'We meet again, my dear'.

Tegan shook her head viciously. "Doctor, hurry."

The cold that had tickled at her spine now invaded and infiltrated her limbs. Her fingers were going numb, her legs numb; she felt as though her midriff was being embraced in frigid arms. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and she barely kept her teeth from chattering. She pushed her body into the small nook by the Doctor and felt his arms as his hands fought to open the encrypted door in the dark.

'Shying from me, little one? I had thought that you would be thanking me for your little vision the other day'.

Tegan strained her eyes and ears. She searched in vain for a glimpse of her predator; she couldn't hear his footsteps yet. She squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on shouting back at him. 'Leave me alone'.

'Ah, dear, but you are my one line to my wife, my son.'

"Doctor," Tegan whispered. "Please hurry."

"I am, Tegan," he grit out. She shied further away from the approaching doom she felt. With a sigh, she felt him adjust his stance and pull back on the door. "I think it's open, Tegan. Help me. Reach down and pull."

She did, nearly tripping over herself to help him wrench open the door. It lifted up and slid back, giving them an approximate two foot area through which to squeeze. A low level golden glow emanated from beneath their feet. "Oh Docwe have to get throughAres is"

"Here, yes. I felt him when he began his descent. Get through the hole, Tegan. There's only room for one at a time. It looks to be a vertical shaft about ten meters long. Justfind foot and hand holds and climb down."

"But" she hesitated. She reached out to grab his arms, but he turned at the same time and she felt his arms uneasily fall to embrace her. "Doc?"

His wince was clear to see even in the dim. "He's still a fair distance away," he whispered. "I can keep him out of your mind long enough to get you down the shaft. Without the interference, he'll be able to overwhelm you, Tegan. You won't have the ability or the want to climb down."

"And if I remember what you were like on the-"

"This is no time to argue," he hissed back, his face contorting in pain.

"No," she whispered back; her decision was made. "I'm not leaving you. Two minds have to be better than one, right?"

"In our case, no," he joked in a whisper. Footfalls on the stairs harkened the arrival of their predator. She frowned and stepped around him to take his hand. "But as I always say, a trouble shared is a trouble doubled."

Tegan tried to stand firm. She reached down inside herself and gathered up all the anger she felt at the intrusion into her mind. With a growl, she tried to force it out, to make it power her thoughts. She wanted to hurl them at the approaching Joiba like a mental hand grenade. But the Doctor said her name quietly and released her hand. In the next breath, she felt his arm wind about her waist. "No, Tegan," he responded, pulling her flank against his. "He's the God of discord."

Her mind whirled. She could feel the sudden warmth that the Doctor's mind had afforded for her beginning to wane, but she could still think. "This would be so much easier if he were the God of Love"

The Doctor's arm tightened on her waist and she braced herself to hear the dreaded 'brave heart' speech, but in the blink of an eye she realized that they did have something to at least lessen the Joiba's hold on their minds. "Doc"

"Yes, I do know what you're going to say, Tegan. I agree. Think on our friendship, our tie, and our times together. We have time. Think on it." He released her hip and she felt him gently prod her toward opening. "Go. I'll be right behind you."

She wanted to argue, but she knew that he did have a point. "You had better be," she bit out. She turned as he stepped to block the shaft from the stairwell.

Her muscles were killing her from the climbing and walking of the last two days but she slowly made her way down the shaft. She kept her mind on the Doctor, on their travels, on their last night.

She bit her lip and closed her eyes.

Years of running, hiding, chasing and avoiding. Nights of eating together in the TARDIS; the Doctor holding her after the Mara had left her mind destitute, pained and empty. Her hands holding his naked shoulders as his hips slowly and sensuously moved against her. His face easing into a gentle smile when she thanked him; that same mouth turning into a frown as they argued; those same lips catching hers in a kiss as their bodies joined. How she cared for him, loved him.

The last thought she had froze her cold as her feet touched the ground. She heard a grunt from above her as her mind closed down. And then she saw his feet and hands as he climbed down quickly, nearly sliding to her level.

"Really, Tegan," he moaned. "Couldn't you keep your mind steady on one thought?"

She winced. "Where is he?"

"He was a good deal further away before your mind slipped," the Doctor replied. "But he is very near now and I have a feeling we're not to oursafe place" He glanced up the shaft and quickly turned, reaching out to grab her hand. "Yes, wellI do think we should run, Tegan."

"To where?" she gasped as he jogged out ahead of her, pulling her hard behind him. Her feet slipped on the rock and she glanced down to see that the rock was slick from moisture. And she was tired. Bone achingly tired. But the Doctor and his blasted Gallifreyan physiology, he was able to run head long down the tunnel barely out of breath.

"Towards the light," he responded.

She lagged behind until she heard heavy boots in the shaft behind her and then she almost passed the Doctor. It helped that he was holding his head with the hand that wasn't holding her hand. His face twisted in pain and she pulled her hand from his, slipping her arm about his waist. Around him there was a brilliant purple and orange cloud. His grunt made her begin a mantra: "Come on, Doc. Hold on. Try to push him out. I'll help. Just keep going."

"Ah, sweetlingdoes your lover have a problem?"

The voice was closer than she had anticipated. The Doctor was becoming a lead weight on her arm, gasping in pain; his aura was changing, darkening as if something was bleeding color from him. The rocks became lighter, smoother; the tunnel was lit almost brightly with a yellowish light. At an intersection, she let her intuition lead her and they rocketed down the next corridor without a thought.

They backpedaled as they came to a sudden end.

The corridor had ended at the edge of a large open room and was raised about ten feet off the ground. And in the center of the room sat another, smaller pyramid. Tegan not only stopped to keep both she and the now moaning Doctor from tumbling over the edge and into the pit, but also because of the completely onyx solid pyramid that rose majestically out of the floor. "What on Earth"

"Illiana" the Doctor breathed.

"That's her ship?" Tegan asked, quietly.

"Thank you."

The words were said practically at her shoulder and she jumped, trying to pull the Doctor to the side. She found the dark man right behind her, his dark eyes fixed on them. "Thank you both for leading me to my wife and son"

She felt him toying with her mind, poking at it, worrying at it like a child would a scab or scar. She closed her eyes and fell back against the rock wall at her back. With a wince, she heard the Doctor's back as it slapped against the wall next to her. Warding off Ares like using an ancient talisman, she held her hand up and forced her mind to settle on the Doctor, on the thoughts she had had earliertheir friendship, their times It made her head ache.

And all of her concentration ended as the God laughed. "Ah, you think your caring for the this Time Lord can hold me off? Oh, my dearyou are delightful. I can see why he allowed lust to penetrate his normally bland mind. If you could have seen some of his thoughts Did you know he has a liking for silkon you?"

Tegan's eyes snapped open. The Doctor's hand grabbed at hers. "No, Tegan," he gasped out. "Don't give in to anger."

She swallowed hard and began edging along the wall. She thought she had seen a ramp to their left. She had to get down to that pyramid, away from this awesome dark force in her mind. The Doctor moved slowly next to her. "But, Docthe painin your head"

"Will never ease," the god laughed. He leaned back against the wall as though lounging.

A touch of cold air at her back made her turn and run, the Doctor thought of the same idea and together they ran down the ramp, launching into space when they were about five feet from the ground.

They hit the ground running.

"She can't protect you. Not from me. She'll let me have my playthings; she always does."

She stumbled and felt the Doctor's hand pull her along until she got her feet under her. A hundred yards.

"Oh, I think I can allow the fish to run on the line, little one. Plenty of time. He wants you over his console in that ship of his, you know, Tegan, darling."

The Doctor's hand flew to his temple and he let out a shout of pain. She bit her lip and tried to force movement into her aching legs.

Seventy-five yards.

"And you would like that, wouldn't you, darling," came the laughed continuation. "Oh and you would love to hear those words that you so missed last night. He took you in lust, not love, child. You'll never hear them. I said he wanted you. Not that he loved you. He's like a child with a toyhe wanted you back."

She closed her eyes in pain and ran headlong in her darkness, clinging to the Doctor's hand.

Twenty-five yards.

"We're never going to make it," she puffed.

"Brave heart, Tegan," he remarked back. "Run"

"And Doctor, my dear old chap, she wants you like a bitch in heat, as I think you understood last night," Ares laughed. "And I think you have gone far"

They slid together up against the smooth, cold surface of the pyramid. She could see no door and her head ached, her legs ached, her lungs felt like they were bursting, and she felt like her soul was being ripped from her. "A dead end," she moaned.

"Ah, not quite," the Doctor replied. He let out a shout as he felt Tegan being pulled backwards, away from him. She whimpered, and flailed about with her arms, trying in vain to grab at the Doctor, at the pyramid's smooth side, at anything that would anchor her. She sailed up and away from her friend, four feet from the ground. The Doctor lunged for her, reaching out, catching her by the right hand.

"Let her go!" he yelled, his voice very deep and hard. "Let her go, Haldian!"

Tegan felt as though she was being held in an ice cold iron fist. She tilted from side to side as if being shaken. A growl fled her throat as if chased and she screamed rage at mistreatment to the Joiba behind her. She didn't understand what was happening, but she hated it. The pyramid was going further and further away. The Doctor was holding her by the right hand, being dragged along behind her. It seemed useless to her. "Let me go, Doc! Get in that pyramidyou can get me out later. He won't hurt me"

The Doctor bit his lip and shook his head, keeping pace with her. "Haldian!"

Tegan slowly stopped and hung in the air, suspended. As she slowly turned, she saw the Joiba leaning up against the wall, his hand causally extended as if supporting her. He turned his head, as if contemplating her and then turned her back towards the Doctor.

"It's almost touching," he shouted. "You, Time Lord, begging of a Joiba to have your lover returned to you."

"She's my friend and an innocent" the Doctor responded. He grasped both her hands and pulled her towards him. With a sigh of relief, she floated down into his arms. His left arm encircled her waist and his right her shoulders. She could feel him panting in relief.

"He wouldn't hurt me" she breathed, overwhelmed by his relief and the genuine caring in his voice.

"Joiba have the ability to absorb and terminate life," he replied hoarsely. "He would do so"

"Ah, true" Haldian/Ares replied, hopping down from the ledge with grace. "Yes, I would do so without a second thought if tormenting you wasn't entertaining to watch. The joy I could get from seeing you mourn a lifeless body. I need only snap my fingers"

Tegan felt pressure on her throat and her eyes widened in surprise. The Doctor pushed her away from his chest and stared at her, his face twisting into a mask of terror and pain.

"You begged her to stay with you, you pitiful Time Lord. All that power that your race has gathered. You have it too, but it's undermined simply by compassion and caring. All your emotional separatist undercurrent, all your logical thinking and you nearly fell apart when this one simple woman tried to walk away from you. You don't love her, but you need her, desperately."

Tegan found she couldn't breathe. Gasping, she grasped the Doctor's arm, pleading for help. Her vision was going black around the edges. Her legs were getting weak.

"You needed her so much that you agreed to have intercourse with her. You know how she will perceive it. You're glad to use the manipulation to keep her with you, don't you? And you wanted her. Didn't you? Thought about her in those lovely quiet yet quite confining cloisters you have. Lust is alien to you, but very pleasurable, isn't it? The feeling of her hot body under yours; the cry of a woman climaxing, it's forgotten by your kind."

Tegan gagged and fell to her knees. The Doctor sank next to her, gripping her arms almost painfully. His blue eyes were wide and his mouth was open as if to say something, but nothing came out.

"I could kill you both. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes," the Doctor muttered and then shouted. "Yes! Without hesitation and with no effort at all! Haldian, please!"

"Painful to watch something you care for, but have no understanding of nearly lying dead at your feet. You can withdraw you pitiful attempt to combat my mind."

With a cry, Tegan fell forward. The Doctor was there to catch her. She saw tears in his eyes as he laid his palm against her cheek. She saw such rainbows of color about him that she could only think of an oil spill in the rain. He seemed to take breaths in tandem with her, as if forcing her to take her next breath.

"She lives!" the Joiba shouted, almost gaily.

"What do you want?" the Doctor asked quietly. "You have no plans for this world that I can interfere in. I have nothing you want. I'm insignificant to you. To any of your kind"

"You've come between Illiana and I," Haldian rumbled warningly. "In a way that no human could. You can put up a fight and help to conceal her. And it does such a wonderful service to me to watch you fail to understand what you hold in your arms, Time Lord. I'm the God of Discord, Hate and Bloodlust on this planet. Don't you see that this is entertainment" His gaze fell to Tegan.

The Doctor rose and nodded. His arms held Tegan, taking most of her weight. She weakly returned the clearly necessary embrace. With measured steps he began to walk backwards. "You want to play with me because you think that attaining your wish is very easy for you."

Tegan muttered helpless words against his neck where he tucked her head. She could feel how his hearts beat irregularly and powerfully.

"You want your wife. Noble but misguided. She clearly does not want you. Because"

The Doctor turned and Tegan saw they were merely steps away from pyramid.

"Stalling for time, Gallifreyan."

With more strength than Tegan knew the Doctor had, he twisted, hefting her in his arms. He cradled her, tenderly. "She made this lock one that you could never break. The Joiba might be godlikebut they still don't have control of Time. And this is something that I can control very well" he shouted.

With a grunt, he turned and pressed both Tegan and he up against the side of the pyramid. She whimpered from the pressure. She could hear her friend whispering nonsense math terms, his eyes squeezed tight. Around them a light, like thousands of tiny fireflies, began to form. Tegan stared at the Joiba as his face began to turn into a mask of hatred. She thought she was looking at the Devil himself. He raised his hands.

"Doc-"

It was the last thing she said.