JESUS EVERYONE HELLO. God, how long has it been? Anyway, there is a HUGE HUGE HUGE amount of stuff going on in my life right now, some of it bad, and its nothing I can't fight through. And my first stop is here - updates! I'll try and make two tonight, maybe more, and I have some outstanding beta'ing to catch up on by tomorrow as well. Anyway, please enjoy! :)

Valentino was silent at first, because he couldn't trust himself to speak. He shook all over, his heart lodged itself in the roof of his mouth, and oh Dio did he want to run. If almost instinctively, he reached up to the cross he wore as a token of Cesare's and a token of his faith and clutched it so tight that it hurt his hand. His wide eyed stare was so fixed on the Daleks that he failed to notice the way Cesare's eyes fixed on the action: his eyebrows went up a little, and the corner of his mouth jerked upwards, pleased with Valentino's reaction.

'My…my lord…' Valentino managed, swallowing heavily. Those horrible lights seemed to focus on him again, twitching slightly in their stalks. Their whirr made him start. 'I…I don't understand…'

'I have been blessed, my friend!' Cesare announced, lowering his hands and leaving his arms on the rests of his chair. 'The assassins may have their Doctor, but all the while I have the Daleks, I have the cure!' He smiled, fanatic and incensed. 'Daleks!' At once, the stalks swivelled so that they were looking at Cesare, pointing downwards. He smiled up slowly into the one on the right, reaching up and running a finger down the stalk. 'Tell Valentino of how you came to me. Of how you and your kind pledged themselves to me.'

The Daleks did nothing, but the lights refocused, seemingly in thought. The whirr made Valentino start again, and when they raised their stalks to look at him, he suddenly found it difficult to breathe.

'WE OB-EY.' Said the Dalek on the left. The voice was a mix of the all the sounds you don't want to hear at night – a grating, mechanical sound. Valentino was terrified of it, and he murmured a little as the two Daleks rolled forwards. They stopped with a little lurch, and now in the light, Valentino saw them in full – strangely shaped and covered with bumps on their lower parts, he couldn't comprehend how they worked. How they moved. How they breathed.

Or if they even did.

'WE SENSED A GREAT POW-ER AC-ROSS THE UN-I-VERSE.' Said the one on the left.

'WE CAME SEEK-ING ANS-WERS.'

'AND FOUND THAT THE GREAT POW-ER BELONGED TO A MAN EVEN GREAT-ER.'

At this, Cesare lifted his head, and smiled indulgently. He believed them, and every word they said. But Valentino found something nagging at him through the blind fog of terror in his mind – something wasn't right. Creatures like this surely bowed to no man? But Cesare reassured him with his dark eyes, and Valentino tried to tell himself he was reassured.

'WE HAVE PLEDGED OUR-SELVES TO CES-ARE BOR-GIA.'

'HE LENDS HIS POW-ER TO HELP US RE-BUILD OUR RACE AF-TER IT WAS DE-STROYED BY THE DOC-TOR.'

Valentino caught the little tremor in the Dalek's voice as it said the Doctor's name – was it afraid? Was this creature of power afraid of one man? Before he could question it, Cesare lifted himself from his chair in a graceful move, and came down the small stairs that led up to it.

'Do you see, Valentino?' He asked his spy as he came to stand between the Daleks. 'The Assassins' Doctor is evil. He is a destroyer of worlds and races. He is a man not to be trusted, if he is a man at all.' Cesare motioned at the two Daleks. 'And what is a man, if he is not one? How can he be beaten? How can I crush him, like others who have opposed me?' His voice lowered, and he caressed the head of the Dalek next to him, almost fondly. 'The Daleks tell me that they have tried to kill him. They fought a great war, hidden away somewhere in the skies in an effort to eradicate him, but still he lives. To run away another day…' Cesare lifted his eyes to Valentino's. 'But they say that with my Apple, that they can do it. That they can finally kill the Time Lord who has held domain over this universe as if he has the right. And they can eliminate the Assassin threat once and for all.'

'THE UNI-VERSE WILL BE FREED FROM THE DOC-TOR.'

'AND CES-ARE BOR-GIA WILL BE FREE TO RULE ALL.'

'The Daleks have promised me planets and civilisations to rule at my command. But we shall see.' He said dismissively, but Valentino could see the spark in his eyes – the greed that accompanied the whole concept of planets and civilisations being his to rule. And it terrified Valentino. With his whole concept of everything that had ever been mangled and broken, he was at a hopeless and frightening loss for something to say. Cesare seemed to take pity though, and with a sympathetic expression, came forward to hold Valentino's face in his hands. If Cesare noticed Valentino's violent start of fear, he didn't comment on it.

'I know that this must be frightening and confusing,' Cesare said gently, responding quickly to the sudden relief in Valentino's eyes. 'But worry not, my friend. With the Daleks' help, it will all soon be over. And victory will be ours.'

'Y-yes,' Valentino managed. 'Of course, my Lord.'

Cesare smiled at him, and released him gently. 'Perhaps you should return to the Assassin hide out, and think on this as you sleep. It will all make sense by tomorrow.'

'Yes, yes of course,' Valentino was more than pleased to excuse himself from Cesare's unstable company. 'Will my Lord call for me soon?'

'Very soon. I promise.'

Valentino sketched a hasty bow and fled. Cesare watched the door slam behind his trembling and pathetic figure and gave a genuine smile that was more a sneer. Behind him, a Dalek rolled forward and turned its eye stalk in his direction.

'AND HE WILL BE THE ONE TO BRING US THE DOC-TOR?' It asked, and even though there was no real emotion to be heard in its voice, Cesare picked up on the doubts it had.

'Don't question my word,' he told it. 'And he will.'

He smiled again.

Naughty Cesare, what ARE you doing?

Anyway, yeah. With everything going on as it is right now, I can't help but realize how much this fanfiction has been there through it all, and how despite everything, I've always come back to it. This thing has literally been my life for two years, and its comforting to know that it will always be there whatever happens. And to YOU, the reader, thank you. Thank you for being there and enjoying this with me.

ANYWAY. I plan to update again tonight, maybe with two updates or more. Because here's what I do: I've written about ten, twenty updates in advance, and sometimes I go back and erase some of it, and sometimes I erase it all or sometimes I leave it as it is and can't wait to see what you guys think of it. A bit how I live my life, if that makes sense.

And as a note, to myself above all things:

Anthony King still lives. It won't make any sense to anyone, except one person. And, most importantly, me.

Please review, I need a few kind words of encouragement :)