CHAPTER 4

The beam of light could hardly penetrate the darkness in front of them. Rose stood close to the Doctor, so close that their shoulders were brushing. He held the jar of flames in front of him, switching on the communicator as he went, watching as they swirled around each other and bumped into the sides. Rose was clutching the water bottle tightly, afraid that if she dropped it they would die.

"Well, the flames aren't moving in any particular way," The Doctor said. "remember how they're attracted to stone? Well, there's no Angels around here, otherwise the flames would all move to one side of the jar."

"Clever," Rose squeaked.

She aimed her flashlight at the ground to see a shiny surface. In the reflection, she could see the same setting like the one she was in now; abandoned, with a few crates stacked in the corners. She hoped that she wouldn't fall through the ground at any second.

"Don't worry, you can only go if you let yourself." The Doctor read her thoughts. "So unless you want to go over there, you're fine."

Rose nodded and continued looking at the floors as they slowly moved forward. The Doctor handed her his flashlight and brought out his Screwdriver instead, waving it around in the air and searching for anything.

"Either the Angels are further ahead or upstairs, or we're on the wrong side." He concluded after a few long minuets. "Keep watching the floors, Rose. I'll keep a look on our surroundings."

They stepped through a small doorway and entered a large room. There were a few crates, but nothing else. The Doctor jumped and shouted, "Rose, do you see anything?"

Rose nearly dropped the flashlights. She turned towards the Doctor, who was staring at the jar of flames. All four of the small fires had drifted over to the left side of the glass and stayed there, like they were small pieces of metal attracted to an unseen magnet. "What's going on?"

"Stone, the fire's attracted to stone!" The Doctor glanced around wildly. "There's stone in here somewhere!" He raised the Screwdriver again and it let out a high-pitched hum. "And it's close!"

Rose stared at the reflection, but there was nothing on the other side. She whipped the beams of the flashlights around, but they settled only on the walls and crates. She went back to back with the Doctor as he wildly tried to figure out where the stone was.

The Screwdriver whirled loudest when it was being pointed at a nearby crate. The Doctor unscrewed the lid of the jar and clenched one of the flames in his hand. He threw open the box's lid and peered inside.

A stone fountain lay broken among numerous packing peanuts, shattered beyond repair. The Doctor gave a nervous laugh and put the flame back with the others. "Just a birdbath." He sighed.

"I almost had a heart attack!" Rose growled. "All that fright…for a lousy birdbath?"

"Unfortunately, the Screwdriver and the flames don't know the Angels from a normal stone." The Doctor sighed. "But once the flame catches on the stone, there's no extinguishing it. It will burn the stone to ashes, and then go out. It only burns stone. That was how I was able to grab it."

Rose could only nod and try to keep herself from fainting.

They began carefully making their way back into the room until they came to a staircase. The Doctor took the lead and Rose followed, keeping a lookout behind them. They reached a room cramped with furniture and dusty electronics that greatly resembled TVs.

"Nothing in here." The Doctor said, sounding relieved. "Come on, Rose. And stop shaking the light so much."

Rose couldn't help it. She was shaking with fear. Fear that the Angels would show up and kill them both…and then the inhabitants of Xios. Fear that they would return to Damian and tell him that the Angels had somehow escaped. Fear that they would not succeed.

She forced her hands to stop shaking and they continued on.

In the next room, they found nothing but dust. Dust, and blood. Blood from Yelsh, but they never found his body. Rose's hands started shaking once again and the Doctor stopped for a minuet so she could regain herself.

"What did they do with him?" She whispered.

"I don't know." The Doctor admitted. "I don't know…"

They kept going, always glancing back and watching every corner, finally coming to the final flight of stairs. The Doctor went first; Rose following and trying hard to hold the flashlights steady.

The final floor was very much like the bottom two, except…

"DOCTOR!"

The Doctor jumped backwards just in time to avoid an Angel's open hand. He grabbed a flame from the jar and threw it at the demon, hearts pounding from Rose's sudden scream and the fright. The Angel burned brightly, first green then blue and then finally red before turning into a pile of ash.

"Nice catch there, Rose." The Doctor gasped. "I don't know what would have happened if that had touched me."

"Doctor, please be more careful!" Rose pleaded, her knees weak from the scare. "I know they can't move if you stare at them, but still!"

"Don't worry. Now that we know which side of Xios they're on…we know what to do." The Doctor took his flashlight back from his companion. "Just keep an eye out, and warn me if you see anything."

Rose forced herself to keep moving forward. Even though every cell in her body was screaming, 'Go back!' she followed after the Time Lord, determined to rid the universe of the Weeping Angels once and for all.

"So that was one," The Doctor was saying. "there might be three more. Hopefully they'll be three more. And just three. Because I have no idea if I'll be able to find more of this fire on Earth or Nemasis."

Rose just nodded, watching the shadow of a crate as she moved her flashlight's beam over it. Xios suddenly felt less welcoming and more deadly.

The Doctor was busy watching the flames as they went deeper into the room. More crates welcomed them, but other than that, nothing was there. Rose swept the beam of light over the room probably a hundred times, but nothing had changed.

"Well, I think it's safe to declare this room Angel-free." The Doctor said happily. "We're doing good so far."

Rose nodded, even though he couldn't see her in the dim light. She glanced down at the floor—and nearly screamed.

For there, seeming to melt out of the floor and onto their side of Xios, was an Angel. Her arms were extended in front of her like she wanted to strangle someone and her razor-sharp teeth were barred in a snarl. Rose staggered backwards as the Angel melted up out of the ground…and then didn't move at all. The Doctor quickly reached into the jar of flames for another one.

There was a loud screech and the flashlights went out. Rose screamed, and the only light she could see was coming from the jar. The Doctor shouted something, there was a loud bang, and the lights came back on. The Angel was gone.

"So they can switch sides," The Time Lord whispered. "they can teleport between the two worlds in one like we can. This just complicated this entire thing."

"Really? We were nearly killed!" Rose shouted.

"Exacally. Complications." The Doctor turned and headed towards the door. "I think we should probably switch sides sooner or later. If that Angel came from there, there's a good chance that there's more."

Rose glanced at the ground again. "Should we go now?"

"Probably a good idea." The Doctor nodded.

Rose stared at the floor and willed herself to go to the other side. She took a step and sank through the floor, to the other side of Xios.

MEANWHILE…

At the Xian police station, Damian was listening in on the Doctor and Rose's adventure. He had to admit, when Rose screamed about the Angel coming up out of the floor he nearly had a heart attack. If only there was something he could do other than stay at the station and jut listen on their conversation. He supposed he could start talking to them, but that might distract them and they could end up dead…just like the others.

Damian sighed as Rose's voice filled the communicator.

"Doctor, there's really nothing much here."

"That's what I thought about the other place, and we were nearly killed…twice." The Doctor responded.

The sound of walking filled the air. Damian could only hope that they would make it back out alive. He waited until Rose's voice came back again:

"No one really knows what they truly look like, do they?"

Damian had to think about that one. Sure, everyone knew from the Doctor that the Weeping Angels' defense was turning to stone whenever something looked at them. One of the greatest defenses in the galaxy, but no one's ever seen their true form…have they?

"Many seem to think that they're demons. Demons, in an Angel cast." The Doctor responded. "Opposites, sort of like the two sides of Xios. Maybe they have something in common."

Damian nodded thoughtfully, even though the Doctor couldn't see him. The Angels weren't from Xios originally, but sometimes planets and their beings have strange connections with each other. Although, the Doctor's prediction about devils seemed very accurate.

"Maybe they're like the Dalek." Rose said. "Just shells for formless lumps of life."

Damian didn't know what the Dalek were, but the small description made him shudder.

Shells…

The Doctor's voice brought him out of his sickening thoughts. "They seem smarter than that. The Dalek only rely on facts and the truth that they're 'superior.' The Angels are different in many ways. For one, they've got the most advanced defense in the galaxy, and two, they're very, very powerful."

Damian nodded again. He then leaned backwards to look out into the hall, towards where Murray's office would be. "Are you getting any of this?"

"Bits and pieces." Murray grunted. "Sounds interesting. And a bit frightening."

Damian turned back to the communicator, waiting for the Doctor or Rose to say something else.

"Doctor…up ahead! The flames…!" Rose's voice came, scared and hesitant.

"Angel. Come on, slowly now. Keep a lookout behind us. I'll take care of this." The Doctor spoke in brief sentences, but Damian could tell that he was in charge now. He had switched form his normally witty, joking self to an all out commander. Damian knew that if he was with them, he would have known he was safe as long as the Time Lord was with them.

The sound like a small flame catching was heard, and then soft burning. Then silence for a while.

"Two flames gone, two left." The Doctor said merrily. "This is going well."

Damian sighed in relief. They were doing well. He just hoped that they'd continue on that way for a while.

"This side seems darker," Rose said. "makes me think that something's going to lunge for us."

"Don't say that." The Doctor pleaded. "Anything but that."

The sound of their footsteps for a while, echoing around the nearly empty rooms of the warehouse. The Doctor began whistling. This continued for a while until Damian was about to leave and get something to eat.

"What's that? Up there?" Rose asked nervously.

"Just another crate. We should be f-"

The communicator shut off there.

"What? Doctor! Doctor! The communicator! It went off! Hello? Doctor! Rose! Anyone!" Damian adjusted different dials and switches on the thing, but nothing worked. The communicator remained silent and dead. Had something happened?

Damian burst into Murray's office. "The communicator went dead!"

Murray was taken by surprise. He glanced from Damian to the communicator in his hand before saying slowly, "We can only hope that they get it fixed. There's nothing we can do. We don't have any fire, and many are too scared to even look at the warehouse anymore."

Damian stood there, at a loss. What was he to do? The Doctor and Rose could be in serious trouble.

"I'm going after them." He said at last. "I'm going after them, weather anyone else wants to or not."

"Wait a second, you can't just…" Murray began, but Damian was already running out of the building, grabbing a water bottle and a flashlight on his way out.

So…now we're about sort of halfway-ish through this. Hoping you like it so far. I sort of have to force myself to do chapters. Anyway, review! If you review, your name will show up in my author notes and I'll thank you for reviewing!

AND ANOTHER IMPORTANT THING: Because of homework, chapters may be a bit later than usual. The max wait for a single chapter will be about two weeks. Although I'll work my hardest to make sure that hardly ever happens. I can juggle schoolwork and stuff with this for you, my loyal readers.

Anyway, you know what I say. Hasta la Vista, Readers!

Lordoftheghostking28