Red Lines

by jd009

The Red line; a figurative point of no return, a limit past which safety can no longer be guaranteed. I've always wanted to travel the stars...of course being kidnapped by a madman in a blue box wasn't how I imagined it happening. Throw in a malfunctioning, mystical red locket and a man who knows everything about you and you have a sure recipe for trouble. Doctor/OC

10. The Unquiet Dead- The Walking Dead

AN/ Hello all again. I'm back as promised with the next instalment of what is hopefully going to be a pretty long story. This Chapter sees Riana and the Doctor's confrontation come to a head...I wonder who will win? You'll just have to read to find out. Rose gets a bit more screen time and Riana is back to giving the Doctor sass.

It was brought to my attention that Riana really needs a key, it would probably help her from continuously getting locked outside the TARDIS, lol. Don't worry that's coming, but the Doctor has to wait for the right version of her to give her one. In the mean time she'll just have to hope the Doctor hears her knocking.

A bit more of Riana's backstory is revealed in this Chapter and some more secrets are brought to light surrounding her mysterious locket. As always if you know where to look you might be able to pick up on some future plot threads.

Pocket Bug: Thanks again for your lovely review. It really made my day seeing it sitting in my inbox. Yes 10 really can't help himself, you will start to see more hints of when the Doctor starts falling for Riana in the upcoming chapters, although it might be a bit longer before Riana realises her own feelings. As to when exactly they get together, well as River would say Spoilers. I'm also glad that 9 wasn't too over the top, I didn't want to write him as the cliche angry jack*** to the new companion, but as you saw in my story there are reasons for that. As for how and when she forced him to destroyy Gallifrey, well we both know Gallifrey isn't really gone ;) Rose and Riana's relationship is going to be an interesting one. It will certainly have some tense moment from Riana's end when it comes to Rose's feelings for the Doctor as to how that will play out, well you'll just have to see. I also really loved the Christmas Special and I am especially excited for the next season of DW with the brand new Doctor. I can't wait to write her into this story. David Bradley was superb as usual as the first Doctor and yes it would definitely make the TARDIS's day if the Doctor didn't crash her, everytime he regenerates.

jd009

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Chapter 10: The Unquiet Dead - The Walking Dead

The words, they burned me. But like always there was never enough time to contemplate them as the brown-haired man had caught up to us and pushed his way into our bubble of tension. The Doctor's angry eyes still reflected his angry heart and I am ashamed to admit, for the first time today, I was being a coward and looking for an easy way out of this situation I had brought on myself.

"You're not escaping me, sir, ma'am. What do you know about that hobgoblin, hmm? Projection on glass, I suppose. Who put you up to it?" He asked with a type of determination, that only comes from someone who has caught a scent and was hunting it to its source. I watched as the Doctor's eyes shuttered the more violent emotions behind a wall of steel, as he turned to face the new distraction.

"Yeah, mate. Not now, thanks. Oi, you! Follow that hearse!" He shouted at the driver of the vacant carriage. He seemed to have put aside our argument for now, but I knew like the certainty that the Long Song would keep playing, that this conversation was far from over. He jumped into the carriage and strangely enough looked irritated when I didn't immediately follow him.

"What are you waiting for, a gilded invitation? Get in!" He said. I roused myself from my stupor and gingerly clambered into a seat with all my heavy skirts hindering my movements. The Doctor appeared flummoxed at my quietness and my apparently lack of tart replies, although he couldn't question me further as that irritating brown-haired man shouted at us.

"You can't do that, sir, ma'am!" He yelled flustered. I sighed this man was really starting to be a bother.

"Why not?" The Doctor snapped.

"I'll tell you why not. I'll give you a very good reason why not. Because this is my coach." He blustered. Before the Doctor answered I let my fear talk for me again as I snapped at the man.

"Oh, would you just can it already! If you're not going to be helpful, get in then!" With that I rudely grabbed the man by his waist coat and bodily hauled him into the coach. It was a tight fit with the two men sharing the one seat and I on the other one by myself. The Doctor's brow raised at my actions. I went back to numbly staring at the seat after my outburst.

"Move!" The Doctor shouted to the driver. The driver looked confused at the issued command, but he cracked the whip and the horses started forward.

"Come on, you're losing them." The Doctor urged. The Driver looked back questionly to our uninvited guest.

"Everything in order, Mister Dickens?" He asked, at least the mystery man had a name now. The Doctor though looked thoroughly startled at the name though. I frowned in my confusion, I really had to read up on Earth when I got the chance.

"No! It is not!" Mr Dickens said angrily looking between the both of us.

"What did he say?" The Doctor asked his voice rising in disbelief.

"Let me say this first. I'm not without a sense of humour…" Mr Dickens began but the Doctor interrupted him again still in an apparent state of shock.

"Dickens?" He asked. Now I was beyond confused, apparently the Doctor knew this man.

"Yes." Mr Dickens replied.

"Charles Dickens?" The Doctor was really over doing it now. I could understand curiosity and shock but outright awe? Mr Dickens looked confused and looked over between the Doctor and myself in bewilderment.

"Yes." He replied hesitantly again, as though unsure what the outcome of this entire conversation would be. The Doctor's mood had seemingly done a complete 180 degrees in the last minute alone and it made my head hurt. Besides, I was positive I had seen that name somewhere before.

"The Charles Dickens?" The Doctor all but gushed, I kid you not.

"Should I remove the gentleman and lady, sir?" The driver asked Mr Dickens, but the Doctor's infamous spiel was far from over.

"Charles Dickens? You're brilliant, you are. Completely one hundred percent brilliant. I've read them all. Great Expectations, Oliver Twist and what's the other one, the one with the ghost?" The Doctor asked. I was beginning to become overwhelmed with his mercurial mood and pointless prattle.

"Doctor, is there a point to all of this?" I asked. Mr Dickens looked confused when I didn't seem to recognise him. Perhaps he was someone famous on Earth? The Doctor turned his bright smile on me and seemed to forget his anger and mistrust towards me in earlier, in favour of the chance to talk some more.

"The Charles Dickens, Riana! One of the greatest authors on Earth to ever exist." He explained. While that cleared up what he did, I still had no idea who he was. The Doctor must have inferred from my annoyed expression that I was obviously not from Earth.

"Right, I forget. Well his work has a lasting impact on Earth's history and he is quite famous throughout the centuries for his novels, and wit of word." He said. It was then when I remembered where I had seen his name before, on a book in my room back on the TARDIS.

"Right…?" I trailed off. Mr Dickens looked awkwardly between us again as though still unsure whether he should answer the Doctor's original question.

"A Christmas Carol?" He asked. The Doctor's shifted his attention back to the other man again.

"No, no, no, the one with the trains. The Signal Man, that's it. Terrifying! The best short story ever written. You're a genius!" The Doctor I kid you not fangirled. I snorted, sometimes, no matter what incarnation, this man was such an idiot.

"You want me to get rid of them, sir?" The Driver asked again. Mr Dickens looked amused by the Doctor's antics now, having judged him not a threat.

"Er, no, I think he can stay." He replied.

"And the lady?" The Driver asked again. I looked up startled. Mr Dicken's looked at me thoughtfully.

"Do you really not know who I am child?" Mr Dickens questioned. I shook my head.

"You might say, that I come from very far away. Another world almost." I replied wistfully. Mr Dicken's appeared to take my statement as an affirmation to his question, although he relaxed significantly when it appeared I wasn't going to harass him or pose a threat.

"Perhaps we can remedy that if we find the time. I also like to educate an enquiring mind and you my dear, I think have a very astute one." He surmised.

"That she does." Was the Doctor's quiet reply. I looked up to meet his reticent eyes and although I knew he was still angry with me, it seemed as though he was going to uphold his end of the bargain to not let it get the best of him again though. A truce of a sorts and I wasn't going to turn it away. So, I instead nodded to acknowledge his sort-of-apology and didn't badger him for anything more. At this point I was thankful for whatever I could take.

"Uh, thank you…I guess." I said slowly. The Doctor meanwhile had turned back to Mr Dickens and was sprouting off more nonsensical verbal dribble by the second.

"Honestly, Charles. Can I call you Charles? I'm such a big fan." He said enthusiastically.

"Knew it." I muttered to myself.

"A what? A big what?" Mr Dickens said bewilderedly.

"Fan. Number one fan, that's me." He said affirmatively.

"Why does that not surprise me? Travel time long enough, you're likely to pick up a few obsessions." I sassed. The Doctor looked like I had poured rao'wil in his gobjem although he wisely chose to ignore me.

"How exactly are you a fan? In what way do you resemble a means of keeping oneself cool?" Charles- for that was far easier to remember than calling him by his last name all the time- asked.

"He means fanatic, someone who is obsessed with something." I said promptly. Charles looked a touch disturbed.

"No, no, it means devoted to. Ignore her she likes to stir the pot. Anyway, I've got to say, that American bit in Martin Chuzzlewit, what's that about? Was that just padding or what? I mean, it's rubbish, that bit." The Doctor rambled. I sighed rolling my eyes.

"Doctor!" I hissed. He looked over at me confused.

"What?" He asked. I jerked my head over to Charles who appeared more reluctant than before to play host to us.

"Shut up. I think it's better to not upset out host." I reminded him.

"I thought you said you were my fan." He said slightly disgruntled. I butted in before he could make a bigger fool of himself and get us thrown out of the only way we had that could save Rose.

"He is, but he really doesn't always think about what comes out of his mouth. Please don't listen to anything he says." I said in a rush. The Doctor looked annoyed at me as he deliberately kept talking.

"Ah, well, if you can't take criticism. Go on, do the death of Little Nell, it cracks me up. No, sorry, forget about that. Come on, faster!" He said, suddenly changing direction once again with his mood.

"Who exactly is in that hearse?" Charles asked.

"Our friend Rose." I replied.

"She's only 19. It's my fault. She's in my care, and now she's in danger." He said deliberately looking away from me. If anything, that made me feel worse, as the guilt of something happening to that kind innocent girl, because of me was nearly to hard to bear.

"Why are we wasting my time talking about dry old books? This is much more important. Driver, be swift! The chase is on!" Charles called as the Driver cracked his whip and the carriage sped up.

"Attaboy, Charlie." The Doctor encouraged.

"Nobody calls me Charlie." Charles said embarrassed.

"The ladies do." The Doctor said cheekily. It was official, he didn't know when to quit.

"How do you know that?" Charles said in alarm.

"Like I said, just ignore him." I reminded him.

"I told you, I'm your number one…" The Doctor began but I cut him off again, before he got his foot stuck in his mouth again.

"…Number One fan, we get it. Now shut up." I finished for him. Charles looked slightly bemused but my actions. Still it got the Doctor to shut up and gave me some space to try and gather my wits, for what was sure to be a shit storm in the making.

As we approached a discreet looking building that the Doctor had helpfully informed us was called a Chapel of Rest, I didn't wait for the Driver to open the door and pushed it open and sprang from the carriage. There were cries of alarm as I could feel the pulsing in the locket increasing with each minute and I knew Rose was in danger. My skirts were in the way has I sprinted towards the front door, with the Doctor and Charles not far behind. As I got there, I touched the locket again and was instantly pulled from body in the usual fashion inside the building to a room where Rose resided.

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Both the man and the woman were carrying Rose by the arms and legs up the stairs towards a room at the back of the house. They laid her down on a table that looked like it was used for dead bodies. The thought disgusted me. I could feel my unwanted guest Glory, appear beside me as we both watched the scene unfolding before us.

"The poor girl's still alive, sir! What're we going to do with her?" The woman asked the snorri man. He looked panicked as though the full weight of his actions had just occurred to him. He wiped his brow with a cloth to get rid of the nervous sweat.

"I don't know! I didn't plan any of this, did I. It isn't my fault if the dead won't stay dead." He said snappishly to the girl. The girl flinched, and I was starting to get the impression she must be his servant.

"Then whose fault is it, sir? Why is this happening to us?" The woman asked with fear. Both of them left the room as they entered the hallway, leaving Rose alone in the room, with the body of the dead woman and another young man.

I followed them out, continuing to listen to their conversation.

"I did the Bishop a favour, once. Made his nephew look like a cherub even though he'd been a fortnight in the weir. Perhaps he'll do us an exorcism on the cheap." The man said. Suddenly there was a knocking on the door as the man looked up started and hurried towards the back of the house.

"Say I'm not in. Tell them we're closed. Just, just get rid of them." The man said to the girl as he scurried away. I was suddenly drawn back into the locked room where Rose resided. I noticed she had begun to awaken, but not before I noticed the eerie blue light come out of the gas lamp and enter the bodies of the dead man and woman and make them open their eyes.

"Hurry, you must hurry Red One if you want to save your friend. Remember what you have seen." With that statement I was pulled back into my body.

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I gasped as I sagged against the front door. Someone's arm was supporting me and stopped me from toppling over. I looked up surprised to see the Doctor's worried face.

"What is it? What did you see?" He asked urgently.

"I-I saw Rose and the two kidnappers. They have Rose in one of the back rooms and there are these dead people. The gas, Doctor, it's making them walk, we have to hurry!" I said frantically. With that, he knocked urgently on the door, just like I had seen in my vision. Only for the same woman to open it and stare at us frightfully.

"I'm sorry, sir. We're closed." She tried, but I'd had enough of these two imbeciles as I pushed the door open, stopping her from closing it completely.

"Yeah and I fell from the asteroid belt yesterday. You have my friend, let us in!" I demanded.

"Sorry, ma'am but there is no girl here." She tried again.

"How do you know my friend is a girl." I said in her face now. The Doctor restrained me as Charles took over the talking.

"Nonsense. Since when did an Undertaker keep office hours? The dead don't die on schedule. I demand to see your master." He said brooking now argument.

"He's not in, sir" She said timidly. I felt for her, I really did, if she had such an awful Master, but Rose was going to die if we didn't get inside, so my sympathy for her was near non-existent as this minute.

"Don't lie to me, child. Summon him at once." Charles said angrily. The girl flinched again and began backing away as again tried to close the door in our faces.

"I'm awfully sorry, Mister Dickens, but the master's indisposed." She said. Just then the gas lamp outside began to flicker and I began to panic.

"Having trouble with your gas?" The Doctor said knowingly as he stared her down.

"What the Shakespeare is going on?" Charles asked now alarmed. I had, had it with these people today. I wasn't going to let an innocent girl die because of my mistake.

"That's it! I've had it with humans today. Move!" I yelled at her as I sent a large telekinetic field of blue energy right at her and the door. The door was near blown off it's hinges and the girl was sent flying down the corridor. I barged past her as the Doctor and Charles looked stunned. The Doctor followed me inside as he went to examine one of the lamps.

"There's something inside the walls. The gas pipes. Something's living inside the gas." The Doctor exclaimed just as I heard Rose scream for someone to let her out. I took off running, nearly bumping into the Undertaker and heading for the room I remembered seeing Rose in.

"Open the door! Please, please, let me out!" Rose screamed as she banged on the locked door. I heard the man try to delay Charles but he simply pushed him out of the way and told him to shut it. The girl was panicking now at how fast things had changed. I had just enough mind to observe that while she was a bit shaken and bruised she wasn't too badly hurt.

"ROSE! I'm here, I need you to stand back." I yelled through the door.

"Riana, is that you? Please you have to help me! There are these things, they're dead, but they're walking!" She yelled.

"I need you to stand back, I'm going to blow this door open. Have you got that?" But she didn't answer me as she began to scream incoherently. Not wasting another second, I risked it and forced the door open with another telekinetic blast.

Rose was being held by the same dead man that I had seen first wake up. Rose was struggling but he was too strong for her and I knew she didn't have long before he killed her. The Doctor had caught up behind me as I created another field and shahked him. It was enough to stun him and I pulled Rose out of the way.

"Don't touch her. I've just about had it with people getting in my way today." I said angrily to the room at large. Rose ran right to the Doctor's side where he urgently checked her over to assess whether she had been injured or not.

"It's a prank. It must be. We're under some mesmeric influence. And whatever you just did is a simple illusion. No one can throw doors with their minds!" Charles exclaimed. I inwardly rolled my eyes at his scepticism. I looked back over to see the Doctor causally observing me as though also checking for injuries as well.

"Do you believe me now? I am here to help you, you can trust me." I said to him. His eyes still remained wary, but I noticed they had softened somewhat.

"No, we're not. The dead are walking." The Doctor replied impishly to Charles. He then turned to Rose and grinned at her. Rose was out of breath, but she looked at him and bashfully returned the smile before turning to me and grinning at me as well. I smiled softly, glad I could save her in the end.

"Hi." The Doctor said to Rose. "Sorry about the late rescue, although it seems Riana is on top of everything as usual." He finished. I rolled my eyes but got into the banter that always flowed so naturally between the Doctor and I.

"Only because you kept obsessing over books and famous authors. Not to mention finding us a lift to get here. Hi Rose, terribly sorry to send you off like that and that I didn't get here faster. But if I had tried to stop the hearse it would have potentially destroyed it and caused a serious accident. Couldn't risk it." I said. Rose smiled gratefully at me.

"Hi. Don't sweat it, I'm just grateful you didn't let me die as always. I don't think that would have been a very nice way to go, being killed by the walking dead. Who's your friend?" She replied with good humour, considering not a minute ago she had nearly died.

"Charles Dickens." The Doctor replied. Rose's eyebrows went up and because she was on an adrenalin high didn't over think it.

"Okay." She said.

"Don't ask, he's always like this, picks up important people like strays." I joked. The Doctor didn't seem to find much humour in it as he told me to behave.

"My name's the Doctor. Who are you, then? What do you want?" He said turning to the still animated corpses.

"As usual he forgets to introduce the rest of us, Riana Tahlay by the way." I said adding unnecessarily.

"Failing. Open the rift. We're dying. Trapped in this form. Cannot sustain. Help us." The man replied with what seemed like many voices at once. With that both the old lady and the young man raised their hands to the roof gave a long mournful wail and dropped to the floor. The blue gas streamed out back into the lamps, as they flickered several times and then returned to normal. Leaving everyone one in the room with expressions of wariness.

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With that, the Doctor quickly rounded on the Undertaker and his maid as he glared at them and dared them to kick us out. With curt words the man ordered Gwyneth, who I learned was the maid's name to make some tea, while the rest of us retired to his parlour. There were several words I wanted to say to that slimeball of a man, whom I learned was called Sneed. I could tell I would have to get in line as Rose appeared as though she wanted to strangle the man.

We all trekked into the parlour where a roaring fire was going and there were several comfortable armchairs. Mr Sneed seated himself in one as did Charles. The Doctor leaned casually against the mantle near the fireplace. I stood near the door as Rose remained standing. I had to feel for Sneed, he looked like he was going to his execution. Gwyneth gave me a wary look as she passed by me and I remembered I had telekinetically thrown her out of the way when I blasted the front door open. I caught her arm as she passed. She flinched but stayed still.

"Miss, I don't mean to be rude, but I need to go and make some tea as my Master has requested." She said politely. I looked at her sympathetically.

"I'm sorry Gwyneth for the way I treated you earlier. It was wrong of me, but you must understand I was trying to save my friend. I wouldn't have done it otherwise." I said softly. She looked away but nodded.

"I understand Miss, sometimes your anger gets the best of you. I know your mother has always feared you because of it, too much like your father she thinks. But you have a strong and loyal heart towards those you care about." She replied. It took me several seconds before I realised what was wrong with her statement. She shouldn't have such knowledge about my family, or my mother's thoughts. It wasn't possible.

"I'm sorry, what?" I said stunned. Realising she had said too much, she gave me a fearful look as she excused herself and left the room. I was left standing there numb. How did she know that my mother had always feared my anger? Did she know what I had done? Did she know my secret?

I was torn from my worries as Rose began to rant at Mr Sneed, while the Doctor only looked on amusedly.

"First of all you drug me, then you kidnap me, and don't think I didn't feel your hands having a quick wander, you dirty old man." She yelled. Sneed looked ashamed and I couldn't help but snort at her gall. The Doctor only sniggered as well.

"I won't be spoken to like this!" Sneed said trying to defend himself, but I wasn't letting him off the hook yet. I stepped forward next to Rose.

"I saw you lock her in there and leave her with the dead things. You wouldn't let us in and you pretended nothing was wrong. You have some explaining to do." I said sternly. Rose rounded on him again with her hands on her hips. We both glared at him and he shrank under our gazes.

"You stuck me in a room full of zombies! And if that ain't enough, you swan off and leave me to die! So come on, talk! If it hadn't been for my friend here, I would be dead!" She said heatedly. Sneed caved within seconds, glancing between Rose and I as he tried to plead his case. Gwyneth had returned by this point bearing a tray of tea and sandwiches.

"It's not my fault. It's this house. It always had a reputation. Haunted. But I never had much bother until a few months back, and then the stiffs, the er… dear departed started getting restless." He said nervously at Charles offended look at his language.

"That still doesn't excuse what you did." I reminded him, Sneed looked away guiltily.

"Tommyrot." Charles suddenly declared. We all turned to look at him in disbelief, tell me he wasn't still seriously thinking that all of this was a hallucination! I mean sure travelling with the Doctor could involve a lot of weird things, but everything was usually explainable and was able to be seen and proved somehow. To think that it was all just a trick was complete kanwaii. The Doctor and all that came with him was all too real and if you didn't learn that fast, that's when people started dying.

"You witnessed it. Can't keep the beggars down, sir. They walk. And it's the queerest thing, but they hang on to scraps." Sneed replied, mildly offended at being called a liar on top of a pervert. I watched as Charles worked himself up for a good argument, as out of the corner of my eye, Gwyneth placed a cup of tea down on the mantle piece for the Doctor.

"Two sugars, sir, just how you like it." She said cheerfully. The Doctor smiled gratefully at her, although narrowed his eyes in suspicion when she casually mentioned something she shouldn't know.

"One old fellow who used to be a sexton almost walked into his own memorial service. Just like the old lady going to your performance, sir, just as she planned." Mr Sneed continued with his story.

"Morbid fancy." Charles scoffed. I raised both my eyebrows in incredulity at his continued ignorance.

"Oh, Charles, you were there." The Doctor scolded.

"I saw nothing but an illusion." Charles vehemently denied. I walked up towards him and cocked my hip to the side as I placed one of my hands on it. With stern eyes I stared him down.

"So how do you explain my little trick with the door? I suppose you're going to deny that as well too?" I questioned him. Charles paled but still drew himself up in preparation for an argument.

"That was pure coincidence, whoever or whatever you are…" He said trailing off. The Doctor was irritated with the stubborn man and didn't have time for scepticism as he rounded on him with a harsh scolding.

"If you're going to deny it, don't waste my time. Just shut up. What about the gas?" He questioned Mr Sneed. I gave Charles a sharp look at his stunned silence.

"Word of advice Mr Dickens, when you're around the Doctor, you better learn to believe real quick. He doesn't tolerate people with closed eyes and narrowed minded thinking." I said sternly to him. Charles swallowed nervously as he looked away from my blue eyes to the ground.

"That's new, sir. Never seen anything like that." Mr Sneed said after looking uncomfortably over at Charles after the Doctor's sharp words. But then I shouldn't be surprised, the Doctor today wasn't in the most forgiving mood. Too much anger in his heart. Angry Heart…Tori'sh… I think I had just discovered this new Doctor's name. Strangely enough it fit, I knew he would eventually grow out of it, but until that day, he would be Tori'sh.

"Means it's getting stronger, the rift's getting wider and something's sneaking through." The Doctor surmised. I was once again thrown for the loop at how quick his mind worked to connect the pieces. Just like putting a glass of water on the ground and then figuring out there was no engine, except how he got from dead people walking, to a rift in presumably time and space, was anybody's guess. It certainly confirmed he was a genius though.

"What's the rift?" Rose asked, drawing my attention away from my internal thoughts.

"A weak point in time and space. A connection between this place and another. That's the cause of ghost stories, most of the time." The Doctor explained. As much as I tried to stay out of the excitement of playing detective with the Doctor, it was too hard to resist as I had to add in my own piece.

"But that means, whatever is possessing those bodies is getting through the rift and causing the recently dead to move around as though it were alive. But how is it doing that? It can't be some form of magic…can it? No there is always some sort of explanation, Doctor if I had to guess I would say whatever that blue gas is, is the key. The more important question is who are they and what do they want?" I said eagerly. The Doctor had a strange gleam in his eyes, for the first time today I noticed that he wasn't looking at me with distrust or anger, but a real genuine emotion…respect. It was so unexpected that I floundered to reply, giving Mr Sneed an opening to make a comment.

"That's how I got the house so cheap. Stories going back generations." He said in revelation. I looked up as the door slammed shut behind Charles as he left the room. "Echoes in the dark, queer songs in the air, and this feeling like a shadow passing over your soul. Mind you, truth be told, it's been good for business. Just what people expect from a gloomy old trade like mine." He finished, like he was telling some sort of ghost story to a child.

"It's not magic, not at least to my knowledge. But what is magic, but unexplained phenomena. The gas is the key and as to who caused it and what they want, I don't know, but we need to find out." The Doctor replied to me. There was some general chatter amongst the others, as we broke off into several groups to discuss the issue. My attention however was drawn to Charles. I was worried that in our haste and our harsh words we had driven the man off to do something stupid. Glancing around and making sure the others were occupied, I left the room to go and find him.

He wasn't out in the hallway and he wasn't anywhere on this landing, so where was he? Wandering down back towards the room where Rose was held (that was my next best guess, as it did hold the key to this mystery, the dead bodies), I felt a hand on my arm and nearly let out a scream. Another hand clamped over my mouth just in time and pulled me back against a large warm chest. The feel of strange double heartbeats alerted me to who the stranger was that was now manhandling me.

"Shhh." He hushed me sharply as he led me back down the corridor and away from the room into another vacant chamber. He let go of me and shut the door behind him, as he listened for any interrupters and then turned to face me. By this point I was all but glaring at him.

"Seriously! What the Vespin was that about?" I demanded.

"Hush. For one thing I don't need Charles knowing we're watching him, for another I want to know what you're doing? What do you know?" He asked. I looked at him in doubt, was he seriously still thinking that I was out to get him? That I was somehow responsible for this mess that we had found ourselves in?

"Are you out of your mind?" I demanded. The Doctor's unrelenting stare didn't let up, making me feel very uncomfortable.

"Oh c'mon don't play that card. It didn't work last time either. I don't know what that locket of yours is exactly, but I am far from stupid. It lets you know far more about what's going on then the rest of us. All I'm asking is for a bit of advice, you did say you wanted for help did you not?" He said with a tinge of challenge in his voice. I turned around and angrily let out a sound of complete frustration. Why was this man so impossible!

"How many times do you need me to say this, I don't know anymore than you. I have literally known you for less than two weeks! And what I do know, I can't tell you about. Even if I wanted to." I said in a huff.

"I wasn't referring to the future versions of myself that you may have met, Riana. I was asking about what you know of this situation. Why were you coming this way?" He demanded, his arms were crossed over his chest and his stance was challenging. I buried my face in my hands and sighed, before looking up at him.

"I do want to help, Doctor. But you can't always twist everything around, so it works in your favour. I was only trying to make sure our harsh words hadn't led to Charles doing something foolish. I know how much that irritates you. Believe it or not." I said crossing my own arms, to mirror his closed off countenance.

"Who says that I can't? Still, that's all, coming to check up on old Charlie? Nothing else by the wayside in your explorations?" He said. That was it! Rounding on him, I decided to give him a piece of my mind.

"Yes, to help! You, you…suspicious magulli, why can't you believe that? I have done nothing to earn your ire and I'm sorry about your people I truly am, but I would never hurt you deliberately. But even if you are angry at me, we still have a job to do here and whatever might be between us, it can't interfere with this situation." I exclaimed. The Doctor's face became surprised.

"Our job?" He questioned. At his obvious ignorance I groaned. Nobody told me I would have to teach the Doctor how to BE the Doctor. Maybe this was how other versions of the Doctor felt about me.

"Yes, the usual job you do, whizzing around in your little blue impossible box, saving the day and making sure good triumphs over evil etc. 'We never walk away', that's what you always say to me. These people need our help, so that's why I am walking down this corridor in search of someone who might be able to help us. Because it's the right thing to do and because above all, I am trying to help!" I ranted at him, my voice steadily rising in volume. The Doctor's blue eyes pierced me, looking for any signs of duplicity. I know he found none, when his jaw tightened uneasily. He tugged on his ear uncomfortably as he lost some of the hostility in his bearing.

"I see." Was all he said.

"Can't you just believe for one minute that you can trust me, please?" I begged.

"Then tell me what you know." He said. I suppose getting angry at him for not relenting any ground, in favour of blind faith was too much to ask. He was making it clear, that if I wanted him to trust me than I had to offer something for him to believe in.

"Gwyneth." I said.

"What?" He asked, clearly not understanding what I was talking about.

"The maid. She knows things that shouldn't be possible. She said something about my mother to me, that no one should be privy to. She was also the one who knew exactly where the dead woman would be, that's why I got Rose to follow them. I know you know what I'm talking about. She did it with your tea too." I explained. I could see the spark of a mystery lighting up the Doctor's eyes. Something I far too familiar with. With that a strange smile lit up his face. It wasn't completely genuine…but it was a start.

"Yes, I noticed that too." He admitted.

"And Doctor…" I began.

"Yes?"

"The only thing the locket has showed me was Rose being taken here and nearly being killed by those dead people. That's why I blew down the door to get inside and help her. If I hadn't she would've died. I was only trying to make it right." I said with some vulnerability in my voice. I think that was when the Doctor realised that I was still very young and was barely just an adult myself.

"Thank you. Riana…" Now it was his turn to be awkward.

"Yes?" I questioned.

"I'll try harder, to not always take out all my frustrations on you. It still stands what I said earlier today in the TARDIS, sometimes I say things when I'm angry that I don't mean." He said slowly, as though every word was painful to admit.

"Apology accepted Doctor." I said lightly. But his next words reminded me that the usual comradery wasn't there.

"I wasn't apologising. We might have reached an understanding, but that doesn't mean I trust you. That's something that has to be earned." Was his firm reply. My breath hitched slightly, but once I again I reigned my emotions in to deal with them another time.

After that the Doctor had seem to withdraw from his interrogation of me in favour of what I think was his way of avoiding any more disagreements. With a 'let's go see old Charlie' at me he was out of the door and on the move again. I took five seconds to compose myself and set my chin stubbornly. Whatever was going on between the Doctor and myself, it couldn't get in the way of helping these people.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

"Checking for strings?" The Doctor asked, startling Charles out of his investigations of the coffin that contained the previously walking dead man. Charles fumbled and turned around to spot the Doctor leaning casually against the door way with his arms folded and myself just behind him.

"Wires, perhaps. There must be some mechanism behind this fraud." Charles said. I snorted.

"You won't find one." I gently reminded him. The Doctor walked forward, and I followed slowly behind as he approached the stumped man.

"Oh, come on, Charles. All right. I shouldn't have told you to shut up. I'm sorry. But you've got one of the best minds in the world. You saw those gas creatures." The Doctor said emphatically trying to convince him to see what was right in front of his nose. My mouth tightened at the Doctor's easy apology. He trusted this man so easily, but why not me?

"I cannot accept that." Charles denied. With that and getting fed up with being shuffled to the side, I easily created a telekinetic field around Charles himself and very carefully lifted him into the air. The poor man let out a startled cry and floundered around for something to grab onto. The Doctor looked astonished by my display.

"I suppose you're going to deny this?" I questioned him. The Doctor quick to drive the point home continued with his line of reasoning.

"And what does the human body do when it decomposes? It breaks down and produces gas. Perfect home for these gas things. They can slip inside and use it as a vehicle, just like your driver and his coach." He reasoned. Charles obviously getting the point looked beseechingly at me to stop.

"Alright, alright! Stop it. I can see that whatever you are that there is more than my mind has perceived. But I beg you Lady Riana, whatever this magic is, please I beseech you to release me." He said distressed. I gently lowered him to the ground and dissipated the field. His eyes were wild and a touch full of awe. "Can it be that I have the world entirely wrong?" He asked looking lost. Taking pity on him I walked closer and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Not wrong. There's just more to learn. Trust me, I was much like you two weeks ago." I said softly.

"I've always railed against the fantasists. Oh, I loved an illusion as much as the next man, revelled in them, but that's exactly what they were, illusions. The real world is something else. I dedicated myself to that. Injustices, the great social causes. I hoped that I was a force for good. Now you tell me that the real world is a realm of spectres and jack-o'-lanterns. In which case, have I wasted my brief span here, Doctor, Lady Riana? Has it all been for nothing?" He asked so lost.

"No, you just needed something to remind you what most humans forget, that there is always more to the universe than many have ever dared to dream." The Doctor said almost reverently. Charles I knew was seeing part of the magic the Doctor carried inside of himself, one that a voice in my head reminded me, made him the greatest and most terrible man I would ever meet.

"Perhaps we should all reconvene in the living room, Doctor. Give Charles a chance to catch his breath and maybe process a bit of what we've shown him. I can go find Rose if you like?" I offered. The Doctor eyes sharpened as he raised a brow in question. But he didn't argue, which is what I'm sure he normally would've done.

"A good idea Riana. Charlie, why don't you go and collect Mr Sneed and Riana and myself'll go and collect the others." He said directing Charles back to the parlour where Mr Sneed probably remained. Nodding as the sensible suggestion he went without a fuss.

"Where might you be off to this time?" He asked, a smirk on his face tell me that he wasn't fooled.

"Nothing, it's just I think Rose might be with Gwyneth and I think she might be the key to this issue and how we solve it." I replied. The Doctor nodded thoughtfully at my deductive reasoning.

"After you than m'lady" He said in what could have been slight mockery. Rolling my eyes, I stalked past him. Not knowing where Rose was exactly, I hesitated before deciding to try the ground floor. The Doctor made no comment as I haphazardly led him around. I let out a relieved sigh internally when I heard familiar voices talking, from what I could guess was the kitchen. Hurrying forward, I stopped abruptly when I spotted no one in this room. The Doctor's front hit my back again as he looked over my shoulder.

"Having trouble, Riana. They're over there." He said pointing to a side door that I hadn't noticed before, with soft light come out of it. I looked away sheepishly.

"Thanks." I muttered as we approached the door. The Doctor raised a finger to his lips to silence me when he heard them both talking. We decided to listen in. Gwyneth and Rose were standing slightly apart next to what looked like an ancient sink. They were drying and washing dishes as they talked.

"I swear it is the strangest thing, miss. You've got all the clothes and the breeding, but you talk like some sort of wild thing. Not to mention that Miss Riana, with her strange colour hair and strange way with words. Almost as though she speaks another tongue." Gwyneth commented.

"Maybe we are. Maybe that's a good thing. You need a bit more in your life than Mister Sneed. Riana and I, we try to let lose once in a while not be so uptight." Rose said shrugging.

"Oh, now that's not fair. He's not so bad, old Sneed. He was very kind to me to take me in because I lost my mum and dad to the flu when I was twelve." Gwyneth said. Rose looked saddened.

"Oh, I'm sorry." She said softly.

"Thank you, miss. But I'll be with them again, one day, sitting with them in paradise. I shall be so blessed. They're waiting for me. Maybe your dad's up there waiting for you too, miss." Gwyneth said casually again as if it was something that was well known.

"Maybe. Er, who told you he was dead?" Rose said realising something wasn't quite right. Gwyneth noticing her mistake quickly went back to washing up.

"I don't know. Must have been the Doctor." She said lightly. Nope, very unlikely considering the Doctor had been with me most of the night.

"My father died years back." Rose said wistfully. I felt my own mouth tighten as thoughts of my own father surfaced in my mind. I missed him so much it ached sometimes.

"But you've been thinking about him lately more than ever." Gwyneth observed.

"I suppose so. How do you know all this?" Rose demanded.

"Mister Sneed says I think too much. I'm all alone down here. I bet you and Miss Riana have got dozens of servants, haven't you, miss?" Gwyneth asked. They both laughed at her joke.

"No, no servants where I'm from. Don't know about Riana, but I don't think she has any servants either." Rose said.

"And you've come such a long way. Although not as far as the Lady Riana, who has travelled even further than you." She said strangely. I froze next to the Doctor who was listening intently.

"What makes you think so?" Rose questioned.

"You're from London. I've seen London in drawings, but never like that. All those people rushing about half naked, for shame. And the noise, and the metal boxes racing past, and the birds in the sky, no, they're metal as well. Metal birds with people in them. People are flying. And you, you've flown so far. Further than anyone. The things you've seen. The darkness, the big bad wolf. I'm sorry. I'm sorry, miss." She said staggering backwards from her in fear. Rose looked alarmed but asked her gently.

"What about Riana?" She asked. Gwyneth nearly collapsed under the onslaught of information that seemed to flash through her eyes. Her breathing sped up and she hunched over slightly.

"So far…so far. Through time and space, itself. Pulled and pushed with no clear direction in sight. So sad, so angry…even her own mother fears her wrath. So lonely, except for the one man that seems to understand, the Doctor. The sun that burns inside, light reaching out. The Heart, the Heart…Red Heart, waiting for the end. Why can't he come back? Why did he leave her alone after he promised her the stars? Born to destroy, born to consume…all the stars…the greatest weapon in the universe. The Red Fire is coming!" She yelled. Her body shook and even Rose looked disturbed. I felt myself gasp. What was that? What red fire? Surely she didn't mean me? I could feel the Doctor tense beside me.

"Gwyneth? It's all right." Rose said consolingly. The poor woman looked a fright.

"I can't help it. Ever since I was a little girl, my mam said I had the sight. She told me to hide it." Gwyneth explained. The Doctor stepped forward.

"But it's getting stronger, more powerful, is that right?" The Doctor's voice rang out in the silence, causing both girls to jump. I noticed how the Doctor was carefully avoiding my gaze and how Gwyneth almost looked scared at the sight of me.

"All the time, sir. Every night, voices in my head." She said quietly.

"Gwyneth, you're alright." I said.

"You grew up on top of the rift. You're part of it. You're the key." The Doctor said. I looked at him sharply, wondering where he was going with this. I knew that Gwyneth was important, I just hadn't figured out how exactly she fit into solving this mystery, what with her gift of knowing the impossible-unless…the creatures in the rift. If she could communicate with them?

"I've tried to make sense of it, sir. Consulted with spiritualists, table rappers, all sorts." Gwyneth stated.

"Well, that should help. You can show us what to do." The Doctor said pleasantly.

"What to do where, sir?" She asked confusion written on her face.

"How to communicate with them." I said.

"We're going to have a seance." The Doctor said with a grin. I knew this might go very badly, but still this might be the only way to figure out why these dead people wouldn't actually stay dead. Gwyneth looked back at the Doctor and me intensely for any signs of deception. But she found none even though Rose looked horrified at the idea.

"Very well sir, ma'am. Where did you want me to do it?" She asked.

"Hang on, you can't actually expect her to do this do you, Doctor, Riana?" Rose questioned. I looked at Rose calmly.

"She has to Rose. Her gifts are the only one's that might be able to help us solve this issue." I said. Rose still looked affronted at the thought. Personally, I didn't blame her.

"Old Charlie has already gone to collect Mr Sneed in the living room, we'll meet them there." The Doctor instructed. Gwyneth nodded before finishing up her chores before leading the way back towards the parlour.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

We sat around the table in the parlour, as Gwyneth had instructed. She sat at the head with the Doctor to her right and, me next to him, Mr Sneed next to me with Rose on Mr Sneed's other side. The room was slightly dimmer to create an almost eerie atmosphere for this séance. The Doctor had explained it was meant to be a ritual on Earth that humans conducted to talk to the dead. I found the practice extremely morbid.

"This is how Madam Mortlock summons those from the Land of Mists, down in big town. Come, we must all join hands." She said as she held out her hands for the Doctor to take and towards the empty chair, which was meant for Charles if he would just sit down. Charles looked at the rest of us as though we were mad.

"I can't take part in this." He refused adamantly. I sighed, this man was almost more stubborn than the Doctor when he a point to prove.

"Sure, you can." I encouraged him.

"Humbug? Come on, open mind." The Doctor reminded him. Reluctantly and with no great enthusiasm he sat in the spare chair. We all joined hands, I nearly yanked mine back from Mr Sneeds at its grimy feel. The Doctor's were warm and firm in my own hand. I still hadn't gotten used to the fact that he could change so completely and yet still be the same man. His palms were slightly calloused, although from what I couldn't guess, maybe fixing the TARDIS?

"This is precisely the sort of cheap mummery I strive to unmask. Seances? Nothing but luminous tambourines and a squeeze box concealed between the knees. This girl knows nothing." Charles said flippantly towards Gwyneth who looked slightly hurt by his dismissive words.

"Enough. That was uncalled for." I said sternly to Charles who looked surprised by light scolding.

"Now, don't antagonise her. I love a happy medium." The Doctor said jokingly. I frowned in confusion at the joke not quite understanding why it amused the Doctor. Rose rolled her eyes at his behaviour.

"I can't believe you just said that." She muttered to herself.

"What's a happy medium?" I asked. Both the Doctor and Rose groaned.

"Don't worry 'bout it Riana, I'll tell you later." Rose said.

"Now, Gwyneth, reach out." The Doctor instructed her. I looked up curiously towards where Gwyneth sat, she closed her eyes and seemed to focus inwards.

"Speak to us. Are you there? Spirits, come. Speak to us that we may relieve your burden." Gwyneth said out loud as, Charles rolled his eyes in obvious cynicism. Suddenly we all looked around as whispering seemed to fill the air.

"By the Light of Akhaten. It actually works, how strange." I murmured. The Doctor gave me a raised brow at my delight.

"Can you hear that?" Rose said. I nodded, our glances met and we shared a nervous smile.

"Nothing can happen. This is sheer folly." Charles stated. I gave him a look to shut up.

"Look at her." Rose demanded. Charles' gaze drifted to the servant girl who was so very obviously in some sort of trance. The room seemed to become filled with blue light that swirled above our heads.

"I see them. I feel them." Gwyneth said.

"What's it saying?" Rose asked.

"I'm not sure, Rose." I answered.

"They can't get through the rift. Gwyneth, it's not controlling you, you're controlling it. Now, look deep. Allow them through." The Doctor said urgently. Gwyneth focused harder and suddenly the light seemed to take the form of a vague humanoid with flowing hair. At the same time a deep menacing pulse came from the locket and it glowed an alarming red. I gasped as several heads turned towards me.

"Danger! Little blue queen, danger!" Whispered the locket. Whatever was going on it wasn't good. But I couldn't stop it now, we were too far in. We needed those answers, but not at the cost of potentially Gwyneth's life.

"Doctor! You have to get her to stop, whatever is happening it's bad." I said urgently. The Doctor's eyes met mine, but he shook his head.

"Not now Riana, we're nearly there. Yes, you can. Just believe it. I have faith in you, Gwyneth. Make the link." He answered back.

"I can't!" She cried out. Rose encouraged her as well and finally it seemed as though the link was made. As Gwyneth began to speak at the same time the figures above her did, in their ghostly childish voices.

"Great God! Spirits from the other side." Mr Sneed cried out.

"The other side of the universe." The Doctor said firmly. It started to make more sense.

"Pity us. Pity the Gelth. There is so little time. Help us." They spoke. I felt shivers run down my spine at the ominous feeling I was getting from the locket, something wasn't right.

"What do you want us to do?" The Doctor asked.

"The rift. Take the girl to the rift. Make the bridge." The Gelth instructed.

"What for?" I demanded them, not willing to let go of the warning I had been given.

"We are so very few. The last of our kind. We face extinction." The Gelth replied. I felt my face pale and my eyes widen. The Doctor's angry eyes met mine, as if to once again hammer home, that it was me that was responsible for the destruction of his race.

"Why, what happened?" He questioned. I remained silent.

"Once we had a physical form like you, but then the war came." The Gelth continued.

"War? What war?" The Doctor asked.

"The Time War. The whole universe convulsed. The Time War raged. Invisible to smaller species but devastating to higher forms. Our bodies wasted away under the Red Fire. We're trapped in this gaseous state." They explained. I looked up sharply at this information and in particular at how Rose and the Doctor shared a glance.

"So that's why you need the corpses." The Doctor deduced.

"We want to stand tall, to feel the sunlight, to live again. We need a physical form, and your dead are abandoned. They're going to waste. Give them to us." The Gelth said sorrowfully. I felt myself almost moved by their plea. Rose looked horrified at the mere mention of such a suggestion. Maybe humans had particular taboos against such uses of their cadavers.

"But we can't." Rose said.

"Why not?" The Doctor looked harshly at Rose. At least I wasn't the only one on the receiving end of that look.

"It's not. I mean, it's not…" She trailed off helplessly.

"Not decent? Not polite? It could save their lives." The Doctor said angrily.

"Hey! Don't talk to her like that. I also agree with Rose." I said firmly. The Doctor's glare turned to me.

"You would put the dead above the living?" he asked in almost utter distrust.

"No. But she might have different customs than what you do. I just am not completely convinced of their motives." I reminded him gently.

"Open the rift. Let the Gelth through. We're dying. Help us. Pity the Gelth." The Gelth said before they gave an eerie cry and they were sucked back into the gas lamps around us. Gwyneth fell forward onto the table from the stress of maintaining the connection. Rose rushed forwards to help her.

"Gwyneth?" Rose called frantically. I rose as well to help her lift the girl onto a lounge not far away, so she might be more comfortable when she awoke. I could vaguely hear Charles mutter to himself about this all being true in the back ground. The Doctor however remained silent as he watched Rose and me.

Some time past, and the excitement of the evening died down as everyone made themselves comfortable, as we deliberated over our next course of action. Rose attended to Gwyneth as Mr Sneed stared forlornly off into the distance. Charles had taken up residency at the mantle piece and the Doctor leaned nearby.

I couldn't help but wonder what the outcome of all of this was going to be? The locket had warned me that there was danger involved, yet when wasn't there? The Doctor was being too stubborn to be reasoned with, not to mention the fact he didn't trust me in this form. Rose was caught up in her human sentiments and unfortunately, I couldn't help but be slightly swayed by the plight of the Gelth. It was our duty to help these people, but what if it wasn't just them, but the last of a species as well. I don't think my conscious could live with the knowledge of another dead race at my hands.

"It's all right. You just sleep." Rose's murmur brought my attention to the fact that Gwyneth was awake again.

"But my angels, miss. They came, didn't they? They need me?" Gwyneth said. We all roused ourselves to listen in. The Doctor came closer as he watched on.

"They do need you, Gwyneth. You're their only chance of survival." The Doctor informed her softly. Rose glared up him. I sighed seeing a fight brewing.

"I've told you, leave her alone. She's exhausted and she's not fighting your battles. Drink this." Rose said angrily as she helped Gwyneth sit and drink a cup of tea. I came closer and placed my hand on Rose's shoulder.

"Doctor, perhaps we could discuss this elsewhere. You can't force Gwyneth into this and Rose you need to remember that they could be the last of their species. If we don't help them, then they're going to die." I said resolutely to her. The Doctor only leaned his head against the wall and sighed.

"I thought you said you were on my side?" Rose accused. I shook my head.

"I never said that Rose, only that I didn't think that the Gelth were being entirely honest. There is still a danger here, by we also have a duty to help them if we can." I reminded her.

"Well, what did you say, Doctor? Explain it again. What are they?" Mr Sneed spoked up in the silence.

"Aliens." The Doctor said causing me to glance up and meet his intense blue eyes. However, it wasn't just the Gelth that didn't belong on this world, but the Doctor and myself as well.

"Like foreigners, you mean?" Mr Sneed questioned.

"Pretty foreign, yeah. From up there." The Doctor said raising a finger to the roof.

"Brecon?" Mr Sneed said not quite getting it.

"Close. And they've been trying to get through from Brecon to Cardiff but the road's blocked. Only a few can get through and even then they're weak. They can only test drive the bodies for so long, then they have to revert to gas and hide in the pipes." The Doctor said.

"Like Miss Riana, she is one of these foreigners too." Charles said astutely. Rose and the Doctor both froze. I glanced up to meet his eyes, Charles wasn't afraid this time, just curious.

"What makes you say that?" I asked him.

"For one thing, no human being I've ever seen has hair that colour. For another you have those strange powers, something that no ordinary person should be able to do. You said you were from very far away earlier. This has all but led for me to determine, you are like these Gelth." He said.

"What is wrong with my hair?" I muttered somewhat sulkily. The Doctor rolled his eyes at my comment.

"Yes. You are correct Riana is also not from here. But she's a different type of alien to them." The Doctor calmly explained.

"I won't hurt you." I said to Charles. He nodded.

"I know. But these Gelth they need the girl because they can't get through." He said.

"They're not having her." Rose said firmly. I gave her a stern look.

"Rose." I reminded her.

"But she can help. Living on the rift, she's become part of it. She can open it up, make a bridge and let them through." The Doctor tried to get Rose to see. I knew Rose wasn't having any of it. Her beliefs were too rigid.

"Incredible. Ghosts that are not ghosts but beings from another world, who can only exist in our world by inhabiting cadavers." Charles exclaimed in excitement. Rose however got up and stalked over to the Doctor and myself.

"Good system. It might work." The Doctor said impressed.

"You can't let them run around inside of dead people!" Rose said. I gave her a sympathetic look even as the Doctor's eyes narrowed.

"Why not? It's like recycling." The Doctor said callously.

"Seriously though, you can't." Rose said in desperation.

"Seriously though, I can." He reiterated.

"It's just wrong. Those bodies were living people. We should respect them even in death." Rose yelled. I had never seen the Doctor yell at Rose like this. I was so used to him being annoyed at me.

"Do you carry a donor card?" The Doctor asked. Whatever a donor card was it seemed to stump Rose's argument.

"That's different, that's..." Rose spluttered.

"It is different, yeah. It's a different morality. Get used to it or go home. You heard what they said, time's short. I can't worry about a few corpses when the last of the Gelth could be dying." He yelled at her.

"Hey! That's enough, both of you. Doctor she comes from a different culture than you, just like I do. You can't force her to change in a second, even if I can see your point she at least deserves some explanation. Not a complete derogatory rundown of why she is stupid. Rose, while I can respect your opinion, the Doctor is right. Even if he is horrible at saying it politely, the Gelth are dying and even though respecting the dead is important, they are dead. We can't let a whole species die just to satisfy some of your cultural beliefs, that's not right." I said breaking up the argument. Rose looked affronted but looked away from me sadly. I knew she could see the wisdom in my words.

"Doctor, please I know it's hard for you, but could you please try to be a bit more respectful when dealing with people today?" I asked of him imploringly. He looked away as well but nodded.

"I don't care. They're not using her." Rose said stubbornly. I sighed and was about to try a different method when Gwyneth spoke up.

"Don't I get a say, miss?" Gwyneth said solemnly.

"Look, you don't understand what's going on." Rose tried to reason with her, but I could already tell that her mind was made up, she would help her 'angels' to whatever cost.

"You would say that, miss, because that's very clear inside your head, that you think I'm stupid. I know you are trying to help Miss Riana, that you are concerned for my safety and the integrity of my angels, but I want to help them." She said to both of us. Rose looked embarrassed at her statement.

"That's not fair!" Rose cried.

"Rose she is right, she can make up her own mind and we don't have the right to stop her." I said reluctantly. Now Rose was glaring at me again in betrayal.

"It's true, though. Things might be very different where you're from, but here and now, I know my own mind, and the angels need me. Doctor, what do I have to do?" Gwyneth asked the Doctor resolutely. I looked down at the floor with a feeling of dread filling my stomach.

"You don't have to do anything." The Doctor said gently.

"They've been singing to me since I was a child, sent by my mam on a holy mission. So tell me." She said firmly. The Doctor looked tired, but he stood up and with a tight jaw told her.

"We need to find the rift. This house is on a weak spot, so there must be a spot that's weaker than any other. Mister Sneed, what's the weakest part of this house? The place where most of the ghosts have been seen?" The Doctor stated as he turned towards Mr Sneed.

"That would be the morgue." Mr Sneed said. That feeling of dread just doubled.

"Of course, it would be." I said just as Rose murmured to herself, "No chance you were going to say gazebo, is there?." With that we all trudged out of the room as Mr Sneed lead us down a corridor towards the back of the house and down a flight of stairs, into a very dreary cold room, full of dead bodies, covered in sheets.

"Urgh. Talk about Bleak House." The Doctor muttered to no one in particular. I snorted.

"And here I was thinking you were into the most disturbed places for 'fantastic' adventures." I said to him jokingly. He strangely enough quirked a smile at my comment.

"The thing is, Doctor, Riana, the Gelth don't succeed, 'cos I know they don't. I know for a fact there weren't corpses walking around in 1869." Rose stated matter of factly.

"Time's in flux, changing every second. Your cozy little world can be rewritten like that. Nothing is safe. Remember that. Nothing." He said in reply as he randomly clicked his fingers to show his point. The last part was aimed at me as he gazed intensely into my eyes. I bit my lip, but avoided saying anything.

"Doctor, I think the room is getting colder." Charles observed. I didn't notice it particularly as I was all but immune to the cold compared to the humans. However, I did notice that I felt a strange hollowness in my chest and the locket was pulsing weirdly.

"Here they come." Rose cautioned as blue light filled the room and coalesced under an archway.

"You've come to help. Praise the Doctor. Praise him." The Gelth said again in the voice of a child. A whisper of an echo sounded in my head; danger. I knew I had to be vigilant and wary.

"Promise you won't hurt her." Rose pleaded with the alien being.

"Hurry! Please, so little time. Pity the Gelth." They said.

"I'll take you somewhere else after the transfer. Somewhere you can build proper bodies. This isn't a permanent solution, all right?" The Doctor said. I glanced at him in respect, he really had listened to Rose and wouldn't see the customs of the humans interrupted.

"Thank you." I said to him.

"Don't think anything of it. You were right by the way. It's not fair for me to expect Rose to change immediately, she is only human after all." He said.

"What about me Doctor? I'm only Zell after all, can't I be forgiven for making mistakes sometimes as well?" I asked. His eyes met mine and softened.

"We'll talk about this later." He said.

"My angels. I can help them live." Gwyneth said as she walked forward anxiously.

"Okay, where's the weak point?" The Doctor asked.

"Here, beneath the arch." The Gelth said. Gwyneth walked over and stood within the Gelth under the arch. We all looked on in apprehension.

"You don't have to do this." Rose pleaded again. I put a hand on her shoulder in support.

"My angels." Gwyneth sung.

"Establish the bridge. Reach out to the void. Let us through!" The Gelth said. The feeling of dread in my stomach tripled.

"Doctor, something isn't right…" I trailed off as Gwyneth opened her mouth and a red light seemed to explode out of her.

"It is begun. The bridge is made." The Gelth said as the mirage they had been using grew sharp teeth and their blue light turned to red fire. The locket responded with its own light that seemed to come out of it container and illuminated me eerily. The Gelth screamed.

"She has given herself to the Gelth. The bridge is open. We descend." They shouted. We all stumbled back in horror as we realised our mistake.

"The Gelth will come through in force. We shall descend and destroy the Red Fire that took our bodies and ravaged our forms. The keeper of the Heart will be consumed. She shall join the legions of the dead!" They yelled. I gasped in fright as all the people in the room turned to look at me.

"You said that you were few in number." Charles exclaimed.

"A few billion. And all of us in need of corpses." The Gelth said. Suddenly the blue light was entering the dead bodies and just like earlier they began to rise. I reacted on instinct and threw up several fields to ward them off.

"Gwyneth, stop this. Listen to your master. This has gone far enough. Stop dabbling, child, and leave these things alone, I beg of you…" Mr Sneed said in fear, just as a corpse behind him grabbed his neck and snapped it. I screamed.

"No!" I yelled. Even as we were forced back, my force field wavered as the dead thrust themselves against it.

"I think it's gone a little bit wrong." The Doctor said stupidly. I wanted to smack him, could he really think of nothing cleverer to say right when we were about to die.

"You think!" I said to the Doctor, just as Mr Sneed stood back up deathly pale with those haunting unnatural blue eyes.

"I have joined the legions of the Gelth. Come, march with us." The now possessed body of Mr Sneed said. I looked over to where Charles was standing a little way from us, he was panicking and was backing away as he looked on in fright. No, we couldn't lose any more people, we needed everyone we could get to beat this thing.

"No." Charles murmured looking at me in fear.

"We need bodies. All of you. Dead. The human race. Dead. "The Gelth said as they advanced in horrifying numbers against my shields. The Doctor was looking at Gwyneth now as our last hope to stem the seemingly unending stream of them. So many dead and they were all walking.

"Gwyneth, stop them! Send them back now!" The Doctor ordered, but the girl was too far gone. By now the Doctor turned to me as he knew I was our last hope from letting the legion of dead bodies adding us to their army.

"Riana? You better not let those fail." He said frantically. But it was really difficult to maintain my concentration what with the amount of dead piling against it and Charles was moving further and further out of range. Sweat began to bead on my forehead, as my arms shook from the effort of keeping the blue fields up. They flickered dangerously, and I growled back at the Doctor.

"I'm trying Doctor, I'm not sure about you and Rose, but I don't really want to join the armies of the living dead thanks. I like myself just as I am." I sassed back. Rose laughed hysterically.

"That's funny, really. But seriously are those going to hold?" She asked. By now were all but backed up against a metal barred door. Charles' field was extremely weak, as he was almost at the stairs and all my concentration was on keeping the Doctor, Rose and myself safe.

"Four more bodies. Convert them. Make them vessels for the Gelth." The Gelth spoke simultaneously.

"Doctor, Miss Riana, I can't. I'm sorry. This new world of yours is too much for me. I'm so…" With that he fled the room. No! He couldn't leave, he was braver than this I know he was, he was so clever and his mind as the Doctor had exclaimed was brilliant. How dare he and here I was wasting part of my precious reserves of energy shielding him. The Doctor realising that we were out of options opened the metal barred door and shoved Rose inside before turning towards me. His hand was firm on my arm as he dragged me backwards. I fought him, still determined to prove that I could get us out of this.

"No, we can beat this. If I just hold them off a bit longer I can probably get us out of here." I declared hotly. The Doctor's eyes were sympathetic but hard as he pulled me in behind them. The field I was holding flickered than died as we found ourselves locked in, with nothing barring their way but a metal door, the dead surged forward.

I found myself turning to the Doctor angrily.

"Why did you do that? I know I could have found a way to stop them! Now Charles might be dead." I yelled. The Doctor's eyes were sad, but there was steel glint in them.

"Not at the cost of anymore lives. I don't need anymore stupid heroics. Plus, Charles has fled, there is nothing we can do about it anymore. Those fields of yours can only hold them off so long before they fail. Even if we did escape we still would have the minor issue of the billions of Gelth pouring through the rift. We have no way to stop it. So don't be stupid!" He yelled, and I was shocked to find that he was afraid, not just of the situation but for me.

"Give yourself to glory. Sacrifice your lives for the Gelth." The Gelth spoke. The Doctor turned to them as he backed all of us up against the far wall of our little alcove, we were apparently doomed to die in.

"We trusted you. We pitied you!" The Doctor yelled.

"We don't want your pity. We want this world and all it's flesh." They declared, my anger flared as I used a large blast of power to throw them all back.

"Yeah, we'll you'll have to kill me first!" I challenged.

"Riana, I don't really think that is helping." Rose said desperately, as all my blast had done was allow more room for the others to surge forward and take their place.

"Then live no more." The Gelth said.

"But I can't die. Tell me I can't. I haven't even been born yet. It's impossible for me to die. Isn't it?" Rose said turning to stare at the Doctor and me in desperate hope. I knew that time could change, the Doctor had told me as much in the future, but I still couldn't see how if he died here, how I could meet him in the future.

"I'm sorry." Was all he said, looking at Rose in sorrow.

"But it's 1869. How can I die now?" Rose whispered.

"Time isn't a straight line. It can twist into any shape. You can be born in the twentieth century and die in the nineteenth and it's all my fault. I brought you here." He said.

"No, it isn't. It's my fault as well Doctor. If I hadn't told Rose to follow them, then we would never have been drawn into this mess." I said gravely. The Doctor's blue eyes turned to look at me in another light.

"Don't say that. If I hadn't been so horrible to you today and trusted you enough to listen, when you warned me that we shouldn't have opened the rift, then everything might have been different. You were right Riana. Just like always and I am ashamed to admit that I hate it. That I don't like it when other people are cleverer than me." He said in earnest. I had all but gaped at him, that the fact that the Doctor seemed to be admitting he was wrong happened as often as the Festival of Offerings.

I knew an uuta branch when I saw one. "But, I have already seen future versions of you, Doctor, that means we live through this." I said to try and reassure them both. Rose seemed to perk up, but the Doctor killed that thought with three words.

"Time can change." He reminded us. Rose seemed to turn to me as though asking me to produce another miracle, to contradict the Doctor's words. First with Martha now with Rose? Why did all his companions look to me for direction and possibilities for saving the day? I had learned my lesson from last time, I wouldn't give up so easily this time. Rose seeing my lack of answer looked down by gritted her teeth in some semblance of a smile.

"It's not either of your faults. I wanted to come. I guess I never thought I die like this." She said trying to inject some gallows humour into her statement.

"What about me? I saw the fall of Troy, World War Five. I pushed boxes at the Boston Tea Party. Now I'm going to die in a dungeon in Cardiff." The Doctor said taking up her humour. I huffed even as I tried not to snort at both their attitudes. C'mon, c'mon, surely this wasn't how we all died. I had met other versions of the Doctor, Amy and Martha, those bright individuals who were my friends. This couldn't be how I ended. The Gelth were pushing against the gate still stinking up the place with their horrible hard to breathe gas…gas!

My eyes widened as the memory rushed over me.

The small bloated gas filled kuaki floundered around before me in its tank. My small 12-year-old hands were pressed firmly against the glass as I watched with curious eyes. A presence behind me alerted me to the fact I wasn't alone in the room.

"Are you conducting an experiment little Keldosa?" A deep man's voice spoke from behind me. I turned to see the familiar and much-loved face of my Papa.

"Why won't he float, Papa? I tried giving him more gas but he just bobs up and down and then falls." My high-pitched voice said. He hmmed as lent over to glance at the settings on the tank. Then a small knowing smile lit up his face.

"What have I taught you about how this particular species floats?" He asked in his usual lecturing voice. My small eyes lit up.

"They use amoonium gas that is very light, lighter than the surrounding atmosphere." I said very eager to please. He nodded.

"Yes, but how do they take the gas in?" He asked.

"They use a form of osmosis, net movement of amoonium particles to a higher concentration than what's outside of them. They take it from the atmosphere." I said.

"Very good my clever little Keldosa. Now what do you think would happen if say the gas concentration was higher on the outside than the inside?" He asked. I gasped, now seeing my error.

"The gas particles would be sucked out back into the atmosphere, unable to stay inside, so it could maintain its buoyancy in the atmosphere causing it sink. There is too much gas in the tank Papa!" I exclaimed. His laugh could be heard from out on the street as it caused me to join in.

They were gas! There might just be a way to get out of this alive, but I was still stuck inside this cage and I had no way to physically see where all the gas lamps were, let alone turn them on all with just telekinesis, but there was someone who might be able to. Hopefully I wouldn't be too late.

"It's not just dying. We'll become one of them." Rose said despondently. I made a noise of irritation.

"Alright the both of you, hush, I have to concentrate if this is going to work." I said more to myself than them. Both of them turned to look at me as if I were mad.

"Riana?" Rose queried. But I had already closed my eyes and drawn the locket out, the eerie red light hadn't abated and filled the room. The bodies flinched back as if struck. I of course didn't notice all of this trying to focus on making myself transport to Charles. I could feel the familiar tingling beneath my skin from my hitchhiker friend Glory, as if she seemed to be directing me. With an almost queasy feeling, I was yanked from my physical body and pushed through several walls and out onto the street where Charles was being chased by one of the gas creatures.

DWDWDWDWDDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWD

I looked around to take in my surroundings, hoping that this time it would actually work, that I would be physical enough to interact with the world around me.

"Charles!" I shouted. Sure enough the man came to a grating halt and spun around to stare at me. He spotted the Gelth following him the same time I ran up and pushed him further out of the way then the Gelth could reach. Just as I predicted the creature wailed and was sucked back into the street light. The concentration of gas was too high, and it couldn't maintain its form.

"Failing! Atmosphere hostile!" The Gelth said before it went abruptly silent. I turned back to help Charles stand up, surprised that I could actually interact with someone for a change. He was looking in fear at me. I gave him a sympathetic glance, completely understanding his feelings.

"Th-thankyou, Miss Riana. You saved me from whatever that creature was." He stammered. But while I wanted to console him, I didn't have time.

"Look, I'm not here to yell at you or anything for running away. I know why you did it. Being with the Doctor and having him expect you to just get it right away, without letting you breathe or question anything. Being made to be better than you have ever been before, without even knowing you could do it…believe me I get it. But I need your help Charles. Innocent people are going to die. The Doctor and Rose and maybe all your race." I said in a rush, pleading with him to understand. Charles swallowed. I knew he was a good man, that he wouldn't just let all these people die. But he was just so scared and didn't know how to be brave.

"Why can't you? How did you get away? I mean its all well and good to write about heroes, but to be expected to be one? I'm an old man as it is, it isn't right to admit to cowardice when even young women are braver than you." He said. I came closer and placed my hand on his shoulder.

"I'm asking you to be brave Charles. Someone once said to me, being brave isn't feeling no fear, it's feeling the fear and choosing to act anyway. I can't do it because I'm with them, I can't explain it right now, there's not enough time. But I have a way to beat them. I just need you to carry it out." I said firmly with challenge in my eyes. Charles seemed to debate it but eventually nodded.

"You are indeed very good with words and very astute as well young lady. What do you need me to do?" He asked. I pointed to the street lamp.

"Did you see how the creature was sucked back into the lamp." I continued when he nodded. "It's because they can't maintain their form when there is too much gas in the atmosphere. It becomes like a magnet pulling them back to the highest concentration of gas. I need you to flood the house with gas. Turn off all the flames in the lamps and let the gas do its work. Can you do that?" I asked.

"I think so. Ingenious thinking, suck them out like poison from a wound." He said, suddenly filled with determination and excitement. I smiled at him as I could feel myself being pulled back to my body, my sense of danger warning me that I was in trouble again.

"I have to go now, but I know you can do it. When you reach the count of 150, I need you to have reached the morgue." I half yelled as I was pulled back into my body.

DWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDW

I could feel the drop in my energy almost immediately as I returned. I stumbled and nearly sank to the floor. Rose and the Doctor looked confused at my behaviour, perhaps not much time had passed. I looked up as I realised the door was groaning on its hinges.

"Where did you go?" The Doctor demanded.

"Need to know." Was my prompt reply. The Doctor and Rose looked at each other, as if sharing some secret languages only they knew. I tried not let that bother me again.

"We'll go down fighting, yeah?" Rose said bravely towards the Doctor and me.

"Yeah." He replied, still gazing at me with curiosity.

"Riana?" Rose asked. I shook my head.

"Not if I can help it. I don't plan on dying today!" I declared. The Doctor huffed, as if determining I was mad finally.

"Fine suit yourself." He said somewhat angrily. I couldn't tell them yet that everything was going to be alright, because everything depended upon Charles Dickens to follow through with my plan and if he failed, then we really all would die.

"Together?" Rose said. Looking back at the Doctor.

"Yeah." He answered again and before I could get a word in edge wise they held hands. I looked away, still counting in my head, building up my strength and concentration. I had to time it just right.

"I'm so glad I met you." The Doctor suddenly said, nearly causing me to choke out a gasp. Rose was looking at him as if he were Akhaten himself come to life.

"Me too. Both of you." Rose said as she still gazed longingly into the Doctor's eyes. Just then I reached the count of 149 as Charles came bursting down the stairs. When he spotted me he smiled. The Doctor was clearly surprised as he I'm sure he had given Charles up for good.

"Riana! Riana! Turn off the flame, turn up the gas! Now, fill the room, all of it, now! It's just as you said, it's working!" He yelled excitedly. As he looked around beginning to notice all the Gelth were losing some of their control. I smiled at him happily. The Doctor was looking at me as though realising I hadn't given up hope.

"What're you doing?" He asked perplexed. I couldn't help but grin a bit smugly.

"What I told him too. Osmosis at it's best." I said with great satisfaction.

"Turn it all on. Flood the place!" Charles added. I could see when my plan clicked in the Doctor's mind. He turned around and pulled me into a tight hug. Eyes sparkling with mischief and a touch of remorse.

"I'm sorry for doubting you." He said. I shrugged half-heartedly, trying not to blush. Rose however wasn't following along. The Doctor pulled away as he faced Charles again.

"What, so we choke to death instead?" Rose said horrified. I turned back towards her.

"No, Rose. Don't you see, it's just like my Father said. It's all about net concentration. There's this species called a kuaki where I come from. I had one as a pet. They float by drawing in gas from outside of themselves in the atmosphere, by relying a process called osmosis. Once I flooded the tank with too much of this gas and it couldn't float. It was because the concentration of gas outside of itself was so high that it was pulling all of the gas inside of itself out. So now assume we have a species that is entirely gas and we flood the outer atmosphere with lots of the same gas, what happens?" I said excitedly.

"It'll draw them out of the host. Suck them into the air like poison from a wound!" The Doctor said. Rose was smiling now as she was finally caught up. Charles had got all the gas lamps in this room and was slowly backing away, as the bodies turned away from us towards him.

"I hope, oh Lord, I hope that this theory will be validated soon, if not immediately." He said staring at me in fear again. I nodded, now was the time. With that I sent a large burst of telekinesis out towards the door and it was blown off it's hinges. At the same time, I rushed back and ripped out a pipe from the wall and let more of the gas come out.

"Watch and be amazed my friend!" I shouted as the Gelth screamed and were sucked out of the bodies, causing them to drop like zoon.

"It's working." Charles said. The Doctor rushed out and we followed closely behind him towards Gwyneth in the arch.

"Gwyneth, send them back. They lied. They're not angels." The Doctor said trying to reason with her. Gwyneth looked up and seemed surprised to see us.

"Liars?" She asked simply. I came up to where the Doctor was standing next to her.

"Look at us. If your mother and father could look down and see this, they'd tell you the same. They'd give you the strength. Now send them back!" I said. She looked into my eyes, but I could see the struggle there. Rose began to cough behind me and I realised the poisoned gas was now filling the room, even as we lingered. I could feel it seeping into my lungs, even as I fought the reflex to cough. The Doctor as usual, appeared unaffected but such trivialities.

"I can't breathe." Rose said.

"Charles, get her out." The Doctor ordered, but Rose wasn't having any of it. Rushing forward to where we were standing, even as she chocked to death.

"I'm not leaving her." She said firmly. I huffed in irritation, trying not groan in exasperation at her stubbornness.

"They're too strong." Gwyneth said finally distracting me from replying.

"Remember that world you saw? Rose's world? All those people. None of it will exist unless you send them back through the rift." The Doctor said. I coughed as the gas started to make me slightly light headed. While Zell were better at surviving with less oxygen than some species, toxic gas wasn't especially conducive to living.

"Gwyneth, you have to try, so many people both here now and in the future won't be born, they'll die. I know you have the strength to do it, please?" I begged of her. The girl suddenly looked annoyed as she firmly met out eyes.

"I can't send them back. But I can hold them. Hold them in this place, hold them here. Get out. Please ma'am, you have so much you need to do and if you don't survive so many will die. You have to help him!" Gwyneth said suddenly. Her voice taking on that eerie prophetic tone, when she was seeing the future. She reached into her apron and pulled a little rectangular box of something. When Rose saw she it, she became hysterical. The Doctor seemed shocked, but he smiled slightly at her.

"You can't!" Rose screamed. Charles had grabbed her though and was dragging her towards the door. The Doctor was also trying to force me to go as well. But I wouldn't leave him alone, I had made a promise and I would see it through.

"Rose! You have to go!" I yelled at her. She seemed shocked by my shout, but looked pleadingly at the Doctor.

"Leave this place!" Gwyneth said.

"Rose, get out. Go now. I won't leave her while she's still in danger. Now go!" Rose looked once more at the Doctor and me before she allowed Charles to drag her away up the stairs, coughing the whole way. "You too, Riana." The Doctor said. I glared at him.

"Not a chance, Tori'sh. I made a promise and I intend to keep it, no matter how much of a pain in the ass you are to deal with at times." I said doggedly. The Doctor seemed to glare at me, but by this point it didn't have near the effect he wanted. Somehow, I also knew he was glad he didn't have to face this alone.

"On your own head then. Now give that to me." He said holding his hand for the box. I had a feeling the Doctor was going to do something foolish.

"Doctor, what is that? You aren't going to sacrifice yourself, are you?" I demanded. But he ignored me as he waited for Gwyneth to respond, but she didn't. I looked up when a voice whispered in my head. Dead. I suddenly tugged on the Doctor's arm turning him to face me. I shook my head as a tear ran down my cheek.

"She's not coming Doctor…it's too late." I whispered. His eyes widened, but he turned back around to place his hand against the side of her throat to feel her pulse. I knew what he had found; nothing. With that, the Doctor leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead.

"I'm sorry." He said. Gwyneth smiled slightly, even as I coughed again.

"Thank you, for everything. I promise we won't forget this." I said. With that the Doctor grabbed my hand and pulled me choking and spluttering behind him as we ran for the stairs and the exit. I couldn't stop the tears that ran silently down my face. Gwyneth was already dead, and we couldn't save her.

The house exploded behind us just as we reached the door. I realised she had been carrying strikers. My heavy skirts kept causing me to trip and as soon as we were clear the Doctor threw himself forward and covered me. I felt the air woosh out of my lungs at his heavy weight on top of me as the heat and debris from the explosion filled the air. The Doctor rolled off me as he sat up and met the eyes of Rose and Charles who were watching the burning house. The Doctor slowly stood to his feet and helped me up. Rose's eyes moved between the Doctor's solemn blue eyes and the tears falling from mine. She seemed so innocent then, as if asking why we couldn't save Gwyneth when we had promised.

"She didn't make it." Rose said brokenly. I limped forward as I took her hands in mine, squeezing them slightly.

"I'm sorry Rose. There was nothing we could do." I said sorrowfully. She sniffed, but nodded.

"She closed the rift." The Doctor added. Charles looked at the burning house in pity.

"At such a cost. The poor child." Charles said.

"We did try, Rose, but Gwyneth was already dead. She had been for at least five minutes." The Doctor explained. Rose looked shocked, as if the thought of walking dead people was new today.

"What do you mean?" She said.

"I think Gwyneth was dead, from the moment she allowed the Gelth through the arch." I said softly. Rose dropped my hand as we all turned to watch the fire burn in the chilly night air.

"But she can't have. She spoke to us. She helped us. She saved us. How could she have done that?" Rose asked. I wasn't sure that I could ever answer that question. Why did certain things happen in our lives that turned them upside down? Why did my father leave me and my mother? When it had been his lesson that had saved us today, why did I end up meeting the Doctor, a man that defied explanation? Some things just were and we had to accept them and move on otherwise we would never be able to live.

"There are more things in Heaven and Earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy. Even for you, Doctor. Or you Lady Riana, faery from the stars". Charles said wisely. I bit my lip, to keep from sniffling. This day had been a long and extremely trying one. It felt like I was right back at the beginning of meeting the Doctor, raw, numb and in so many ways alive for the first time ever in my life. But it was Rose that summarised what we were all feeling, in the end.

"She saved the world. A servant girl. No one will ever know." Rose said softly. I shook my head.

"We will. For as long as well all shall live. My Mama, always said that as long as you carry that memory in your heart, it will never truly be gone. There is always something left of us in everything we touch, be that people or places." I replied. Rose smiled at me in gratitude. The Doctor's eyes were watching me closely as we all eventually decided to leave. It was too painful to remain where were and also too risky at the authorities finding us and being arrested. So we left, as if we had never even been there.

The carriage had long departed, so Charles accompanied us back down the main street as I assumed we were heading back to the TARDIS. As we were passing the theatre again, I had a strange realisation. I had one of these man's books, but where had I gotten it from?

"Hey Charles, I have a small request to make…" I said. All of my companions turned to look at me strangely. The Doctor's brow quirked.

"You might say, I'm something of a newbie coming to Earth and all. Could I have one of your books, signed if I could." I asked him. He looked at me strangely, but then smiled.

"I'll see what I can do Lady Riana, for you I will try." He said. I grinned.

"Fantastic." I said.

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One signed book later, called Oliver Twist, we made our way back to the TARDIS. It was just as we left it, sitting quietly in the alleyway, snow piled up around it. We were the only things that had really changed since we had left. The Doctor was less angry with me and Rose was much more solemn and myself, well I was still processing everything. When I had woken up this morning, it had been to the thought of a relaxing day at a spa, not dealing with angry Time Lords who blamed me for the destruction of their people, or famous authors who needed to be encouraged to be brave, or young girls finding out about the dangers of the world, or servant girls who died saving the world. A lot of things really, like masses of dead people walking around the place. But then again, this was really becoming the norm for my days. I just wanted to change from this ridiculous dress into something much more comfortable and rest without the prying eyes of the Doctor on me for once.

"Right then, Charlie boy, I've just got to go into my, er, shed. Won't be long." The Doctor said trying to be blasé about what the TARDIS exactly was. It certainly made for a strange sight, a big blue box sitting randomly parked in an alley. The Doctor pulled out his key (something I noticed he still hadn't given to me yet), and put it in the lock.

"What are you going to do now?" Rose asked Charles. Somehow Charles looked far more alive than I had ever seen him. He wasn't as quiet as before.

"I shall take the mail coach back to London, quite literally post-haste. This is no time for me to be on my own. I shall spend Christmas with my family and make amends to them. After all I've learned tonight, there can be nothing more vital." He said, and I was very happy for him. There really was nothing more important than making sure you weren't on your own on days of celebration. I smiled at him. Rose also looked relieved.

"You've cheered up." The Doctor commented.

"Exceedingly! This morning, I thought I knew everything in the world. Now I know I've just started. All these huge and wonderful notions, Doctor. I'm inspired. I must write about them." He said in excitement. I laughed at his enthusiasm.

"I'm glad, this world could stand to learn more about aliens and maybe they'll be less suspicious of people with blue hair." I said, winking at him. His eyes widened and I noticed a blush rose on his cheeks.

"Well, hmph, yes…I suppose. Although Lady Riana, your hair is very strange." He said. I rolled my eyes, but it was in good humour.

"Do you think that's wise?" Rose queried.

"I shall be subtle at first. The Mystery of Edwin Drood still lacks an ending. Perhaps the killer was not the boy's uncle. Perhaps he was not of this Earth. The Mystery of Edwin Drood and the Blue Elementals. I can spread the word, tell the truth." Charles explained. While half of that made no sense to me I could tell he was sincere in what he meant to do.

"Good luck with it. Nice to meet you. Fantastic." The Doctor said as he was about to enter the TARDIS.

"Bye, then, and thanks." Rose added as she shook his hand and kissed his cheek. I laughed as he spluttered.

"Goodbye Charles Dickens, thank you for being brave today, even when you were scared. I shan't forget this." I said as I also gently kissed his other cheek and made to follow Rose and the Doctor.

"Oh, my dear. How modern. Thank you, but, I don't understand. In what way is this goodbye? Where are you going?" Charles said in confusion. I laughed again as the Doctor spoke.

"You'll see. In the shed."

"Upon my soul, Doctor, Lady Riana, it's one riddle after another with you. But after all these revelations, there's one mystery you still haven't explained. Answer me this. Who are you?" Charles asked.

"We're just friends doing the right thing. Helping out where we're needed." I replied.

"But you have such knowledge of future times. I don't wish to impose on you, but I must ask you. My books. Doctor, do they last?" Charles asked.

"Oh, yes!" The Doctor cried happily.

"For how long?" He asked in a very vulnerable voice. But in my heart, I knew the answer, this kind brave man would be remembered for all time.

"Forever, Charles." I said softly.

"Right. Shed. Come on, Rose, Riana." The Doctor said as he pushed open the door and was about to enter when Charles made one last remark.

"In the box? All of you?" He asked. I smirked as the Doctor raised a brow at Charles.

"Down boy. See ya!" He said before he walked in and Rose followed behind him. I turned slightly to Charles.

"You'll like this bit. Remember what I said about impossible things, well watch." I hinted as I closed the door behind me. I walked back into the TARDIS and over to where Rose and the Doctor were gathered around a monitor showing Charles outside looking at the TARDIS in confusion.

"Doesn't that change history if he writes about blue ghosts?" Rose asked.

"In a week's time it's 1870, and that's the year he dies. Sorry. He'll never get to tell his story." The Doctor said with remorse. I sighed, I should have expected this.

"Oh, no. He was so nice." Rose said sadly.

"But in your time, he was already dead. We've brought him back to life, and he's more alive now than he's ever been, old Charlie boy. Let's give him one last surprise." The Doctor said as he started flipping switches and pushing buttons, before he pulled down the dematerialization sequence lever. We all watched on as Charles's face grew amazed and filled with awe, as the familiar wheezing noise of the TARDIS filled the air.

"I'm glad we could do that for him. He was much braver than we gave him credit for in the end, Doctor, Rose." I said. Rose turned around and smiled at my statement.

"I just can't believe you made us go back to the theatre to get a signed book from him." She laughed. The Doctor smiled.

"Well you did just both meet one of the most influential authors in the universe." The Doctor declared. I snorted.

"Still forgetting I'm not from Earth Doctor. Plus, next time we go to meet someone famous, you're gonna take me to see Tiika Zelohnay." I stated. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"We'll see." He said teasingly. Rose laughed at our banter as she turned to throw her arms over both our shoulders.

"I'm just glad you two have stopped fighting. It's so nice to be back to normal. The three of us, in the TARDIS, Time and Space at our finger tips." She said. I tried to smile, but I knew it didn't fully meet my eyes as I looked over to see the Doctor looking just as uncomfortable.

"Rose, why don't you go and get changed we can catch up in a bit. I just need to talk to Riana for a bit, if that's alright?" He asked. Rose nodded, still slightly oblivious to the tension that still remained. With barely a glance back at us she flounced off up the ramp to go and get changed. Leaving me alone in the TARDIS with the Doctor.

"So…" I said awkwardly. The Doctor rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. He sighed.

"I guess we need to talk about where this leaves us." He said. I really didn't want to be having this conversation.

"Doctor, I know you have your reasons for distrusting me and I know you won't talk about it. But as far how this changes anything, it doesn't. I can't stop myself from travelling through your timeline and I can't control where this stupid locket takes me. I just hope in time, you will be able to see for yourself that I am the real thing and that I only want to be your friend. I made a promise to someone, that I would be there for you no matter what. I know you have been through things that have left you broken and angry. But you're not alone. Not this time…. I'm here, if you need to talk. That's all I wanted you to know." I said quietly, resigning myself to being dismissed as usual. So I made to walk off, but stopped at the Doctor's voice.

"Wait. Please." He said. I turned around as I bit my lip. The Doctor's fist was clenched, but he approached me slowly.

"I was wrong. All those things I said today to you. You didn't deserve to hear that. You more than proved to me that you can be trusted. I was just bitter over you always being right and sometimes cleverer than me. Having all those people look up to you, especially with Rose. I don't deal well with others who know too much about me, when they do it can be dangerous, and I've just lost so many people in my life, that sometimes I think it's better to be alone. Riana can you understand that, you have changed my world? Forced me to care again, forced me to live…to be the Doctor. The one thing I didn't want to be after what I did." He said. I could feel tears gathering in my eyes, the pain in his voice was just so raw.

"Doctor…I didn't know. I swear I didn't know about any of this. It's just as new to me as it is to you. I just want to see you not in pain. Believe me when I say I understand, wanting to just lie down and die. To regret a decision in the past, but you showed me what this universe could offer, all the pain and tragedy to go with all the light and beauty. This Universe is worth saving and for as long as I can I will make sure they have a Doctor to save it and show them the good in it." I said vehemently.

"What I wanted to say, is can you forgive me for being an arse to you. I'm an old man and I sometimes get a bit too angry." The Doctor asked softly. I walked towards him and took his clenched fist in my hand. I nodded.

"I'll always forgive you, Doctor." I said, and I was surprised, that it was one of the most genuine things I had ever said and felt down to the core of my being. I would forgive him, for anything, given enough time. With that I went to smooth his fist out and take it in my hand only to be surprised to feel something small and metal in his palm. Turning his hand over I saw it was a charm, a brown wooden cross. Like the one I had seen in the Chapel of Rest. I gasped.

"I think after all of that, you deserve this. The code word will be Mysteries. Fitting don't you think." I swallowed as I gently took the charm and looked it over.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because, sometimes, not very often, I can be wrong, and you help me get it right." He said as he used his Sonic Screwdriver to undo the clasp on my bracelet and slide the cross onto it and do it back up again.

"No hard feelings then?" I asked cautiously.

"No hard feelings. Although I can't promise that I won't lose my temper again." He said warningly. I snorted.

"Oh, don't worry this isn't the first time you've yelled at me and it certainly won't be the last." I said lightly. With that I left the console room to go and place my new book on a spot on my shelf and take this ridiculous dress off.

As I was surveying myself in the new dress I had chosen, a soft dark grey knit one, with long sleeves and a white pattern around the edges, it came only to my knees, I looked in the mirror to see my reflection had been placed with Glory's.

"What do you want?" I said tiredly. She looked back at me with her glowing white eyes as if looking me over.

"You did well today, Red One. Your powers over Time and Space have grown." She said. I rolled my eyes.

"Sure, and I suppose I owe you a slight bit of thanks for warning me. But still what exactly are you and what do you want with me?" I said.

"You do not know? We wish to spread our light, you will do this for us. With the power that lies slumbering in your Heart, the Red Light will wash over this Universe and with it we will follow. We wish to help." It replied. I still did not like what it implied.

"What Red Light? What power in my heart?" I demanded, but Glory only blinked slowly and faded away. I sighed resigning myself to not getting any answers. I was just so tired and warn out from the last day alone and decided that I could do with some sleep. Making my way over to the plain covers I burrowed under them and fell asleep, not noticing when the Red Light enveloped me and carried me away to a different time and place.

Next Chapter: The Rebel Flesh- Solar Storms and Meeting Romans

Akheet Word List

Rao'wil- Very sour fruit whose juice is notoriously bitter.

Gobjem- Blue fruit drink. Riana's favourite, very common on Tiaanamat.

Snorri- Equivalent of a weasel.

Kanwaii- Insanely mad.

Vespin- Equivalent of hell.

Magulli- A cousin of the Ooska, which has an incredible sense of smell and an almost empathic ability to smell liars.

Uuta- A plant that is used to symbolise peace or surrender.

Kuaki- A jellyfish like species that is found in the atmosphere of the moon Pul'an'tan. It uses a rare form of very light gas called amoonium to float. Often kept as pets, as they do not require much maintenance for the children on Tiaanamat.

Zoon- Equivalent of flies.