scott-" Zach started.
"It's all right," Ida lied. "Just go. Good luck."
"And you," Zach said quietly. The clicking of the comms turning off for the final time was what finally snapped Rose out of her mood. While Zach started ordering Toby and Danny around, Rose yanked me off to the side.
"Is he alive?" she asked, voice just the other side of desperate. I paused for a second, so used to lying that I almost did. Rose grabbed my arms. "Katelyn, is he alive?"
"He's fine, Rose," I said, prying her hands from my arms. "But we have to be on that rocket." Rose shook her head.
"I'm not going," she said. I shook my head.
"No, we have to be on that rocket," I insisted.
"There's space for both of you," Zach said. The others were bustling about, getting ready to leave. Rose shook her head and stepped away from all of us.
"No, I'm going to wait for the Doctor," she said softly. "Just like he waited for me. For us."
"I'm sorry," Zach said. "I'm sorry, both of you, but he's dead."
Rose opened her mouth, closed it, glanced at me, then spoke. "You don't know him." Her voice left no room for argument, but Zach didn't look convinced. "Cause he's not. And even if he was, how could I leave him all on his own, all the way down there?"
"Rose-"
"You can go," she said to me. "I'm going to stay."
"Then I'm not sorry." I tapped her forehead, shoved the idea of a quick nap into her head, and caught her when she fell.
"You're coming with us then?" Zach asked. I shrugged with the shoulder that wasn't supporting Rose.
"Don't have much of a choice, do I?" I whispered, shifting to try and get a better grip on Rose. "What did the Doctor mean? What year is it?"
"4220," Danny said. I smiled, just a bit. Jack had told me once when the Time Agency had been founded. 4224.
"Sentimental old man," I mumbled. "Still trying to get us home."
"Did that one just move?" Toby said, pointing to an Ood. It twitched again.
"It's the telepathic field," Danny said. "It's reasserting itself."
"Move it," Zach commanded, taking Rose from me and throwing her over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. "Get to the rocket. Move!"
...
Zach and Danny sat in the front of the rocket. I sat in the back, in the middle with Rose on my right and Toby on my left. I didn't like this rocket. I didn't like what was about to happen. But I did like the I was between Rose and the Beast.
The boys were spouting off technobabble, which basically all boiled down to 'ready to go, let's get the fuck off this planet'.
We'd very nearly launched when Rose started waking up. Danny glanced back and groaned.
"Captain," he said. "I think we're going to have a problem passenger."
"Katelyn, can you knock her out again?" Zach asked.
"I don't want her to murder me," I said back.
"Wait," Rose mumbled, just coming back to herself. "We're not-" I snagged her hand, projected fear and confidence, the best I could really do without dropping my shields.
Understanding dawned in Rose's eyes. She glanced at Toby over my shoulder.
"And lift off!" Zach shouted, barely loud enough to be heard over the sound of the engines. "Whoo!"
Rose leaned forward and grabbed Zach's abandoned bolt gun.
We waited.
...
Now that the Doctor's brain had fully catalogued 'Oh, I'm alive' and 'That was the rocket taking off' and 'Please let the girls be on there', he started looking around. Lucky these suits came with a torch.
The walls were covered in colorful, crude paintings. "The history of some big battle," he said into his comm. "Man against Beast. I don't know if you're getting this, Ida. Hope so. Anyway, they defeated the Beast and imprisoned it." The Doctor turned away from the paintings and saw a… vase? Urn? He turned back and saw the same thing painted on the wall.
"Oh, maybe that's the key." If they were human made, he'd have called the urn bronze. He touched one urn and a second one lit up. He walked over to the other one. "Or the gate, or the bars." Something breathed, and the Doctor stopped dead in his tracks.
The Beast in the pit was impossibly large. Well, not impossibly. He'd seen bigger things, but those things were not normally… organic. The Beast was chained to the walls of its… cell by it's limbs and horns. He tried to look down, see what the creature really was, but then it raised its head and snarled.
The Doctor took a few steps back on instinct, but it didn't seem like the Beast could reach him in any meaningful way.
"I accept that you exist," the Doctor said, although even those words were hard to get out. "I don't have to accept what you are, but you're physical existence, I'll give you that. I don't understand." The Beast snarled again, leaning closer. The Doctor stepped forward again, meeting its challenge.
"I was expected down here. I was given a safe landing and air. You need me for something. What for?" The Beast snarled and lunged only to get yanked back by its chains. It stayed silent.
"Have I got to, I don't know, beg an audience? Or is there a ritual? Some sort of incantation or summons or spell?" The Doctor started pacing. "All these things I don't believe in, are they real? Speak to me! Tell me! You won't talk.
"Or you can't talk." The Beast paced, as best it could, but never did more than snarl. "Oh, hold on, wait a minute, just let me-" The Doctor stopped pacing. "Oh! No. Yes! No. Think it through. You spoke before. I heard your voice. An intelligent voice." Or a good psychologist. "No, more than that. Brilliant.
"But, looking at you now-" the Doctor stepped closer again. "-all I can see is Beast." It roared. The Doctor stepped to the edge of the cell. "The animal. Just the body. You're just the body, the physical form," he realized. "What's happened to your mind, hmm? Where's it gone? Where's that intelligence? Oh, no." A horrible, heartsstopping thought crossed the Doctor's mind. He looked up and knew the creature in front of him had been smart enough, evil enough, to pull it off.
Please, please, please let this be one of the ones Katelyn knows.
The Doctor turned back toward the paintings. "You're imprisoned, long time ago. Before the universe, after, sideways, in between, doesn't matter," he dismissed. "The prison is perfect. It's absolute, it's eternal.
"Oh, yes!" He looked at a part of the painting he'd dismissed earlier as simply styling. "Open the prison, the gravity field collapses. This planet falls into the black hole! You escape, you die." The Doctor threw his arms in the air, nearly launching his torch into the Beast's cell. "Brilliant!" The Doctor slouched again.
"But that's just the body. The body is trapped, that's all. The devil is an idea. In all those civilisations, just an idea. But an idea is hard to kill. An idea could escape. The mind." The Beast leaned forward, nearly smiling. "The mind of the great Beast. The mind can escape!"
"Oh, but that's it!" the Doctor screamed. It was beautiful, the perfect trap. If anything living got in the beast would try to escape in it. But if anything living was clever and curious enough to get to this planet, it would be clever and curious enough to get down here. "You didn't give me air, your jailers did. They set this up all those years ago! They need me alive, because if you're escaping, then I've got to stop you."
The Beast roared in rage, straining against its chains but it couldn't reach him. It's jailers had made sure of that.
The Doctor picked up a rock and nealy skipped over to one of the urns. "If I destroy your prison, your body is destroyed. Your mind with it."
He raised the rock, and one more thought occurred to him. He lowered his arms and dropped the rock.
"But then you're clever enough to use this whole system against me," he said, resting his hands on the plinth one of the urns was sitting on. "If I destroy this planet, I destroy the gravity field. The rocket." The rocket that, half a minute ago, he'd so wished the girls were on. "The rocket loses protection and falls into the black hole. I kill Katelyn. I have to sacrifice Rose."
The Beast laughed.
"So, that's the trap," the Doctor said. "Or the test, or the final judgment, I don't know." The Doctor paused, looked at the ground, wondered if he could live with himself for even taking the chance. "If I kill you, I kill her."
Quite suddenly, the Doctor realized Katelyn Laurin was right. Here he was, contemplating never seeing Rose again, dying while she lived, and he was nowhere near happy he'd held back.
Well, he'd just have to get back the Rose then, wouldn't he?
"Except, I have a friend who saw your future. And she'd never call Rose a victim. Your plan implies-" The Doctor clasped his hands behind his back and marched forward again. "-in this big grand scheme of Gods and Devils that she's just a victim, that they're both just victims.
"But I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi-gods and would-be gods," the Doctor taunted.
"And out of all that, out of that whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing, just one thing, I believe in her."
The Doctor picked up the rock again and smashed an urn.
...
The rocket shook hard under us.
"What happened?" Danny shouted. "What was that?"
"What's he doing? What is he doing?" Toby screamed. Rose tightened her grip on the bolt gone. I shook my head.
"We've lost the funnel!" Zach shouted. "Gravity collapse!"
Rose looked at me with panic. "What does that mean?"
"We can't escape," Zach said. "We're headed straight for the black hole!"
The rocket jerked hard, turning around and flying toward the black hole. Rose and I stretched in our seats and looked out the window.
"It's the planet," Rose said. "The planet's moving."
"It's falling," I agreed. There was a surge of rage in the rocket so powerful I had to turn back in my seat. Toby's face was covered in the symbols again, eyes red. I screamed.
"I am the rage-"
"It's Toby!" Rose screamed, eyes searching the rocket for why she'd grabbed the bolt gun.
"-And the bile and the ferocity-"
"It's him!" Danny shouted, turning in his seat to watch us.
"-I am the Prince and the Fall and the enemy-"
"Stay where you are. The ship's not stable!" Zach said, trying to glance back at us but needing to keep his eyes on moving us forward.
"-I am the sin and the fear and the darkness." Toby opened his mouth and breathed fire. Danny spun in his seat and sat flat against his seat again to avoid getting burned.
"What is he?" Zach shouted. "What the hell is he?"
"I shall never die," Toby shouted, straining against his seatbelt. "The thought of me is forever. In the bleeding hearts of men, in their vanity and obsession and lust-" Rose looked at the bolt gun in her hand, up at the front window, and at the bolt gun again. She aimed. "Nothing shall ever destroy me. Nothing!" I sat forward in my seat.
"Go to hell," Rose said, shooting out the front window on the rocket. I leaned over and unbuckled Toby's seatbelt. He had just a second to look terrified before he was sucked out into space, still roaring.
Zach shouted something, hit some button and a metal shutter sealed the hole in the window. I took a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. A headache I hadn't realized I had disappeared.
"We've still lost the gravity funnel," Zach said, struggling with the controls like he could somehow turn us around. "We can't escape the black hole."
"But we stopped him," Rose said. We held each other's hands. "That's what the Doctor would've done."
"He helped," I assured her. Despite the fact that we were about to die, Rose smiled.
"Some victory," Zach sighed. He let go of the controls. "We're going in."
"The planet's lost orbit," Danny shouted. He was shaking. Possibly. It might have just been how the rocket was shaking so much my eyes couldn't focus. "It's gone." He turned around to Rose and me. "I'm sorry."
Zach settled further back into his seat. "I did my best. But hey!" He shrugged. "The first human beings to fall inside a black hole. How about that? History."
"Whoo," I cheered weakly. Rose closed her eyes and leaned against me. I held my breath and pressed back against her.
The rocket stopped shaking.
Rose peeled her eyes open. "What happened?"
The rocket shifted, forcing us all to lean. Zach opened and closed his mouth a few times before he managed to talk. "We're turning," he muttered. I laughed, so relieved I couldn't hold it in anymore. "We're turning around. We're turning away!"
The comms crackled on.
"Sorry about the hijack, Captain," the Doctor said. I'd never been more happy to hear his voice… Well, maybe there were a couple other times I'd been as relieved. "This is the good ship TARDIS. Now, first thing's first. Have you got a Rose Tyler on board? I'd settle for a Katelyn Luarin, if I have to."
"Hey!" I shouted, barely able to pretend to be offended.
"I'm here!" Rose shouted. She was so happy, she looked like she was about to cry. "We're here! Oh, my God. Where are you?"
"I'm just towing you home. Katelyn was right. The TARDIS is fine." I cheered. "Gravity schmavity. My people practically invented black holes. Well, in fact, they did. In a couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe." Rose and I laughed. "Oh, and Captain? Can we do a swap? Say, if you give me Rose Tyler and Katelyn Laurin, I'll give you Ida Scott? How about that?"
"She's alive!" Zach shouted.
Danny laughed. "Yes. Thank God."
"Yeah! Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be all right." The Doctor paused. "I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet." We went quiet for a moment, mourning the Ood. "Ah! Entering clear space. End of the line. Mission Closed."
The Doctor materialized the TARDIS in the storage room on the rocket. Rose and I said quick goodbyes and dashed in. I leaned on the doors, revealing in the feel of the TARDIS in my head again. She was singing, full of joy.
Rose ran right up to the Doctor. He ran around the console to meet her. Rose threw her arms around the Doctor's shoulders, and he used her momentum to lift her off the floor. He swung her back and forth, both of them making the quiet happy noises only the truly in love could.
Eventually, the Doctor put Rose down. I stepped forward, ready to radio our goodbye to the others. But the Doctor didn't step toward the console yet. Instead, he cupped his hands around Rose's face and kissed her.
My jaw dropped into an insanely wide grin, and I only just stopped myself from cheering them on. Cause this was… this wasn't Rose being possessed or the Doctor spending 24 hours turned to stone (long story). This was just them. This was just the Doctor finally letting go.
The kiss didn't last longer than a second, but both the Doctor and Rose came out of it looking fairly dazed and very, very happy. I had to suppress the urge to clap. The Doctor rested his forehead on Rose's and giggled. Giggled! Rose laughed back.
After another second, they seemed to remember I was there, and they opened the hug to me too. I walked forward and completed our little circle.
"Sorry," Rose giggled. I smiled.
"I am more than willing to third wheel for you guys," I said. The Doctor turned toward the console, then turned back.
"Where did your shoes go?" he asked. I laughed.
"A plan that didn't come to fruition," I said.
The Doctor just stared at me. "Right… Zach?" he said, turning toward the console. He still had an arm around Rose's waist. "We'll be off, now. Have a good trip home. And the next time you get curious about something… Oh, what's the point. You'll just go blundering in." He shook his head and smiled, first at Rose, then at me. "The human race."
"But Doctor, what did you find down there?" Ida asked. "That creature, what was it?"
The Doctor's smile faded just a little bit. "I don't know," he admitted. "Never did decipher that writing."
"I think Toby took our notebook into the black hole," I apologized. "Sorry."
"Nah," the Doctor dismissed. "That's probably good. Day I know everything? Might as well stop."
Rose leaned her head against the Doctor's arm. "What do you think it was, really?"
"I think-" The Doctor refused to look away from the scanner. "We beat it. That's good enough for me."
Rose glanced at me, still leaning on the Doctor. "It said I was going to die in battle."
The Doctor pulled Rose tighter against him, rested his head on top of hers. "Then it lied."
"No one can predict the future," I agreed. "Not even me."
The Doctor nodded, but wouldn't meet my eyes. "Right, onwards, upwards. Ida? See you again, maybe."
"I hope so," she said.
"And thanks, boys!" Rose said.
"Hang on though, Doctor," Ida said. "You never really said. You three, who are you?"
"Oh-" The Doctor reached his empty hand out to me. I took it. "The stuff of legend."
...
The Doctor took them off into the vortex. Katelyn sat down on the jumpseat and curled into a ball. The Doctor exchanged a look with Rose, and had to quickly suppress how much he wanted to kiss her again. Katelyn was doing her withdrawal thing, and if they didn't confront her now, she would bottle it.
"Katelyn-" he started.
"I-" she said at the same time. He waited. "I knew all that was going to happen. And I… I didn't know how to tell you," Katelyn said quietly.
The Doctor felt a familiar surge of guilt. When he'd asked the first time, Katelyn had so easily told him she was from another universe. Up and until he'd… thrown her out (no sugar coating that, really), she'd been so open. Now, everytime after, she was so… the Doctor had gotten the subtext of what she'd told Rose. Katelyn was afraid to tell Rose. Afraid he'd throw her out again.
Rose looked confused. "Katelyn, we're not mad at you." Katelyn muttered something so quietly even the Doctor couldn't hear. "Katelyn?"
"That's not my name," she whispered.
"What?"
"Katelyn Laurin isn't my name," she snapped. Both the Doctor and Rose startled back a few inches, just as a reaction to her words. Katelyn curled into herself more.
"That thing lied," the Doctor tried. "You agreed with me. It was just trying to get in your head, make you confused."
"No, it didn't," Katelyn said with her special quiet brand of conviction. "Not with our titles. I can't explain it…" She paused, swallowed hard enough that the Doctor could hear. "I-I've always known Laurin wasn't my last name. My first day here, I still knew my real last name. I don't now. I almost told you Rose, but I couldn't say it. It burned."
Katelyn curled into an even tighter ball, shaking. Rose sat down on the jumpseat, hugged Katelyn, and leaned against her shoulder. The Doctor sat on Katelyn's other side and reached an arm around both of them.
"You know what I think you need?" Rose teased, gently.
"Hmm?" Katelyn hummed. She leaned on Rose, clearly too exhausted to argue. The Doctor realized Rose didn't look much better.
"Pillow fort," Rose whispered. Katelyn giggled, the desperate laugh of someone who just needed some comfort.
They built a pillow fort in front of the fireplace in the Library, out of all the blankets Katelyn had hidden in there. Right before she fell asleep, Katelyn said they might as well keep calling her that, since she couldn't remember her real name.
"Do you need to sleep tonight?" Rose asked, already cuddling into the Doctor.
"Couldn't hurt," he said, shifting Rose so she was half laying on him.
Truthfully, the Doctor didn't need to sleep that night, but the girls didn't need to know that. Not when they were both so exhausted they hadn't even changed clothes. Besides, if he actually wanted to spend the night with a hand on Katelyn's wrist and Rose's heart pressed over one of his own, counting their heartbeats, well, that was no one's business but his, was it?
(A/N: Alright, sorry this is late, ect, ect. I'm really trying to get chapter's out twice a month, but that's a real time crunch.
In other news, I made a twitter for updates on updates, in case something happens. It really bothered me to just leave you guys in the dark for months without anyway of communicating outside of publishing. It's JustTheBestaro1
Reviews are wonderful. There's no such thing as a bad one. Thank you for reading)