A/N: Hello there everyone! Sorry for such a long wait for this chapter. I've been working on it slowly, trying to encourage my mojo to come back a little, but when it did, it was only a short bursts. But, finally, I have another chapter done, yay! I apologise if there are any spelling mistakes or grammatical errors. I'm just so glad to finally have it ready that I want to get it posted for you all. I hope you enjoy it!

"This is all your fault, Doctor." Clara hissed to him through the metal bars of the cell that was separating them. "Now we're locked down here, in the dungeon." It was clear to see that the woman was not happen. They were stuck in a dark, dank cell, and they were not the only ones residing there, the sound of little scurrying feet pattering in the dark proved that.

"Oh, I wouldn't worry, Kari will come and get us out soon enough." Although he sounded confident, he was far from it. He had no idea what had happened to her, she hadn't answered her phone when Clara called, and that was unusual for her. Even if she was annoyed with him, she still would have answered the call. But she hadn't, and he was worried.

There was a look of disbelief on Clara's face now. "You really think that, do you, Doctor?" She asked him, not believing a word he said. "How is she going to come and get us? She went back to the TARDIS, she has no idea what has happened to us."

"Ye of little faith. This is Kari, she doesn't have to be here, she'll know." At least he hoped that she would, and he hoped that she was okay.

After entering the city, they were swiftly taken to the emperor, who had no qualms about interrogating them both before throwing them into those stinking cells. At first, the Doctor had been his normal self, calm and cocky, but the moment he asked about the so called monster that lived close by, things took a turn for the worse.

It appeared that strangers were not welcome in the city, even those who claimed that they were only there to try and help. The Emperor had not believed the Doctor, and he hadn't bothered to listen to any of Clara's protests either. It hadn't mattered what they said, as soon as it was established that they weren't even from the planet, they were locked away.

"Why was he so frightened, Doctor?" Clara asked, sitting on the cold stone floor of her cell and wishing she could rub her cuffed wrists. They were irritating her, rubbing and making her wrists red and sore.

The Doctor was also sitting there with metal cuffs around his wrists, but there was a strong metal bar holding his writes close together and that attached to a chain, which was secured to the floor. He couldn't maneuver his hands to reach into his pocket, he couldn't get to his sonic screwdriver. "I don't know. Maybe he's seen the monster himself, and he's scared of it." But he was just speculating, he didn't know for sure.

"Is this monster real or not then?" Now Clara was just trying to pass the time. "Come on, Doctor, you know something more, I know you do."

"What makes you say that?" He asked, his Scottish accent echoing throughout the cells.

This time, Clara smiled at him. "Because you've got that look in your eyes. I'm not stupid, Doctor, so don't treat me like I am."

He shuffled closer to the bars of his cell, closer to Clara. "Of course he is scared, Clara, they all are. I told you when we first walked in, they were watching us, deciding if we were a threat or not. He didn't know what to think of us, he didn't know whether to believe us or not. A lot of the time, those in power refuse to admit there is a problem, it's easier to just ignore it then do something about it. Oh, but he was scared, that man was terrified." He remembered the look on the Emperors face clearly, a look of pure terror the moment a monster was mentioned. "The monsters are real."

"Then why are we locked in here? You offered to help him, why would he then just throw us in here?" That part still didn't make sense to Clara, not in the slightest. Why lock up the people that came to help?

"Like I said, he's scared. He doesn't know us, so he doesn't know if he can trust us. I have no doubt that the Monster Hunters have already landed here and tried to deal with their problem. Probably only made things worse. It is possible that he thinks we're Monster Hunters." The Doctor had actually put a lot of thought into all of it. While Clara had been moaning, shouting for them to let them both out, he had been deep in thought. He had been scrutinising everything he had seen, everything he had heard. In his head, he was putting all the pieces of the puzzle together.

There was a look of surprise on Clara's face. "Monster Hunters? Are there really Monster Hunters?" She had never heard of them before, but in all honesty she hadn't heard of a lot of things before meeting the Doctor and Kari.

The Doctor looked at Clara as if she had just dribbled all over herself. "Of course there are Monster Hunters. What do you think I do when you tuck yourself into bed at night?" The look on her face showed that she didn't know if he was telling her the truth or just joking with her, it was getting harder to tell. "But that doesn't matter, we're going to have to earn his trust or we are never going to get out of here."

"What happened to waiting for Kari to come and get us out?"

He hesitated. "She's in trouble. I can feel it." The Doctor knew something was wrong, he knew Kari and he could sense it. Something was very wrong, he just wasn't entirely sure what. "You don't know Kari like I do. We've been together for so long, I can feel it, I know when something is wrong. She is in trouble, Clara, and we have to get out of here." Every minute they spent in there, was another minute that Kari was out there, alone, and in trouble.

Now there was a look of concern on Clara's face. "And you're sure she is in trouble?"

The Doctor nodded at her. "Positive. You don't know her like I do. I know how many hairs there are on her head, I know the exact shade of the colour of her eyes, her exact height, down to the last millimetre. I know what she fears the most, what little things I can do to make her smile. I can see when she is worried about something, when she is sad. Each single muscle on her face, I can read it. I know, Clara, because I know her." He was so sure of himself, because he was sure he knew Kari. And he did, he knew her inside out, sometimes he knew her better than she knew herself. And sometimes, she knew him better than he knew himself. There was no way he was going to stop worrying.

"Then we have to get out of here. You have a plan, right? Please tell me you have a plan." Clara knew that the Doctor was right. If anyone knew Kari, it was him. In fact, she knew of only two other people who knew her as well, her brother, and her best friend, not that she had ever met either of them, only heard of them. All she could do was hope that the Doctor really did have a plan, something that would get them out of there.

/\\/\\/\\/\

Kari had to swallow the lump that was in her throat. Her lies had been seen through, Emperor Nero wasn't accepting anything she said, he would only accept the truth. "When I say homeless, I mean my planet. My planet is gone, and I can never go home. I'm a wanderer, I go from place to place, looking, watching, and exploring." She explained to the man who was watching her closely. "I've lived this life for a long time now, I've learnt how to survive." Kari hoped that was enough for him, that she wouldn't need to explain any more.

The man laced his fingers together and rested his chin against them. "I believe that is the case. It is clear you are not of this world, you are unaware of our dangers, that much is certain. However, I still find it hard to believe that you are completely homeless." Kari didn't like his tone, she didn't like what he was hinting at. "I will grant you safety, should you answer my questions. Is this acceptable?"

With something churning in her stomach, Kari slowly nodded her head. "Yes." She managed to whisper, feeling more uncomfortable with every passing second.

A smile stretched across Nero's face, and a twinkle in his eyes. "What is this planet that you used to call home?"

Surprise appeared on Kari's face, that wasn't exactly the kind of question she had expected him to ask. "Uh, Earth, like Sol Three, Earth." She hadn't failed to notice the way that his eyes widened with that little piece of information.

"Impossible. Earth has been nothing but a poisonous rock for centuries. It is empty, there is no chance that place was ever your home." Emperor Nero scoffed, not believing a word that Kari had said, it was just too impossible. "You would do well to answer me truthfully."

"I am telling the truth. I was born there, on Earth. I was born in Wales, part of the United Kingdom. When I was a kid, holidays were mainly spent camping. We'd huddle around the campfire, and I'd be talking to my cousins, and we'd be planning our adventures for the next day." Kari told him, at first a little forcefully, but then drifting off into a memory. "I remember climbing the trees with them, and almost falling out as well. I can see their faces, but… I can't remember their names…"

He was watching her more closely now, taking note of the way her eyes had glazed over slightly. "What else do you remember, about Earth?"

"The birds. I miss the birds. Each one had its own unique little song that it would sing, and I miss them. All these other creatures, the birds, they're not the same. They sound different, even though some of them look exactly like those from Earth, they're not them." Kari's eyes were still glazed over as she thought about the home that she had long ago left. Even though they visited Earth so many times, it wasn't the same, because she knew it wasn't her Earth, it couldn't have been, it wasn't her home.

Nero's eyes were still locked with Kari's, only now they seemed a little softer. It really looked as if he was interested in what she had to say. "What… what about the other animals? And the plants. What were the flowers like there? What was your favourite flower?"

"The daffodils at Easter, I could hardly wait for them to open and spent so much time guessing which one was going to be the brightest, which flower was going to look the most like the sun." Kari told him, closing her eyes and shaking her head a little. "But they're not my favourite. I don't really have a favourite."

"It doesn't make sense." The Emperor announced, just as a servant entered the room brandishing a tray filled with food. A moment later and another servant followed, another tray of food carefully being balanced as they walked. "You speak as if you really know of Earth, but that is simply impossible. You cannot have lived there, you must be lying."

Kari slumped back in the chair and gazed down at her hands. "Yeah, well sometimes I don't believe it myself. Sometimes I think that it was all just a dream, a whole life that was just in my head." All the talk about Earth, it just made her think of her dad, of how he was, and what he was doing. She knew that she would never be able to see him again, someone had already told her that, but it didn't stop her from missing him.

Nero simply watched her, the sadness that filled her eyes, the way her body had just slouched. "You know, you really do intrigue me. You act as if you're telling the truth, the way you sit, the way you speak, and the looks you get in your eyes. Unfortunately it is simply not possible for you to have been a child of Earth."

That was when it finally broke through to Kari, when she finally realised what he was saying to her. "What… what happened to Earth?" She didn't know how far in the future she was, but if Earth was gone, she knew she was a very long time away from home.

The Emperor raised an eyebrow at her, picking up the glass that the servant had just filled for him. "You really have no idea?" Kari just shook her head at him, watching, and waiting. "The pollution, it just became too much. The whole planet was poisoned. The seawaters rose, the trees began to choke from the poisoned air, and the land started to fall apart."

There was another question that was burning on the tip of Kari's tongue. "How long ago was this?" She needed to at least try to work out what time she was in. The Doctor wasn't there to help her, she had no idea where he was, or if she even wanted to talk to him yet. Even after being chased by a monster she was annoyed with him, she was annoyed with him even more now because she had seen the monster was real.

"Eight hundred and thirty two years ago, roughly." Everyone she once knew would be dead now. Even if it wasn't really her Earth, there were still people there that she knew, that she cared about.

Kari couldn't dwell on it, she knew that she couldn't. "Okay, I've answered your questions, time for you to answer some of mine." She told Nero, sitting up straight again and watching him closely. "The Snow Warper." The fork in the Emperor's hand froze, the food simply hanging there in midair. "Tell me about it."

The man quickly put the fork down on the plate. "Why such an interest in a beast that kills?" Nero's eyes quickly darkened, as if he was not happy to be talking about that topic, as if it was forbidden.

"Because there's something about it, something wrong. Different." Kari couldn't really explain what she meant, but she had felt it. Sure it had been a great big monster chasing her, but something felt off. And why did everyone seem to see something different? "And why call it that? Snow Warper, why?"

"You are rather curious, aren't you?" That uncomfortable feeling that Kari had gotten was growing stronger now, especially when Emperor Nero wouldn't take his eyes from her. "And you are beautiful, a rare kind of beauty."

/\\/\\/\\/\

Clara had given up struggling, trying to get her hands free, trying to get herself comfortable. The was a terrible chill blowing through the cells, the flaming torches flickering constantly. Even the Doctor had gone quiet next to her. "Doctor? Are you still there?" She whispered through the semi darkness.

There was a few moments of silence before he answered her. "She's here, but something's wrong." He muttered, his eyes closed as he sat there. "What is it? What's happened?"

"Doctor, what do you mean? Who are you talking about, Kari? Is Kari here?" Clara asked him, a hint of hope flooding through her. She really did hope that Kari was there, that she had a plan, and that she could get them out of there. But then, the Doctor had said something was wrong.

"Yes, but I can't reach her. I can sense her, she's close, but that's it." He had been trying for hours to find her, to make sure she was all right. After she hadn't answer the phone call, he panicked, and he knew he had to try another way, a more personal way. He had been trying to call out to her mind, using their bond, their special connection, but even that was weakened. "Something really is wrong, Clara."

Even though he had acted like an idiot towards Kari, in Clara's opinion, she could see now that he did care, but once again he just didn't know how to show it. "Then we have to get out of here, Doctor." She had to keep hoping that he had a plan, a real plan, not just something he thought up on the spot, something he had thought through for once.

Before the Doctor could answer, they heard the large metal door that led down to their cells creaking open. After quickly glancing at each other through the bars, they shuffled backwards, getting comfy, hoping that they were going to be let out. Both of them stayed still as heavy footsteps echoed towards them, getting louder with each step. Finally, the sound stopped, and all four eyes looked to the person standing there.

The man standing there was wearing some kind of uniform, and his hair a mess. There was a tired and worn look in his eyes, and he was holding himself as if all he wanted to do was go to bed. "Have the pair of you lost something?" He asked in a quiet voice. "Because I may have found… it."

"Well, I've lost the key, is that what you found?" The Doctor replied, wondering what the man was talking about.

"No, but it was golden." He said, gazing at the Doctor, hoping that he could understand.

It appeared that the Doctor did get the hint, as his eyes suddenly brightened. "Ah, golden like the sun?" He asked, resulting in the man nodding at him. "Is… is it safe?" And there it was, the hint of concern flooding his voice.

There was a nod from the man standing in front of him. "Yes. I found it in the forest, almost lost to the Warper. But yes, it's safe. I'll see what I can do, see if I can have it returned to you, and get you released. I'm afraid that the Emperor was in a foul mood when you arrived."

"Yes, we had noticed. Now, why was that? Because of the problem you have with this Warper?" The Doctor was glad that Clara was keeping her mouth shut and letting him do all the talking, because it seemed that the man standing there before him was trying to help. After all, he had just informed him that he had found something that was precious to him.

"Yes, and no. The Emperor's younger sister recently disappeared, he finds it hard to trust strangers." There was a knocking on the door that led to the cells, and the man knew that his time was up. "I must go now, but I will do what I can."

As he turned to walk away, the Doctor called to stop him. "What's your name?"

"Adrian." He replied in a whisper, before rushing out of there. He knew he would get into trouble if anyone found out what he had said, what he had told the strangers, but he had to. He wasn't going to let anyone else suffer what he had suffered, not if he could help.

He waited until he heard the door clang closed again and for silence to surround them. "Looks like we may have a friend here after all." The Doctor muttered, trying to put everything together. His head was a mess of information, and every time he tried to piece something together he was distracted from it all by thinking of Kari.

"What was he talking about? The thing that he found, that we lost." It was obvious that Clara hadn't caught onto anything that had been said, she hadn't picked up on the hidden meaning and message.

"Kari, he was talking about Kari. He must have found her wandering around somewhere, brought her to the city. She must have mentioned that she was travelling with people, clever girl." The Doctor was actually rather proud of her. She had made her way to the city safely and found someone who seemed more stable than the Emperor that they had encountered earlier.

The look on Clara's face showed that she was a little stunned. "Is that what you were talking about? Kari? I thought you were talking about your screwdriver or something." She was a little embarrassed that she hadn't picked up on it, but then it was difficult for her to really hear what the man had been saying from where she was.

The Doctor scoffed a little. "Come on, Clara, my screwdriver is replaceable, Kari is not. Do you really think I would care more about an inanimate object than her?"

"After the way you spoke to her earlier, I did wonder." Her snide remark probably wasn't the best thing to say, but she still couldn't forget the way that he had acted towards Kari in the first place. As far as she was concerned, he needed to learn how to communicate with her himself, and not drag her into it all the time.

"And what is that suppose to mean?" The Doctor growled at her, already knowing where the conversation was heading and really not liking it. Yes, he knew he had been just a little harsh with Kari, but he felt that she had been unfair to him as well.

Unlucky for the Doctor, Clara wasn't afraid of him, and she wasn't afraid to tell him the truth and what she thought. "Did you actually stop and think how difficult all of this is for Kari as well? You change, Doctor, you regenerate and your face changes, your voice changes, your personality changes. And yeah, you're right, she has always been there, every single time, through all those regenerations. And every single time, her heart breaks." She had to pause, just to see the Doctor's reaction, just to check and see if she was getting through to him. "And do you know what is even worse? She knows, Doctor, she knows it's going to happen. She knows when it is going to happen, where it is going to happen, but she is always there."

By now, the Doctor was looking a little paler than usual, and Clara just hoped that what she was telling him was sinking in and making sense to him. He seemed to forget that Clara had watched her fall apart, that she had seen how badly she was trying to holding it together.

"Have you ever even tried to imagine what she has to go through? It may still be you, but she still needs to adjust." Clara was determined to make him see now, to get him to understand it all from Kari's point of view. "It's not easy for her, Doctor, but she still does it. She will do anything to be there for you, and you just went and pushed her away today. Kari deserves better than that, she deserves to be given a chance, understanding."

In all honesty, he had never thought of it like that before. The Doctor had always assumed that because she knew it was going to happen, and why it all happened, she was fine with it. Not once had he really stopped to think of the after effects it had on her. He had alway just assumed too much, he had never asked her, he had never taken the time to make sure she was okay, to make sure that there was no pain hidden behind that smile of hers.

Thinking back, back to the regeneration before this one, the one after the Master, after Donna's family, and before Amy and the Ponds. The tears had been streaming down her face, the pain that had been on her face. She looked as if she was ready to break at that point, but she didn't, she held herself together. She watched as he changed, as their TARDIS was damaged badly. And what had he done when it was all over?

He had checked his limbs, making sure they were all there, and moaned that he wasn't ginger. He had kissed her, and he had remembered they were crashing. He had not once asked her if she was all right, if she was okay. The thought had never occurred to him, he had only worried about himself, and now he could see how many things he could have done better.

Clara was right. "I've made a mess of everything, just like I always do." He said, letting out a long sigh. "I'll make it up to her, I'll apologise to her once we get out of this mess." But he knew that just saying sorry wasn't going to be good enough, he was going to have to do something spectacular to make it up to Kari.

"Do you know what I think?" Clara asked him, glad that he had finally seen some kind of sense. "I think you should work on getting us out of here now."

"Oh, I don't think we have to worry about that. I have a feeling that someone will be letting us out of here soon enough." The Doctor was confident that Adrian had been talking about Kari, he just had to be. And now, now he was hoping that she would be able to talk her way past the Emperor and get them out of there.

/\\/\\/\\/\

"So, are you going to answer my question?" Kari asked him, now sitting upright in her chair and leaning back. She really wished that the Doctor was there, he'd be able to get the answers he wanted, people listened to him.

"Hmm? What question was that?" Nero asked her, acting as if he hadn't noticed her unease.

Kari made herself sit up a little more, and told herself that she had to be tough. "Tell me about the Snow Warper, and I mean everything you know." She really needed to get some answers, and being forceful seemed to be the only way she was going to get them.

"Why so interested in it, my dear?" Nero asked her, grinning at her, flashing her his teeth. Kari hadn't really noticed it before, but he was rather young, he had to be in his early twenties in her opinion. "You have nothing to fear from it, no harm will come to you here."

This time Kari leaned forward a little, letting her eyes scrutinise every little detail on the mans face. "Then why is everyone else so worried about it? Why are you so scared?" She asked him, noticing the worry lines on his face. There were dark circles under his eyes as well, and no matter how much he smiled, there was so much sadness behind his eyes. "Who did you lose?" Kari asked him softly.

Nero's eyes widened in shock. "What? Lose? I… I didn't…" Kari simply raised an eyebrow at him, letting him know that she wasn't buying it. He let out a sigh. "My sister."

"What happened?"

"She went out one day and never came back. The… Warper, it's been around for a long time, longer than I can remember. My father used to speak of it, and my grandfather. The knowledge of it has been passed on from one generation to the other." Nero explained, while Kari sat there listening attentively. "Everyone knew that it was out there, and in the past people have gone missing. My sister, she… her friends dared her to go into the forest. That was the last time anyone saw her."

Now Kari could understand why he didn't want to talk about the creature, there was a bad memory surrounding it. "How long ago was this?" She wondered if it was recent, or something that happened years ago. She needed to know so that she could help him, and try to make sense of everything.

"She has been gone for eighty seven days. Patrols are out searching for her every day, but there is no sign. There was no trace of her when she went missing, and there still isn't now. She was seen going into the forest and that was it." It was clear to see that he was still clinging to the hope that she was out there, and that she was safe.

"Maybe she's ended up at one of the small towns or a village or something?" Kari suggested, even though she was pretty confident that he would have already checked everywhere else. The look in his eyes said it all. "And you think it was this Warper, that the Warper took her?"

Before he could answer, Adrian came striding into the room. "Let them go, Nero." He growled, walking towards the table where Kari was sitting with the Emperor. "You have absolutely no right to have them thrown in those cells. What have they done wrong? Nothing. You will have them released, right now." It was evident from his tone that he was more than just a little angry.

"They are strangers. They came here asking about the Snow Warper. They are hunters, you know they are." Nero replied, trying not to let himself get angry.

"They are not Monster Hunters. Strangers, yes, they are strangers like Miss Kari is, but you have not had her thrown in the dungeon. No, you are sitting here dining with her." Kari couldn't help but shrink down in her chair a little now, wishing she could just disappear now and open her eyes to see she is back in the TARDIS.

Unfortunately, she wasn't that lucky. "At least she has told me the truth. This lovely young lady is not a threat to me, you, nor our people." Nero said, getting up from where he was sitting, standing tall in front of the other man.

It was only then that Kari noticed it, something that should have been so obvious the moment she had met Nero. "You will release them, Nero. Right now." Adrian ended up growling to the man before him.

A smug smirk worked its way onto Nero's face. "You seem to be forgetting who is the Emperor here, Adrian."

"You are regent, Nero, not Emperor. I have not abdicate, I have passed the role to you temporarily while I spend my time protecting our people, and trying to find our sister." Now Kari was definitely sitting there in shock. Seeing the pair standing together, it was clear that they were brothers, they shared so many different features, and their eyes were almost identical. But this, finding out that the man who had saved her in the forest was the Emperor, and his little brother was just managing things for a while, that was a surprise to her. "The man and woman will be released, they are friends of Miss Kari." Immediately, Kari let out a sigh of relief. The Doctor was there, and so was Clara. They were both there, and not out there somewhere with the Warper. Even though they were stuck in a cell, they were safe.

A/N: Well, I hope that you did like it, I'm going to be working my backside off trying to pull it together and get back on track with everything.

I just want to say an absolutely massive thank you to everyone who has supported me during this tough time, and thank you all for being so understanding as well. I'm trying my hardest to get my head back in the game, but right now, my heart just isn't in it. I'm slowly getting there, and I've had ideas for several episodes, so hopefully, in a few weeks time, we will be all back to normal.

To everyone who has ever taken the time to leave me a review, thank you all so much. You guys are awesome, and if it wasn't for you, I would have given up a long time ago. But I love you all so much!

Until the next time, which I hope will be soon…

Pippa.