Chapter 13

The Doctor grinned victoriously and jumped out of the space he had been working in, shutting the grate quickly. Ciel watched him expectantly as he ran to the machine in the middle of the TARDIS and began fiddling with the knobs and buttons on it.

"Is it ready?" he asked quickly.

"Sure is! Are you ready?" the Doctor replied excitedly.

"Yes, just hurry up!" Ciel shouted, not at all in the mood for the man's stalling.

"Alright, hold on to your hat! Allons-y!" the Doctor threw a switch and grinned.

The TARDIS began to make its metallic churning noise, and the Doctor grinned at it victoriously and watched the mechanisms of the machine move. Suddenly, it stopped. Ciel and the Doctor stared at it expectantly, waiting for something else to happen, but nothing did. The TARDIS had simply stopped; the Doctor's plan hadn't worked.

"Is it broken?" Ciel asked, his voice somewhat panicked as he heard the sounds of more Daleks screaming from outside.

"No, no, she needs more energy! She's tired! Ah, what to do, what to do...?" the Doctor fretted, pacing back and forth.

"What kind of energy does it-er, she-need?"

"Something organic, maybe Potassium? That would be the best to make this particular mechanism work."

Ciel immediately reached into his pocket and pulled out the banana Sebastian had brought for him a couple of days before. The Doctor grinned widely and took it from him, reopening the grate and jumping back to where the wires were.

"Let's hope Sebastian and Ankara can hold the Daleks off just a bit longer while I get this to work. I told you it was best to always carry a banana with you! You never know when you'll need a good banana!" the Doctor chuckled happily.

"Less talking, more saving the world." Ciel grumbled at him quickly.

"Ah, right!"

Sebastian growled and jumped to his left, barely avoiding being hit by one of the Dalek's lasers. He quickly struck it in the eyepiece with a silver knife, rendering it blind. Ankara was nearby, using her sword to sever the eyepieces and doing her best to sidestep the Daleks as they chased her. The servants shots and fire helped somewhat, but the Dalek Emperor had apparently decided to send many more Daleks than last time. They were quickly finding themselves surrounded, and Sebastian sighed impatiently.

"If the young master and the Doctor don't hurry things up, I may be serving him from the pits of Hell." he growled, taking out several more Daleks and jumping back to Ankara's side.

"I hope they hurry, then. This is getting difficult." Ankara replied nervously as more of the creatures surrounded them.

"GIVE UP NOW, DEMONS! DALEKS ARE SUPREME! WE SHALL EXTERMINATE YOU AND ALL THAT IS LEFT OF THIS PLANET!" a Dalek yelled at them.

"Like Hell you will!" Ankara growled back, stabbing it in the eyepiece.

"EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!" the others cried angrily, rolling closer.

Suddenly, the Daleks stopped. They began looking around in confusion, spinning their heads around quickly. They slowly began to lift from the ground, then were suddenly flung away in groups as if being pulled away. Ankara grinned as she realized what was happening.

"They did it, Sebastian! Ciel and the Doctor got the machine to work!" she chirped happily.

"I doubt my young master had much to do with it, but I'm glad that it's over. I was beginning to worry." Sebastian replied calmly.

Ankara smiled and was about to reply, but she was cut off by a loud cry of "EXTERMINATE!" and a flash of blue. Her eyes went wide as she was struck in the back by the laser of a vengeful Dalek, using its last moment before being pulled into the void to shoot her. Sebastian's red eyes widened as the female gasped and crumpled to the ground, going completely still. He simply stood over her for a few moments in shock, staring down at her. Finally he managed to kneel next to her and prod at her gently, looking desperately for any sign of life. There was nothing. The demon snarled and turned to look up at the last few Daleks, who were being pulled quickly out of sight.

The enraged demon jumped and used all of his strength to launch his last few knives at the vanishing Daleks with a loud roar. The knives sank deep into their eyepieces before they vanished into the void. Sebastian landed next to Ankara and looked down at her quietly, not completely sure what to do at this point. He sighed and scooped her up in his arms, taking note of how light she was, and jumped down from the roof.

The Doctor cheered loudly and burst from the TARDIS, grinning widely at the lack of metallic cries. He had done it! Just in time, he had managed to save the world again. Plus, the Daleks were banished into the void. He hoped that he would be lucky enough to never see them again, but knew deep down that he would. Daleks were the Nokia Phones of the universe; indestructible.

Ciel followed the Doctor carefully, glancing around to make sure it had really worked this time before relaxing. Perhaps now the Doctor would leave and he could get a day's rest before Lizzie showed up for her birthday. He would certainly need it. Being around the eccentric Time Lord was physically, mentally, and emotionally draining.

Both looked up quickly when the front doors slammed open, and smiled when Sebastian entered; until they noticed Ankara's limp form in his arms.

"What happened!?" the Doctor asked quickly, jogging to meet the butler at the door.

"She was struck at the last moment by one of the Daleks." Sebastian replied evenly.

Ciel watched the two men carefully, then cleared his throat.

"Sebastian, we need to go check on the servants." he said quickly, giving the Doctor a quick look.

Sebastian glared at him for a moment, then sighed and carefully handed Ankara to the Doctor.

"Yes, my lord. I'll be back in a few minutes for her." Sebastian said curtly, bowing before following his young master up the stairs.

The Doctor stared down at the young woman in his arms, carefully kneeling and lowering her to the floor. He propped her head up on his knees and stared down at her, ignoring the bitter tears that stung at his eyes.

"I'm sorry...I'm so, so sorry...I should have been able to do it faster...to save you..." he muttered to her sadly.

He froze when he thought he saw her move. He thought perhaps that his eyes had deceived him; he had never seen anything survive a Dalek's laser before. Even Time Lords fell to it, though they usually just regenerated. His suspicion was confirmed, however, when the female groaned softly and sat up. Sebastian and Ciel reappeared at the top of the stairs just in time to stare in shock as she groaned and stretched her back. She turned to look at the Doctor gratefully before speaking.

"Damn, that hurt."

Woo-hoo! Had you worried there for a little bit, didn't I? I dunno how to explain how she lived. I guess the power of youth! And you knew that banana would come in handy! Anyway, only one chapter away! Do you Silverlings want a sequel?

~Silver