Satan Pit

"Jefferson! What's happening there?"

Jefferson paced with his gun in one hand and the comm in another. "I've got very little ammunition, sir. How about you?"

There was a short pause. "All I've got is a bolt-gun, with, uh, all of one bolt. I could take out a grand total of one Ood. Fat lot of good, that is."

Jefferson let out a sigh. "Given the emergency, I recommend strategy nine."

"Strategy nine agreed," Zach said. He sounded regretful, and it wasn't hard to guess why. "Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose, what about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?"

"They're not saying anything, but if it means anything, they're alive," she answered tiredly. "But it's hard to tell. It's like there's a block, I can't- I can't quite reach him."

Ross looked at her with a frown. "Rose, how can you be sure he's okay? If you can't feel him-,"

"He is," she snapped, squeezing the button on the comms. "If you suggest that he's dead once more, Ross, I'll-,"

"No need!" the Doctor called quickly. "Sorry, all good! Still here. You're right, Rose, and for the record, there is a block, which… just isn't supposed to be possible."

Rose shot a glare at Ross, but neither said a thing.

"Anyway, it's me and Ida. But the seal opened up, it's gone," the Doctor told them. "All we've got left is this chasm."

"How deep is it?" Zach asked.

"Can't tell. Looks like it goes down forever."

Rose took in a deep breath. "The pit is open, Doctor."

"Yeah, I know."

"But there's nothing, I mean there's nothing coming out?" Zach asked. He sounded frustrated, which seemed fair. After all, they'd lost people trying to find the power source they suspected was buried down there.

"No, no, no. No sign of the Beast," the Doctor replied. His tone was slightly mocking at the end, mostly because everyone had fed into the superstition so easily.

"Not yet," Ross said completely unhelpfully.

"Ida, I recommend you withdraw immediately," Zach said finally.

"But we've come all this way!" Ida argued.

Zach sighed. "Okay, that was an order. Withdraw! When that thing opened, the whole planet 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," she insisted.

"I'm initiating strategy nine, so I need the two of you back up top immediately. No-,"

Ida turned off her comm and stared at the Doctor. "What do you think?"

The Doctor walked closer. "He gave an order."

"Yeah, but what do you think?" Ida pressed.

It was clear she wanted to go down into the pit more than anything, and the Doctor could understand that. He put his foot on the edge of the hole and stared down at it. "It said, 'I am the temptation.'"

"If- if there's something in there, why is it still hiding?"

"Maybe we opened the prison, but not the cell," the Doctor suggested.

"We should go down." At his clear reluctance, she moved forward. "I'd go. What about you?"

The Doctor's hesitation didn't waver. "Normally, yes. In a second. But… oh, that is so human. Where angels fear to tread. Even now, standing on the edge. It's that feeling you get, yeah? Right at the back of your head. That impulse, that strange little impulse. That mad little voice saying, 'Go on, go on, go on. Go over, go on.' Maybe it's relying on that. For once in my life, Officer Scott, I'm going to say… retreat."

"Ah," she sighed, disappointed.

"Ooh, now I know I'm getting old," he complained. "Rose, we're coming back up."

"Just be safe, my Doctor," was her quiet reply. It was almost as if she didn't believe him, which really, he couldn't blame her for. It was definitely unlike him to turn down a chance to disprove superstition.

Rose, meanwhile, was staring at Jefferson as he rose his gun to point it at Toby again. She found it extremely difficult to convince herself to stop him, but the reminder that what happened had to happen for her to run into Abbadon with Jack had her moving carefully in front of Toby. "Shooting your own people now, huh?"

"If necessary," Jefferson said. He was clearly stiff, and it seemed like Toby's outburst about his wife had gotten under his skin. Rose made a face and repeated what she'd said last time.

"Well, then you'll have to shoot me, if necessary," she said. Jefferson lowered his gun reluctantly, and aside from a stiff nod, she said nothing else.

"Any sign of trouble, I shoot him," Jefferson warned. That was something she heavily agreed with. Jefferson paced away, leaving Rose alone with Toby. She was going to walk away as well, but he grabbed her hand before she could.

"What are you?" he asked her. He was sweating, and he looked at her like it caused him physical pain. "How can you fight his will?"

"Because I've done it before," she glared at him. "And I'll do it again. You let him know, I'll always be here to stop him."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"What's strategy nine?"

"Open the airlocks," Ida explained as they made their way back to the elevator. "We'll be safe inside the lockdown. The Ood will get thrown out into the vacuum."

The Doctor scowled in disgust, but she couldn't see his face well enough to tell. "So we're going back to a slaughter?"

Ida turned to look at him as they reached the elevator. "The Devil's work." He couldn't really say anything to that either way, so they stepped inside and she tapped her comm. "Okay, we're in. Bring us up."

"Ascension in three… two… one," Jefferson called.

Nothing happened for a solid three seconds. The lights blinked out on them, leaving them in darkness aside from the lights in their helmets.

"Uh."

"This is the darkness. This is my domain. You little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns which die in the end. Only the darkness remains."

"This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane of Sanctuary Base 6 representing the Torchwood Archive-,"

"Oh my god," Rose whispered, unable to stop herself. Had she really not noticed it the first time? Would Torchwood really survive that far into the future?

"You will identify yourself," Zach insisted.

"You know my name."

"What do you want?"

"You will die here, all of you. This planet is your grave."

"If you are the Beast, then answer me this," the Doctor interrupted the faint sounds of Toby muttering "it's him" over and over to himself. "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 Arkiphets, Quoldonity, Christianity, Pash Pash, Neo-Judaism, San Claar, Islam, the Church of the Tin Vagabond. Which devil are you?"

"All of them."

"What, then you're… the truth behind the myth?"

"This one knows me as I know him. The killer of his own kind."

"How did you end up on this rock?" the Doctor asked. He was harder than before, angrier.

"The Disciples of the Light rose up against me and chained me in the Pit for all eternity"

"When was this?"

"Before time."

"What does that mean?"

"Before time."

"What does 'before time' mean?"

"Before time and light and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before your Akrytior created this universe."

"If that were true, she'd know you," the Doctor argued. "And she doesn't."

"Is that true? Arkytior's secrets are beyond you yet. She knows me well. She knows the darkness well."

"But- no," he said firmly. "No, she isn't- no."

The Beast seemed to laugh. "Is that your religion, Doctor? Arkytior?"

The Doctor hesitated. "I was raised on her stories. They aren't a religion, they're the truth. She's real. I have faith in her, yes, but that was there before she became what she is now. When she was just Rose Tyler. So I have faith that if she'd known what we were facing when we got here, she would've told me. Therefore, you're lying."

"You know nothing. All of you, so small. The captain, so scared of command. The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife. The scientist, still running from daddy. The little boy who lied, the virgin, and the lost girl. She will always be lost, no matter how far she runs, she will never reach what she's searching for. Her efforts will be fruitless, and she will lose it all. The valiant child who died in battle, reborn to fail again."

"Stop it," Rose hissed. "You're wrong."

"Am I? The battle returns, Bad Wolf. You will not be prepared for it when the time comes, and you will lose more than before-,"

"Stop!" she shouted.

"Rose, don't listen," the Doctor said quickly. "Don't listen to it, okay?"

"And the man that hides, who hides his true self from his friends for he knows his future," it continued. Rose's eyes drifted to Ross, who had frozen. "His choice comes soon."

"This is ridiculous," Ross muttered in frustration.

"You will die and I will live."

"What the hell was that?" Danny asked when the voice disappeared, fear in his own voice.

Toby whimpered. "I had that thing inside my head!"

"Jefferson, what the hell do we do?" Danny asked, turning to the man in question.

"Captain, what's the situation with strategy nine?"

"-the planet, the black hole, it's true-,"

"We've lost picture-,"

"What the hell do we do?"

"Impossible-,"

"Did anyone get an analysis?"

"Jefferson-,"

"Stop!" the Doctor yelled into the comms. "Everyone, just stop! If you want voices in the dark, then listen to mine. 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."

"How did it know about my father?" Ida questioned.

The Doctor was, admittedly, stuck on that one. Plus, it had mentioned Bad Wolf. They hadn't once mentioned her - Arkytior, sure, but Bad Wolf? Whatever it was, it knew things it shouldn't know. They didn't need to know that, though. "Okay, but what makes his version of the truth any better than mine, hmm? Cause I'll tell you what I can see. Humans. Brilliant 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. The captain, his officer, his elder, his juniors, his friends. All with one advantage. The Beast is alone, we are not. If we can use that to fight against him-,"

He was interrupted by the elevator jolting abruptly, followed by cords breaking.

"The cable's snapped!" Ida exclaimed in a panic.

"Get out!" the Doctor yelled. He pushed her out of the elevator, and then to the ground as the cable fell on the elevator.

"It's the cable," Ross called. "Are you guys okay?"

"Their comms are down," Zach said. "I've still got life signs, but we've lost the capsule. There's no way out. They're stuck down there."

There was a loud clang from the door. Jefferson walked over and then paced back to the group. "Captain, situation report."

Zach didn't answer for a minute, but when he did, he somehow sounded even more stressed than before. "It's the Ood. They're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in."

"Yes, same on door twenty-five."

"How long do we have?" Ross asked him. Jefferson hesitated.

"Well, it's only a basic frame. Should only take ten minutes," he said. The Ood cut another bolt, making him reconsider. "Eight."

"I've got a security frame, might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you," Zach told them.

"So we need to stop them and get out," Rose sighed, rubbing her forehead. Her headache still persisted, and if she were a bit clearer, she might've guessed why Abbadon was practically telepathically screaming in her ear.

"Sure, but how?" Danny asked in stress.

"Look, Abbadon cut him off because the Doctor was getting through to us," she said. Her gaze drifted momentarily to Ross and she tried not to dwell on the Beast's words about him. "We have to think rationally. Let's get the lights first, yeah? Zach, there's power somewhere, you just need to find it."

"There's nothing I can do," he replied shortly. "Some captain! Stuck in here, pressing buttons."

"So just press the right buttons," Rose insisted.

"They've gutted the generators!" He exclaimed before pausing. "But… the rocket's got an independent supply. If I could reroute that… Mr Jefferson, open the bypass conduits. Override the safety."

"Opening bypass conduits, sir," Jefferson replied as he set his gun down and started messing with the computer.

"Channeling rocket feed," Zach told him. "In three… two… one… power!"

The lights came back on, giving everyone a bit more hope. "Good job, Captain," Rose said.

"Let there be light!" Danny grinned.

"What about strategy nine?" Rose asked next. Jefferson shook his head.

"Not enough power - needs a hundred percent."

"In that case, Captain, Mr Jefferson, start working on our way out of here," Rose told them. "There is a way, we just have to find it. Danny, you watch the Ood. Tell me what you know about their weaknesses. Do you have a telepathic dampener?"

"Well, yeah," he said like it was obvious. "And we tried that when they went up to Basic 30, but it's not working."

"Okay, okay," she sighed. "Give it to me and I'll see if I can give it a power boost."

"But it's not the telepathy," Danny argued. "I mean, that thing slid inside of them from Toby, right?"

"Yes, and it was speaking to Toby telepathically. Toby, are you fully human?"

"Uh… yes?"

"Is that a question or an answer?"

"Yes, yes, I am."

She tilted her head from side to side. "It is possible to make a telepathic connection to a human, it's just that to do that, you'd need physical contact on their temples, and-,"

"The writing was on his temples," Ross told her. "What if the writing itself is a piece of him? When it touched Toby, it invaded and controlled his mind. It left and moved to the Ood, which means-,"

"Which means it is and isn't telepathic," Rose rolled her head back in frustration. "Okay. Danny, give me the dampener and I'll see what I can do. While I'm doing that, you see if you can find any other way to stop them."

Danny grabbed the device and handed it over. "I don't understand how you could give it a power boost, though."

Rose pulled out her sonic and began working. "This thing, my sonic, it holds a certain amount of power from our ship. They're not connected anymore so it isn't much, but it should be enough. We'll just have to hope I don't need it after this."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Ida let out a sigh. "We've got all this cable. We might as well use it. The drum is disconnected - we could adapt it. Feed it through."

"And then what?" the Doctor asked, watching her grab the cable.

"Abseil into the Pit."

"Abseil," he repeated. He looked down, feeling a great reluctance to go down there. "Right…"

"We're running out of air with no way back," Ida reasoned. "It's the only thing we can do, even if it's the last thing we ever achieve."

"I'll get back," he denied. "Rose is up there."

"Well, maybe the key to that is finding out what's in the Pit," she continued.

The Doctor couldn't say she was wrong. Where they were, there was absolutely nothing to help him get back to Rose. He couldn't even tell if she was okay with the comms gone and their bond blocked. The feeling of being entirely cut off from Rose was extremely uncomfortable and surprisingly upsetting. He was more than used to feeling what she felt, knowing what she was thinking. He liked being aware of what she felt for him and not having to confront it. It was a comfort to him to know that she still felt that way, and that he could take his time.

But looking out around them, he felt trapped. He felt trapped and cut off and scared as hell for her. The traitorous thought that he could die down there and never see her again had his hearts clenching. He could die and she would never have heard him say the words that he knew she wanted to hear.

The more he thought, the more claustrophobic he felt. He knew what he had to do to get back to her. "Well, you've got half of a good plan."

"What's the other half?"

"I go down, not you."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood," Danny explained to Rose as she continued to fiddle with the dampener. The more she worked, the more pain she seemed to be in, and it was clear to everyone. "Trouble is, we haven't got them on board."

"I don't care about things we don't have," Rose snapped at him. "Tell me what we do- ah," she winced, dropping the dampener as it finally lit up brighter. "Damn it, that's strong."

"Rose?" Ross called from his spot by Toby. She'd asked him to watch the man since Jefferson was busy, and he'd done so willingly. He wasn't very talkative, and he seemed somewhat checked out since Abbadon had spoken to them.

"It's fine, it's just- I could feel the TARDIS when I couldn't feel the Doctor, but now with the dampener, it's tougher."

"I thought you said you couldn't reach her."

"I couldn't reach her, but I could feel her," she said. He looked at her in confusion, so she just shook her head. "Our bond is complicated. Point is, unable to feel her as much, I'm also probably losing power, too."

"That's not good."

"Is it working, then?" Danny questioned, glancing toward the door. "They're slowing down, but they didn't stop."

"It'll probably just make it harder for Abbadon to hold his grip," Ross told him. "But it won't stop him. It just gives us more time."

"But that doesn't mean you should slow down," Rose nodded at the screen. "What's that?"

"Oh my god," Danny breathed. "It says yes! I can do it! Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, it can disrupt the telepathy more aggressively! Brainstorm!"

"No," Ross got to his feet. "Rose will-,"

"Do it," she interrupted, gaining a stare. She rolled her eys. "Look, I'll have enough power to get myself to you guys by the time it's over. Just keep me somewhere safe and it'll be fine."

"Or I can just cary you," Ross said like it was obvious.

"Well, if you can move yourself, can't you move us?" Danny wondered.

"If she moved this many people without her connection to the TARDIS, it would probably kill her," Ross explained. "She couldn't do it."

"But… I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation."

"Sir, any way out?" Rose asked Jefferson. She could feel herself slipping back into her Torchwood training and didn't have the energy to care.

"Just about. There's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base," he said as he continued working at his computer. "We should be able to gain access from here."

"Air?"

"None at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms."

"I can manipulate the oxygen field from here," Zach cut in. "Create discrete pockets of atmosphere."

"Good," she nodded. "Do it. Jefferson, work out a route with him. Prepare for the chance that the Ood may follow us when they break through that door."

"Yes, ma'am," he said somewhat sarcastically, though he didn't seem to be irritated by her taking charge. She ignored it and went to sit by Ross. It was going to be a long couple of hours.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"That should hold it. How's it going?"

The Doctor walked toward the Pit with the cable wrapped around him. "Fine. Should work. Doesn't feel like such a good idea now. If I go down there and can't get back to Rose-,"

"This is your only chance of getting back to her at all," Ida reminded him. "There's no way out up here."

With a sigh, he took a step up onto the edge of the Pit. "Hmm. There it is again. That itch. Go down, go down, go down, go down! The urge to jump."

Ida hummed as she worked. "Do you know where it comes from, that sensation? Genetic heritage. Ever since we were primates in the trees. It's our body's way of testing us, calculating whether or not we can reach the next branch."

"No, no, no, that's not it. That's too kind. It's not the urge to jump, it's deeper than that… it's the urge to fall," he said as he jumped back. Ida gasped and looked back as she stopped the reel that released the cable.

"Doctor! You okay?"

"Not bad, thanks," he replied. Truthfully, he'd only jumped because he knew if he didn't do it then, he wouldn't take the risk at all. "The wall of the Pit seems to be the same as the cavern, just not much of it. There's a crust about twenty feet down, and then… nothing. Just the Pit. Okay then, lower me down."

"Well, here we go, then," Ida said. She started releasing the cable again, and he felt himself being lowered into the abyss.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Danny, we've got to go now! Come on," Jefferson yelled over the sound of the bolts being cut. Danny's eyes scanned the screen until it lit up green and he ran over to the others with something in his hand.

"Put that in the monitor, and it's a bad time to be an Ood!" he said before pausing.

"And Rose," Ross added.

"Okay, Danny, you go first, and then Miss Tyler and Ross, and then Toby," Jefferson called as Danny descended into the grate on the floor. "I'll go last in defensive position. Now come on, quick as you can!"

Down in the vents, Rose made a face but didn't comment on the smell. "Everyone alright?"

"Yeah, laughing," Danny said sarcastically. "Which way do we go?"

"Just go straight ahead. Keep going till I say so," Zach replied.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Rose muttered, mostly to herself.

Toby scoffed. "Yeah, you're not the only one. Nice view, though."

"I will break your nose," Rose warned.

"Straight on till you find junction 7.1. Keep breathing," Zach said calmly. "I'm feeding you air. I've got you."

It was a long while of uncomfortable crawling through vents before they reached the junction and came to a stop. All of them needed a moment to rest and breathe, that much was clear. "We're at 7.1, sir."

"Okay, I've got you. I'm just aerating the next section."

"Getting kind of cramped, sir. Can't you hurry up?"

"Maybe we don't criticize the man in control of the air we're breathing," Rose told Danny sharply. She glanced back at Ross and frowned. "Like I told the Doctor, we should engage respiratory bypass now and work with it. They need it more than we do."

"What, you haven't already?" Ross joked. She rolled her eyes at him and tuned back into the conversation that was happening.

"I'm just moving the air," Zach cut in between some bickering. "I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm or it's gonna feel worse. Difficult with five of you down there breathing."

"Actually, only three breathing," Ross corrected. "Rose and I, our lungs work differently. They're superior to human lungs."

"Superior," Danny made a face at him. "You can't actually not be breathing."

"You know what would help you guys?" Rose looked between them. "Stop talking. Your complaining is taking up air you desperately need."

There was a loud, metallic rattle from the way they'd come that had Jefferson shifting to point his gun that way. "Captain, what was that?"

"The junction in Habitation Five has been opened. It must be the Ood. They're in the tunnels."

"Well, then open the gate!"

"I've got to get the air in."

"We have to move!" Toby complained. "Where are they?"

"I don't know, I can't see them," Zach said. He was clearly frustrated with himself. "The computer doesn't register Ood as proper lifeforms."

"I'd like to meet the idiot who came up with that idea," Rose scowled.

"Open the gate!" Danny screeched into the comms. Finally, the gate behind them opened and they wasted no time crawling through.

"Danny, turn left, immediate left," Zach guided. They followed his instructions as fast as they could, which wasn't all that fast - crawling certainly wasn't the quickest way of getting from place to place.

"The Ood, sir, can't you trap them?" Jefferson asked. "Cut off the air?"

"Not without cutting off yours," Zach disagreed. "Danny, turn right- go right. Go faster! They're gonna catch up!"

"I'll maintain defensive position," Jefferson called to them as he stopped. Rose's head whipped around, her eyes wide.

"Don't!"

"Rose, come on," Ross hissed at her.

"Miss Tyler, that's my job," Jefferson said forcefully. "You've got your task, now see to it."

"You heard what he said, now shift," Toby snapped, pushing her as he did so. She would've stopped to yell at him, had Ross not shoved her forward as well, forcing her to once again leave Jefferson behind to protect them.

They kept moving despite the sound of gunshots behind them. Finally, they reached the next junction. "8.2- open 8.2! Zach, open 8.2!"

"I've got to aerate it," Zach reminded him.

"Open it now!" Danny yelled.

"I'm trying."

Danny started hitting the door in frustration, and Rose grabbed his arms roughly to stop him. "You're not helping. Calm down or you'll take up even more oxygen than is necessary."

"Zach, get it open!" Toby called this time.

"Jefferson, I've got to open 8.2 by closing 8.1. You've got to get past the junction, now move! That's an order! Now move!" Jefferson was still shooting, clearly not listening. "I'm gonna lose oxygen, Jefferson. I can't stop the automatics!"

8.2 began opening, and everyone moved on quickly with the orders to head to 9.2, which would be the last one. Zach was still yelling for Jefferson to move, but it was no use - they only barely caught a glimpse of him as the door closed behind them, leaving him behind.

"I regret to inform you, sir, I was a bit slow," he said as he panted. "Not so fast these days."

"I can't open 8.1, John. Not without losing air for the others"

"And quite right, too, sir," Jefferson assured him. "I think I bought them a little time."

"There's nothing I can do, John. I'm sorry."

"You've done enough, sir. Made a very good captain under the circumstances. Might I ask, if you can't add oxygen to this section, can you speed up the process of its removal?"

"I don't understand, what do you mean?"

"Well, if I might choose the manner of my departure, sir, lack of air seems more natural than, well… let's say, death by Ood. I'd appreciate it, sir."

"Godspeed, Mr Jefferson."

"Thank you, sir."

There was a moment of silence before Zach spoke again. "Report. Officer John Maynard Jefferson, PKD… deceased, with honors. 43K 2.1."

Danny sighed and lifted the comm. "Zach, we're at the final junction. 9.2. And, uh… if my respects could be on record, he saved our lives."

"Noted," Zach said, his voice shaking slightly. "Opening 9.2."

The door started to open, and immediately they started screaming for him to close it again - there were Ood waiting there for them. The Ood grabbed the door as it began to lower while everyone went crawling back the opposite direction.

"We can't go back, look, 8.2's sealed off," Toby yelled. "We're stuck!"

Stopping where she was, Rose pushed herself upward and moved the grating from it's spot above her head. She hurried out of the way and reached down to help the others out, too. They got Toby out of the way just in time, but quickly found themselves once more being chased by Ood down the hall.

They managed to reach the Ood control station, and Danny quickly moved to work. He didn't hesitate to press the button, and as soon as he did, the Ood gripped their head in pain and dropped to the ground. Rose did as well, though Ross managed to catch her before she hit the grating and swiftly picked her up in his arms.

"The Ood dropped," Danny called over the comms. "We've done it, Zach, they're down."

"Now for Ida and the Doctor," Zach said. "I'm on my way."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"You get representations of the horned beast right across the universe in myths and legends of a million worlds. Earth, Draconia, Vel Consadine. Daemos, the Kaled God of War. It's the same image over and over again. Maybe that idea came from somewhere, bleeding through. A thought at the back of every sentient mind."

"Emanating from here?" Ida wondered.

"Could be."

"But if this is the original, does that make it real? Does that make it the actual Devil, though?"

The Doctor looked upward. "Well, if that's what you want to believe. Maybe that's what the Devil is, in the end, an idea." The cable stopped feeding abruptly, jolting him slightly. The Doctor frowned.

"That's it," Ida said. She sounded disappointed. "That's all we've got. You getting any sort of read out?"

"Nothing. Could be miles to go yet. Or… it could be thirty feet. There's no way of telling. I could survive thirty feet."

"Oh, no you don't," Ida said immediately. "I'm pulling you back up." She began to do as she said, but he stopped her quickly. "What are you doing?"

"You bring me back, we're just gonna sit there and run out of air," he reasoned. "I've got to go down."

"But you can't. Doctor, you can't!"

"Call it an act of faith," he suggested. He began removing his clips that held him to the cable.

"I don't want to die on my own," she admitted quietly.

"I know," he said as he continued to undo his clips. "I didn't ask. Have you got any sort of faith?"

She hummed. "Not really. I was brought up Neo-Classic Congregational. Because of my mum, she was… my old mum. But no, I never believed."

"Neo-Classics, have they got a Devil?"

"No, not as such. Just, um… the things that men do."

"Same thing in the end," he muttered.

"What about you? Is this Arkytior your religion really?"

The Doctor fell silent at that. "Like I said, I have faith in her because I know her. I trust her. She's all I have left. It used to be, when I was a kid, you know, she was what I believed in. But I grew up. I saw the universe, and I didn't see her in it. By the time I found her, things were different. She proved me wrong, my beliefs wrong, and really, that's why I keep travelling. A reminder that I don't know everything…. Thank you, Ida."

"Don't go!"

"If they get back in touch," he said quietly. "If you talk to Rose and you know I'm not going to make it back to her, please… tell her something for me. She deserves to hear it, even from you."

"Doctor-,"

"Tell her I love her," he requested. As he said the words, it felt like the air had been knocked out of him. It felt a bit wrong saying them and Rose not being there herself, but the idea of potentially dying and Rose not knowing was the most painful thing he could think of. "And that she's the best thing I've had in all my lives."

"Doctor, wait-,"

The Doctor removed the last clip, and began falling freely now, leaving Ida alone up top.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"Is the Doctor there?" Ross called through the comms.

"He's gone," Ida said quietly.

"He's gone?" he asked, looking down at Rose. She looked to be in pain as she was unconscious, which made sense, but he watched as she began shifting in his arms, waking up. As he listened, he adjusted until she was lying partially on him and partially on the ground. By the time Ida spoke again, Rose's eyes had blinked open.

"He fell," she explained softly. "Into the Pit. And I don't know how deep it is, miles and miles and miles."

"He fell," Rose repeated, fear coursing through her. She still couldn't feel the Doctor, and things felt a great deal more painful than before. "What do you mean, he fell?"

"Well, I couldn't stop him… he said…" Ida paused before speaking. "He said your name, Rose. He said to tell you he-,"

"Stop," Rose interrupted sharply, tears running down her cheeks. "Don't you dare say it. He'll tell me himself. He has to."

"But he wanted you to know," Ida insisted. "It was important to him."

"Then he can tell me himself!" Rose yelled into the comm. Zach reached over and took it from her gently.

"I'm sorry," he said sincerely before speaking into the comm. "Ida, there's no way of reaching you. No cable, no backup. You're ten miles down. We can't get there."

"You should see this place, Zach," Ida told him. "It's beautiful… I wanted to discover things, and here I am."

"We've got to abandon the base. 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 said. Zach shook his head.

"Well, maybe that's best."

"Yeah."

"Officer Scott-,"

"It's alright," Ida interrupted. "Just go. Good luck."

Zach closed his eyes. "And you."

"No," Rose whispered.

"Danny, Toby, close down the feed-links. Get the retrotopes online. Then get to the rocket and strap yourselves in," Zach ordered. "We're leaving."

"No," Rose said loudly, gaining his attention. "I'm not going."

Zach looked at her in concern. "Rose, there's space for you."

She shook her head rapidly. "I'm gonna- I'm gonna get to the Doctor, I just have to recover a bit. I can do it."

"But you can't," Ross argued. "Rose, you're in agonizing mental pain, and the glow in your eyes is duller than I've ever seen it. You're not capable of doing this. You'll die here."

"Then I'll die!"

Zach shook his head at her sadly. "I'm sorry, but… he's dead."

"But he's not. I know he's not, I just- I just have to-,"

Rose was cut off by the uncomfortably familiar feeling of a needle sliding into her arm. She jumped and turned to find Ross staring at her as he injected her with something. Staring at him in betrayal, she slipped out of consciousness and back into his arms.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The Doctor groaned as he woke, rolling over slightly to find he was lying on the ground, in pain but certainly alive. He shot to his feet quickly and reached up, where he realized the glass on his suit had broken, but… "I'm breathing." He lifted his helmet off carefully and looked around. "Air cushion to support the fall… you can breathe down here, Ida. Can you hear me, Ida?"

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Rose's eyes opened slowly, and panic flooded her immediately. Her chest began rising and falling rapidly, and despite the fact that she had her eyes open completely, she was struggling to see what was real and what was memories. A hand fell on her arm and she turned to see Ross looking at her in concern. She jerked back and remembered what he'd done. "Ross… how could you?"

"We have to get out of here," he told her over the sounds of takeoff. "The Doctor's dead, Rose, it had to happen sometime. We both know that. You're a goddess- you're Arkytior and I'm the child of Gallifrey, not the Doctor. He's gone. I couldn't let you kill yourself for him when I'm right here."

"Ross!" she screamed. "Ross, I could've saved him! I am not going to be with you, ever! I've told you before, you have it wrong! I have a bond with the Doctor, I can't- I'm going to save him. You crossed a line, Ross, and you'd better be glad I'm too weak to hurt you or I'd bloody castrate you without lifting a finger!"

"Do we need to inject her again?" Danny asked. "She shouldn't be awake so soon, that should've lasted longer."

"The TARDIS is far away, but not too far away to help me metabolize it quicker," she snapped. "Let me out of here!"

"It's too late," Zach told her. "We've left. I'm sorry, but it's too late."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The Doctor paced around, staring at the pictures on the walls. "History of some big battle. Man against Beast. I don't know if you're getting this, Ida. Hope so. Anyway, they defeated the Beast and imprisoned it…"

He turned and looked at the two vases sitting in the middle of the room and blinked. "And maybe that's the key." When the Doctor touched one, it lit up from the inside, quickly followed by the other one doing the same. "Or the gate or the bars."

A growling had him turning to the side to catch sight of a literal beast. It was the epitome of what you'd imagine Satan to look like - red, large, muscular, horns - and was chained to the wall. It felt like some sort of sick joke, the sight of Satan standing before him in chains, but he couldn't deny it.

The Beast was real.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"What's the joke?" Danny asked. Toby was laughing to himself, gaining a dark glare from Rose. She knew she had to time it the same as the last time or things could go very wrong. It was still infuriating, however, sitting next to Toby on the shuttle and with Ross on her other side.

"Just… we made it. We escaped. We actually did it."

"We're not out of it yet," Zach reminded him. "We're still the first people in history to fly away from a black hole. Toby, read me the stats."

"Gravity funnel holding, sir," Toby told him with a grin. "Oh, it's holding."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"I accept that you exist," the Doctor told Abbadon as calmly as possible. "I don't have to accept what you are, but your physical existence, I'll give you that." Abbadon growled at him and he stepped forward. "I don't understand. I was expected down here. I was given a safe landing and air. You need me for something. What for?"

Abbadon leaned forward as if to attack him, but his chains held him back and he growled again, this time louder.

"Have I got to… I don't know, beg an audience?" the Doctor wondered. "Is there a ritual? Some sort of incantation or summons or a spell? All these things I don't believe in, are they real? Speak to me! Tell me!"

The Doctor dropped his arms to his side and watched Abbadon curiously. "You won't talk or you can't talk. Hold on, hold on… wait a minute, just let me… Oh! No. Yes! No… think it through. You spoke before. I heard your voice. An intelligent voice. No, more than that. Brilliant! But… looking at you now, all I can see… is a beast. The animal. Just the body. You're just the body, the physical form. What's happened to your mind, hmm? Where's it gone? Where's that intelligence?" He looked upward as a horrible thought occurred to him. "Oh, no.

"You were imprisoned a long time ago. Before the universe… the prison is perfect. It's absolute. It's eternal. Oh, yes! Open the prison, the gravity field collapses! This planet falls into the black hole. You escape, you die. Brilliant! But that's just the body. The body is trapped, that's all. The Devil is an idea. In all those civilizations, just an idea… but an idea is hard to kill. An idea can escape. The mind, the mind of the great Beast, the mind can escape…"

The Doctor turned in a circle, excited as another thought came to him. "Oh, but that's it! You didn't give me air, your jailors 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!"

He grabbed a large rock and stepped over to the nearest vase. "If I destroy your prison, your body is destroyed, your mind with it," he raised his arms to smash the vase, but he stopped short before he could. "But then you're clever enough to use this whole system against me. If I destroy this planet, I destroy the gravity field. The rocket. The rocket loses protection, falls into the black hole… Rose. I'd be sacrificing Rose. Oh, and Ross I suppose, but… but Rose."

Abbadon laughed. The Beast before him laughed viciously at him as he fully understood just what he'd be doing in order to win.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Rose took in a short breath and prepared herself, grabbing the bolt gun carefully as she did so. "This doesn't make sense. Think about how Abbadon killed Scooti, or tried to. He tore the base open just to get her out there. He could and should have done anything to kill us, but he didn't. Why did he let us go? Because he wanted us to escape."

"Hey, Rose, do us a favor," Toby glared at her and leaned closer. "Shut up… almost there. We're beyond the reach of the black hole in forty, thirty-nine…"

OoOoOoOoOoOo

"So, that's the trap," the Doctor sighed. "Or the test or the final judgement, I don't know. But if I kill you, I kill her… except, that implies in this big, grand scheme of devils, that she's just a victim. But I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demigods and would-be gods, 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 turned around and grabbed the rock again. This time without hesitation, he lifted it above his head and smashed the vase.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

The rocket shifted violently, and an alarm began to blare.

"What was that?" Danny asked.

"What is he doing?" Toby wondered in a loud panic.

"We've lost the funnel! Gravity collapse!"

"Alright," Rose scowled as she saw Toby's face warp into Abbadon. She grabbed the bolt gun, unbuckled Toby, and shot at the glass in front of them. Toby flew out the window quickly, falling toward the black hole before them.

"Emergency shield!" Zach yelled. A shield rose up where the glass used to be, protecting them from the vortex. "We've still lost the gravity funnel. We can't escape the black hole… we're going in."

"The planet's lost orbit! It's falling!" There was a moment of silence before Danny spoke again. "The planet's gone."

"Hey, first human beings to fall inside a black hole," Zach told them.

"Don't strike me as a silver linings type of guy," Rose commented, gripping tightly onto the seat.

"Well, what do we have left? History."

Suddenly, the rattling of the rocket came to a stop and then began turning, and Rose let out a breath of air. "Thank god. Couldn't have waited a bit longer, huh?"

"I was busy!" the Doctor defended through comms. "Sorry about the hijack, Captain. This is the good ship TARDIS. Now, first thing's first, I'd like my Rose back if that's alright. Oh, Ross too, I suppose. I'm just towing you home. Gravity-schmavity. My people practically invented black holes-,"

"We did," Ross cut in.

"Couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe," the Doctor continued. "Oh, and Captain, I propose a swap. Say, if you give me Rose Tyler and Ross, I'll give you Ida Scott. How about that?"

"She's alive!" Zach exclaimed in shock.

"Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be alright…" the Doctor paused. "I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet." There was a beeping and his tone changed. "Ah, entering clear space. End of the line. Mission closed."

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Hello! This chapter is borne from my frustration over bleaching hair. It hurts. It did not used to hurt. Is my scalp getting old or something? Idk, but I'm blonde now. I had to sit up straight for an hour so I edited this chapter and decided to post it today instead of next week, which would go along with my pretend schedule I have. Because let's be real, there is no schedule and there never will be a schedule.

Anyway, the point of this A/N is to thank LadyHopeofGallifrey! It had been a good long while since I'd posted any of this story, and your review had me feeling a bit more confident in it.

I've got Fear Her done, as well as a very short chapter after that, and I'm onto Army of Ghosts. I want to give everyone a fair warning that I have no clue how long the end of season two is going to take, nor the beginning of season three. It's slightly overwhelming. I have some rather haphazard plans I threw together with Padfootl0ve, because I suddenly realized at like 1am last night that… I kind of didn't have plans for the end? Which is honestly astounding to me. Anyway, we've got some vague idea of how things will go, which means I can get on with it.

Thank you for reading, and please review! I'd love to hear what you think.