"Daddy!" Jamie yelled as Rory appeared through the front door. Rory scooped up the boy and held him close. Anders looked at the pair of them from a doorway, his hair was mussed and his face was paler than normal,

"Anders? Worked anything out?" Rory asked as he came over, still holding Jamie, he could see how worried his friend was, "Don't worry. We'll get them back," he set Jamie down, "And they'll be safe with River," he noticed Anders deliberately not meeting his eye, "It's ok, I know Amy told you all about it."

Anders nodded hesitantly, "I just, didn't want you to think I was prying and keeping secrets."

"It's ok. I'm glad you were there to support Amy. Wish I could have been."

Jamie looked up at Rory, "Daddy? Is that River lady my sister?"

Rory knelt down to match his son's level, "Yes, Jamie, she is. Remember all the stories mummy and me told you? About The Doctor, and our adventures?" Jamie nodded, "And remember there was a woman that we kept seeing, but in the wrong order?"

Jamie was still agreeing, "You called her Mrs Doctor," he smiled remembering the stories.

"Well, that's River. She was taken away when she was a baby, and we kept looking for her, but didn't find her until much later, because you know what we say about time travelling,"

"It's full of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff," answered Jamie,

Rory nodded, "That can't be explained. Which is why it's just a secret between the five of us, ok? The Doctor and Mrs Doctor, if people started asking questions, it might get them in trouble. You understand don't you?"

"Of course!" Jamie replied, indignant that the thought he would tell even crossed Rory's mind, "But we have to save them now. Right?"

It was a fairly risky and stupid plan, but it was the only one they had. All they needed to do was find the exact same spot the other three had disappeared, and try and get The Guardians to trigger it. The two men grabbed what they could to defend themselves, though they were unsure how much use a cricket bat and a screwdriver would be, even though it was sonic. They ventured outside, the snow was blustering around them now and they battled through it to the field of possessed snowman. As soon as they stepped foot on the edge of the green, the icy sculptures awoke and they made themselves ready to barrel in. Until Jamie ran ahead of them quite unexpectedly,

"James Aaron Williams! Get back here right now!" demanded Rory.

But Jamie wasn't listening, instead he faced all the snowman who seemed to hesitate at his appearance, "Hey, you guys. We're not a threat to you or time, ok? Neither are my mummy or River, or Zara. They only attacked because they thought you were attacking them. You understand that don't you?"

Anders and Rory looked quite amazed that they weren't being penned in yet. Talking. Why had they not thought of that? They had assumed the worst. It was an understandable circumstance, the worse usually happened, but this seemed to be working. Jamie spoke well and reasonably.

"Now they really are in trouble, and we need you to help us find where they went. Things really will get messed up if we don't."

Rory and Anders decided to test the water, or the ice rather, and walked over, but instead of blocking their path, The Guardians cleared one for them and they rejoined Jamie. He and Anders suddenly disappeared into the floor, but Rory was cut off by an icy Guardian, only for a minute however, until the other two had completely gone. Only then was he let through to join them.

River had grabbed her sonic screwdriver and was trying every combination of settings available to get through it but it wasn't working. She groaned in annoyance. They had tried everything, from picking the lock in the conventional way, only to find it was electrified to trying to resonate it open. They resisted the urge to shoot it in case it rebounded. The worst thing was, they still had no idea why they had been kidnapped. Fortunately they were not kept in the dark for very long. The great doors of the throne room swung open to the sound of fanfare which scared them all half to death. Their captors in various shades of black and brown burst in, marching in formation, as a grey creature, the biggest of them all, adorned with fine dragonfly like wings, strode into the room and sat on the throne. When she was comfortable her servants fell silent, and they all focused on the trio in the cage.

"So, you finally got them then," said the Queen, who didn't sound impressed. "Took you long enough,"
"My apologies, Queen Rajani," it was the female black creature who stepped forward, "But we believe there was some confusion, due to unforeseen circumstances."

"Is that right Maiara?" Rajani sniffed, "How can grabbing a child be confusing?"

Maiara stepped forward, regarding the cage, Amy and River stood protectively in front of Zara, "She was…younger…than we were hoping." Maiara frowned as she saw River, "This woman was an uncalculated event. We did not expect her,"

River scoffed, "Well I'm so sorry I interrupted your plans."

Rajani did not seem convinced as she briefly glanced at her prisoners, "Why is she a factor?"

Maiara turned to her monarch, "The Guardians were strongly opposed to her presence. She alarmed them, and we were worried she would take the children for herself, so we had to speed up the plan."

"What do you even want with me?" protested Zara.

"Bring the child here, keep an eye on her bodyguards," commanded the Queen.

There was little any of them could do when some of the foot soldiers approached the cage. Thy simple reached out one of their many legs and a door slid aside. River and Amy were cut off by spare shoulders as Zara was prodded ahead of the others, to stand in front of Rajani. She looked tiny in comparison to the beasts and the hall they were in. She met the Queen's eye but her fist were clenched to try and hide the fact that they were shaking. She leaned forwards, inspecting the girl, who resisted the urge to step backwards away from her, she didn't like bugs at the best of times.

"If you value your interfering guardians, you'll tell me exactly what I want to know."

Zara remained silent, and Rajani took that as confirmation of her request. "So. Where is he?"

The girl's mind immediately set on Jamie for some reason, but the truth was, she had no idea where he was. Last she had seen of him she was falling down a hill. "I don't know," she replied honestly.

This was not the right answer, Rajani hissed in annoyance, "Don't lie to me girl! Tell me where your little friend is!"

"I'm not lying. I don't know. I don't even know where I am."

"You're dead if you don't start talking!"

"But I don't! I don't know where my friend is!" Zara's voice was gradually rising pitch as she got more panicky, but she couldn't resist the urge to add, "And if I did, I wouldn't tell you!"

That was not the response Rajani wanted either. She riled up and smacked Zara across the face, sending her clean across the room, narrowly missing hitting the cage where Amy and River shot forward, shoving their keepers out of the way. They got a fair way, right next to the girl who was lying on the floor, before the Queen's armed guards grabbed them, holding rapier-sharp metal legs at their throats. Zara struggled to her feet, trying not to cry, she had landed hard and it hurt like anything.

"You will tell me where The Doctor is or I kill all three of you, SLOWLY!"

Zara's look of defiance was gradually replaced by an expression of utter confusion, "Who?"

"The Doctor!"

"The Doctor? Like the one everyone keeps telling me about?"

"Now that's more like it. Tell me."

"You mean you don't know he's not real? He's just a character. Part of a story. He doesn't exist."

Rajani was gearing up to attack again, until Maiara deftly stepped in front of her and she hesitated, "Maiara, start talking."

"It's possible, My Lady, that the brat is telling the truth."

"What?"

Maiara didn't even flinch, she wasn't afraid of her monarch. She was her most trusted advisor, she was key in the court, "As I said previously, I fear our calculation may be slightly off. By a mere fraction, but off nonetheless. The Guardian's uprising fast forwarded our plans. It is entirely feasible that she doesn't know The Doctor. It is also entirely feasible that if we kill her now, she will no longer be of use to us."

"I'm disappointed in you Maiara."

"That is a fair judgement My Lady, but I fear this mistake was inevitable. If the blonde one hadn't arrived I doubt this would have happened."

"Fine! Turn the girl loose, but we don't need the others."

That's just what they did, the guards around Zara left off and returned to their positions, which was just the chance she needed. She ran ahead, barrelling into the ones surrounding River and Amy and planted herself firmly in the middle of them and the guards who immediately stopped their advance.

"You can't have me alive without them alive too." She declared, "If I go, they're coming with me, and if they're hurt, you won't get to keep me either."

Rajani had a strange mix of annoyance and some sort of hidden admiration on her face, "What a stupid thing to do. Why on earth would you risk yourself to protect them? You could be home free without one of them and you wouldn't be here in the first place if not for the other."

Amy and River were astounded by how mature and decisive Zara sounded in her explanation, "Because that's what I do."

You had to admire the seven year olds guts, and it was clear that the same thought crossed Rajani's mind. She called off her guards and they all processed out of the throne room. Rajani briefly glanced back over her shoulder at Zara, staring intently at her for a moment, before the door was closed behind them. Only Maiara was left behind to give them directions.

"I'll see you again, won't I?" stated Zara as they turned to leave.

"Inevitably," responded Maiara as she vanished through the door.

Just as she did the smaller doors opposite the way she had gone flew open, and in ran Anders, Rory and Jamie, up in arms and panting furiously. Only to find themselves confronted by their three startled counterparts who were merely standing in the huge throne room, seemingly unscathed. Rory and Jamie ran forward and almost knocked Amy over with the force of hugging her as River politely stayed back. The only evidence of their ordeal was a red welt across one side of Zara's face. Anders hurried forward and scooped her up, looking at her injury in despair.

"Zara! My girl! What happened? Are you alright?"

Zara smiled, "Nothing we couldn't handle," she answered, grinning at River over her father's shoulder, "Right?"

"Right." River agreed, though somewhat subdued.

Amy walked forward and put an arm around her, "We should go home. Lots to catch up on."

As Zara was set down by Anders she ran merrily on over to Jamie, "I have an awesome story to tell you!"