Heloo everyone, XTimeGirlX is back! Here's the next chapter, hope you like it and please REVIEW! Because can I just say, it takes quite a bit of work for me and BananaBabe to string this together what with messaging across the time difference, exchanging plot ideas and plans and so on. We're putting a lot of effort in here, so please tell us what you think! X =D

Disclaimer – I own nothing. Not a cookie! Tee hee, I like that saying 'not a cookie' – Hm....maybe it's an English thing. =D

Chapter 11

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Suddenly, before Rose's eyes, Jimmy Stone faded away and she saw for real what he really was. A skeleton – nothing but a freaky skeleton that was laid, unmoving on the floor. Not Jimmy Stone, not ever. He was gone, run off to America the last she'd heard. He wasn't coming back, and he wasn't sorry for leaving her; she knew that, deep down. He'd never wanted her.

It was much the same for Gwen. The figure before her gradually began to look less and less like Rhys before all she could see was the skeleton. Nothing more. Rhys didn't want her back, he never would after what she'd done....after what they'd done. She glanced at Jack with tears in her eyes, only to be infuriated by his sympathetic eyes. She didn't need his sympathy, she didn't want it.

'Rose, what are you doing?' The Doctor asked as she began frantically fiddling with the settings on the sonic screwdriver.

Rose looked up at him briefly before looking back down at the device. 'Trying to find a setting to get you down from there....which will work?'

The Doctor's face grew grave as he looked down at her from where he was hanging, she was trying so desperately to free him....it almost broke his heart. She'd always been like this....so fiery, so determined. He smiled slightly. She was his Rose. His amazing, fantastic and utterly brilliant Rose. And if he ever got out of this mess, he was going to tell her.

'I'm sorry, Rose....I'm so sorry.'

Rose had heard that sentence before, way too many times. The apologetic tone rung in her ears, making her heart rate race. She stopped dead and looked up at him, eyes wide and fearful. 'What d'ya mean? Why are you sorry?'

'What's going on?' Gwen asked, panicking at the fear in Rose's voice.

'Yeah, what's wrong, Rose? Doctor?' Alice added, massaging her head.

The Doctor frowned at her. 'Are you alright, Alice?' He asked her, momentarily distracted from Rose's attempts to free him and Jack.

'I'm fine.' Alice replied, putting her hand back at her side....her head hurt so much. It ached like it never had, as though her brain had suddenly grown too big and her head was too small to accommodate it.

'You've absorbed the vortex.......how did you all get here? I didn't think you'd be able to find us. How on earth did you manage to fly the TARDIS?'

Rose stopped The Doctor's questions in their tracks. 'No time for explanations, tell me how I get you out of there!' She exclaimed, frustrated.

The Doctor sighed, glancing up at his chained hands. 'It's no use, Rose. These are Proprios Chains – that means they won't break until the person that made them is dead.'

Jack beside him grimaced. 'And three guesses who made them.'

'Vora.' Gwen muttered, her voice filled with dread as Rose's eyes widened and she glanced behind her in the direction of the room where the Voradon Empress still lay unconscious. But not for long.

'So....we gotta kill these Voradon things? How?' Rose asked, feeling at a complete loss of what to do. She'd never had to do something so crucial without The Doctor before. And it scared her, scared the life out of her if she was honest.

'The Voradon are a bit like the Ood in the way their minds are linked. They feed information off each other which is useful most of the time. Except when people want to kill them.'

Alice frowned, not completely liking the talk of murder. She'd come with them in the hope of excitement, of adventure. Not this....not to kill an alien race. 'Why do they have to be killed?'

The Doctor turned his eyes on her, his expression clearly apologetic. 'I'm sorry, Alice, I'm so sorry. But they're trying to eat a whole level five planet. That's illegal in every section of the Shadow Proclamation. They have to be stopped, and this is the only way.'

'And I don't particularly like the idea of staying in these chains for eternity, either.' Jack added, looking up at them with a disgruntled look on his face.

Alice nodded and sighed quietly as Rose continued on. 'So how do we kill 'em then, Doctor?'

'Like I said, their minds are linked....but so is their life source. It's all linked to the Empress – kill her, and you kill them. It's like with a lot of alien races, their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness.'

Gwen's eyes widened. 'Kill.....' She murmured, also looking back to the door and remembering the sheer terror that had run through her looking at the Empress Vora; she was terrifying. 'Her? You want us to kill her? How on earth are we supposed to do that?!'

There was silence then, hanging in the thick atmosphere like the sword of Damocles. Only Rose caught The Doctor eyes flicker regretfully to Alice's slightly shimmering eyes and it was then she knew. Only the vortex was powerful enough.....but there was only so much extent to which you could wield its power......how long was it before Alice cracked?

Apologies for the cliffhanger there! Hope you liked it anyway and please review! And also, please check out my Songfic competition! After the success of B's, I decided to launch my own but with a bit of a difference. Please go to my profile to find out more! X =D