A/N: All right my lovelies. I'm back! Apologies for the delay in updating but it is holidays for me. But I'm back to school in two weeks and therefore back to schedule. So please read and review!

I Can't Trust Anyone

The Doctor and I ran around the controls, both of us working out where to go.

"Wow," the Doctor said, without stopping his movements. "You weren't kidding when you said you were a fast learner."

"I rarely kid," I replied. "I say a lot, and most of it is sarcastic, or whining, or know-it-all-ish, but I rarely joke."

The Tardis jolted and I yelled out, "Hold on to something Nara!"

"Thanks for the warning," she replied haughtily, her voice muffled.

"No problem," I yelled back, falling to the ground as the Tardis landed.

"Well, that was a short trip," I grunted, standing up slowly. I was finally starting to feel the effects of Tardis-travel. Namely, a sore back and muscles and what felt like a twisted ankle. Mind you, I'd had worse from a doorframe. Don't ask how.

"It was a short distance," the Doctor explained, more to Nara than me.

"Are we ready?" I asked as I looked at the screen, showing a view of outside.

"What are we facing?"

"Um...about sixty, maybe seventy armed Pevalimon."

"Excellent," the Doctor said, pulling his sonic screwdriver out and twirling it in his fingers. "This should be a challenge."

"You are the craziest person I have ever met Doctor."

"I know," he said with a grin. "That's what makes me so fun."

I ran next to him, and turned to face Nara.

"Come on!" I said to her excitedly. "Don't you want to be there the day that the Pevalimon finally get defeated?"

"Alright," she responded, walking towards us. And in single file we walked out the door.
We seemed to have materialised in the middle of some sort of speech. But obviously the cheers were loud enough to cover the Tardis noise.

It took me a while to see that Ariella was the one doing the talking and Jack stood behind her looking at her reverently. My grasp on the Tardis door handle tightened until my knuckles were white.

"Erica," the Doctor said. "I don't think the Tardis is supposed to be used for stress relief."

"That's just because you've never tried," I replied, but nevertheless let go of the door handle reluctantly.

"They must be found!" Ariella shouted.

"YES!" came the replying yell from the Pevalimon.

"They must suffer!"

"YES!"

"I'm not liking the sound of this," I whispered to Nara. She nodded her head in response.

"This isn't a good place to be right now," the Doctor muttered.

"Too late," I moaned. The Pevalimon had turned around and it was only then that I realised we were blocking the doorway.

"You are never going to be put in control of the Tardis EVER again," the Doctor said as cheers erupted around us and we were quickly bound. "Why would you park it there?"

"It's all a part of my grand master plan."

"Which is?" he inquired.

I actually had no clue.

"It's MY plan. Meaning it doesn't involve you."

"Lovely. Great to see you trust me after all this time."

"Have you ever given me reason to? And really, all this time? I've known you all of what…five hours?"

"That's plenty of time to learn to trust someone. And as to reasons…"

"Yes…"

"I'm the Doctor," he said facing the crowd of Pevalimon gathered at the foot of the stage.

"A title doesn't convince me," I replied. "Names don't even convince me. So that kind of puts you down the bottom of my trust list." I stood next to him, noticing as I did that Nara wasn't looking out at the crowd trying to find an escape. She was looking to the right, directly at Jack. And Jack was looking back at her. I looked between them, but no jealousy flashed through me as I noticed the intensity of their gaze. I realised that I had the Doctor now. And we were all about to die anyway. What was the point in being angry?

Nara turned back to the crowd with a small smile on her face.

"Jack's back to normal," she whispered, barely moving her lips.

I glanced back and saw that the red had vanished from his eyes but he still maintained the stature he had before.

"Quieten down," Ariella cried out to her Pevalimon followers. "Soon our plans will be accomplished. Soon the earthling child will be dead. Finally paying the blood debt owed by her ancestors."

"You've got to be kidding me," I scoffed. "You have done all this. Plans within plans. Because you have a grudge against my family?"

"Because of your family," she said, walking towards me. "My father grew up as a disfigured freak. Because of your family I grew up in a broken home. Because of your family, I never had the empire that was rightfully mine. The earth was ideal. A way to get back at you. And a way to claim my kingdom. Then you and your precious Doctor had to go and ruin it all by turning the Orantia against me!"

"That wasn't our fault," the Doctor muttered.

"Silence!"

"I'm not my family," I said quietly.

"But you hold their sins!" she yelled. "And now you will pay for them."

She pushed me to my knees and held a knife to my throat.

"Do you have any last words Human Timelord?" she whispered in my ear.

"Look behind you."

"Funny. My back is protected by someone I trust. I think you know him."

"Perhaps you put too much trust in your technology. Or you underestimate the human will to survive."

"You know nothing about what I can do," Ariella hissed. "I am going to kill you child. If you wanted to die laughing you should've never had your consciousness reawakened. Perhaps I would've let you live your human life until you died from internal bleeding."

I felt fear travel through me. Where the hell was Jack? I was stalling, but I was pretty sure than in three seconds I would be dying unless he intervened-

"NOW!"

I elbowed Ariella in the shin and pushed the knife away from my neck with my bound hands in one swift movement. Next moment I had the knife in my hand and had turned to face her.

"This isn't the way!" I said to her, throwing the knife aside.

"This is the only way," she responded with contempt. "You understand noth-"

A resounding BANG echoed around the room.

"No!" I yelled. But I was too late.

Ariella placed her hand on her chest and pulled it away – covered with blood.

"And so it ends here," Ariella whispered, falling to her knees and flat on the floor.

I looked up at Jack, horrified. How could he do it? How could he do something like that?

"We have to get out of here," he said, emotionlessly, holding his hand out to me. I shied away from him.

"You're living proof," I whispered.

"Proof of what?" he asked in confusion.

"That I can't trust anyone."