DISCLAIMER: I do not own

A/N: A huge thanks goes to all my readers, and to my beta Jesa463.


The Doctor, though spinning around the TARDIS console so rapidly that his legs almost got tangled up with one another and his head began to spin, was still unable to get Rory out of his mind – or rather the kisses and tender touches he and Rory had so recently shared. Every time his mind tried to jump to another topic he found himself having images of Rory hurled at him at a thousand miles per hour. His brain was under attack, and he just couldn't stop it. This, in itself, was bad – extremely bad indeed. For a man such as himself not being able to forget was a disaster. If he was able to remember every thing that had happened in his long, long life, then he'd be mad – or madder than he already is to be more precise. He felt so ridiculously silly dwelling on something as simple as a hug and a kiss, so stupidly sentimental and human. It was sometimes impossibly hard to remember that he isn't human, and that he's a Timelord, but he had to remember that, he couldn't ever forget that. If he, for one moment, fooled himself into thinking that he was human he might just very well crumble, because no matter how hard he would try and believe that, the day would come where the people he loved, such as Rory Williams, would perish. He would be left to stand on their graves, to weep, and to grieve. Rory had seen him dreaming, which was also a far too human-like habit to have, he was becoming more human, but he wasn't human, he was Timelord.

His dangerous thoughts of his own humanity, and the fact Rory was now staring at him with two smoldering eyes was driving him to the brink of a new level of insanity. He has to get out of here, out of the suddenly-too-small-on-the-inside box, and he has to do what he does best, he has to run straight into the face of trouble itself. Yes, that's what he needed: trouble. He needed something to keep his mind off of things, even if it was for a little while. He pressed as many random buttons as possible, turned his body in two clumsy movements and smiled a little sheepishly at the Roman. At least he'd be able to keep Rory's mind off of things too. It seemed they were both fighting off their own personal demons. It would be good to get a bit of fresh air. Fresh air can do a man the world of good.

"Now Rory, prepare to be amazed!" The Doctor exclaimed, skipping over to the doors in a flash of heightened excitement, " Welcome to the floating city of Arieth! Blimey! I've never been here before – that's new. Me not being somewhere before I go there." He licked his lips, and rubbed his hands in anticipation.

"Is there a reason why you've not been there?" Rory asked, sounding quite worried.

The Doctor frowned, "Not that I know of, but my brain can't hold every single bit of information in the universe, can it?" No, his mind could only focus on Rory, the way he smelt all humany and the way his beaked nose made him look so beautifully sculpted, "Now lets go, shall we?" The Doctor fluently sprang the doors open and stepped out of them, and into nothingness.

There was no solid ground, no anything in fact, just the darkness and the never-ending fall. Ok Doctor - don't panic - Doctor, you're panicking - Doctor stop. He wanted nothing more than to clamp his eyes shut, but his fear was holding them firmly open. Wherever he was, it was freezing cold, the air was thick with a bluey-green smog, but there was no breeze, just an unnerving stillness.

He heard his name being called from above him. No, Rory! Something was terribly wrong here, and Rory could be in terrible danger. Of course, danger was sort of what The Doctor had been looking for, which, looking back on things, wasn't the brightest of ideas. But still, this kind of danger was immensely powerful. It wasn't the "Oh dear we better run" kind of danger, it was more of a "This is only going to end in doom" kind of danger. Goose bumps rippled through The Doctor's entire body and every single hair on the back of his neck raised. With a horrible smack, The Doctor hit the bottom of the dark cavern below him. His head throbbed in a mild protest and his vision became a blurred memory. He placed a hand on his head, but was quick to pull it away. It was now covered in a sticky substance. This wasn't a good sign, in fact, there were no good signs in sight. He couldn't see a thing, not just because of the knock to the head he's just received, but because there was literally nothing to see. It was pitch black, with no signs of life, and no signs of ways he could escape, apart from obviously the way he came, and that was a long way up.

He tried rising to his feet and for a moment was successful, but that success was soon outlived as something knocked him back down, " Ooof! That really hurt!" He gasped, a little taken aback. He could hear breathing, terribly heavy and almost ominous breathing. Something began to crawl across him, something slimy and hot. He shivered in repulsion, and swallowed down hard as he felt hard talons scratch the surface just above his Adams apple. He wanted to move, to run and never look back, but something instinctively told him that if he did that then he'd be killed on the spot.

"Doctor." A voice tickled against his ear in a greeting, it's tone intimate, and it's words so soft that The Doctor barely caught the sound of his own name.

"Hello, dear. You've heard of me then?" He replied. He was quickly answered by a sharp knock to his chest, whipping the air from his lungs. He choked and spluttered, "How rude!" He yelped, earning another swipe from the talons, this time across his cheek, drawing blood.

"I ask the questions around here. " The voice was still no more than a whisper, but that somehow made it sound that much more intimidating.

"Okay, ask away." The Doctor retorted.

The creature applied more pressure to The Doctor's body causing him to cry out in pain. He was sure that he had just broken something. The sound of bone cracking hit the air and screams of pain echoed out. Yup he'd definitely broken something –a rib maybe?

"I make the orders around here too. You are to say nothing."

The Doctor was grabbed, hauled to his feet, and dragged. He continued to be dragged in silence for what felt like hours, but to a Timelord those hours seemed to stretch on for eternity. When the creature finally let go of him, he was pushed to a corner of a, if possible, even darker place than previously.

"You really like the whole doom and gloom thing, don't you?" The Doctor mildly commented. His head was immediately slammed repeatedly against the hard floor.

"Quiet!" The voice roared. A loud moan crept out of The Doctor's lips, "I said quiet! If you don't be quiet the human will be destroyed"

"Rory? No. NO! NO!" The Doctor screamed. A kick to his guts soon followed. The talons gripped his head into a firm, awkward, and painful position, and a slick tongue ran over his face.

"I think we have an agreement Doctor."

The Doctor tried to nod but the talons prevented him from doing so. He bit down on his tongue till he tasted blood trickling into his mouth. He wasn't going to speak. He wasn't going to make a sound. He just hoped Rory wasn't suffering a fate akin to his.


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