In advance I apologise for the confusing chapter, got any questions just say so in your review or pm me, and I'm sorry about not updating, the next chapter shall be up tomorrow

THANKS SO MUCH TO MY BETA LILYROSE XD WHO IS THE BEST!!!!! and I actually wrote this chapter at about 9:00am this morning but didn't upload it until I got her editing and opinions on everything (okay...that was weird...I just got deja vu...anyway)

XVIII

Short Straws

The Doctor stumbled backwards in an effort to get away from their lightning bolts and ended up tripping and falling onto his back. For a split second he could see the clear blue sky, it seemed further away than usual, but maybe that was because the darkness was rushing up to meet him.

They must have hit him. The darkness around him was so intense. Yet he had conscious thought. The only thing that seemed to be gone was his sight. He could hear himself breathing irregularly but he knew he wouldn't be for much longer. He would regenerate. So why wasn't he?
The Master hadn't regenerated. But that was because he refused to. The Doctor wanted to regenerate. He didn't want to die. Not with Rose still out there. Possessed. If there was the slightest chance he could save her, then he'd take it.

He still wasn't regenerating, he was going to die, he realised. That's when a voice spoke.
"Shhhhh," it hushed him, though he wasn't making a sound. He supposed it was his death angel. Finally come to take him. He'd evaded it for so long, but now it had caught him. He had stereotypically expected it to have a sweet, soft voice, but it was low and gruff, and a bit muffled.
"Follow me," the death angel whispered. The Doctor couldn't see it, so he followed the sound of its voice. Along a black tunnel, but he could see a light at the end. He followed the death angel towards the glowing light. This was his final journey. His journey to death.

Only after they reached the light did the Doctor realise either that Heaven was an incredibly small green-glowing cave or that he wasn't dead. He figured it was the latter, when by the glowing green light, he finally saw who his 'death angel' was. A short, hairy man with beetles in his long beard and incredibly large teeth.
"I guessing you're Mulch Diggums?" he asked the dwarf.
Mulch just nodded, and then put a finger to his mouth to shush the Doctor. Then he raised his arm into the air and pointed at the ceiling.
"Opal," he mouthed.

The three Opals stood motionless for a minute or two to try and comprehend what just happened. They had fired lightning bolts and lasers at the Doctor and he had fallen backwards and then disappeared. Past Opal stood back and watched as Present Opal and Opal/Rose ran to the spot where the Doctor had vanished. All they saw was a slightly raised mound of dirt. They fired lightning bolts at it, but nothing happened. Apart from the mound of dirt collapsing, but there were no shouts of pain from below. But still they leaned over to see if the Doctor was in the hole, but they saw nothing. He had just gone.

The Doctor followed Mulch out of the cave and into another dirt tunnel, crawling on hands and knees. This tunnel – unlike the first one – was lit by Mulch's green-glowing spittle and the Doctor could see a foot or two in front of him. He was only irritated for a millisecond that he was ruining his suit, but he had a dozen or two more exactly the same so it wasn't that bad. More than he worried about his suit he worried about his hair, which was filled with dirt and bugs. And more than he worried about his hair he worried about Rose and the Opals. Who were only half a metre or so above him. That's when the first lightning bolt of energy struck the tunnel roof, and it started to cave in.

Mulch and the Doctor ran. Ran as well as you could on your hands and knees, which wasn't very well. Mulch was quicker than the Doctor, being used to cave-ins. Technically Mulch didn't even have to move, he could just swallow the dirt. But the Doctor couldn't. So they crawled through the tunnel, with the dirt collapsing onto their heads, towards the back door of the mansion.

Present Opal and Opal/Rose cackled as their fired their lightning bolts at the ground around them. They fired them randomly, in every direction, watching the dirt shoot up into the sky before falling to the ground again, until they hit a mound of dirt that collapsed in. Collapsed into the tunnel. They fired more lightning bolts in this direction, so intent upon their task that they didn't even notice that Foaly was still standing transfixed by the door. But Past Opal had seen him.
"Foaly!" she spat.
The other Opals looked up, saw him wide-eyed and whinnying by the door, about ten metres away, but before he could canter away, they shot off several lightning bolts in his direction.

Foaly saw them coming. Nothing could have prepared him for this. He didn't save the day by physically defeating his enemies with strength but with wit. He was only suited to sitting safe behind a desk, and saving everyone from there. Not here. Not with three Opals, intent on killing him. Not with three Opals, about to kill him. He was slightly too far away from the door, he could never make it in time. So he stood there as the lightning bolts came at him, before he felt his legs give way under him and he was being dragged down into darkness.

"Couldn't you have saved me a bit less forcefully?" Foaly asked Mulch, once they were out of the tunnel in the wine cellar of Fowl Manor.
"You should be grateful I did save you at all," replied Mulch.
Foaly opened his mouth to retort back but the Doctor interrupted him.
"We've got to find Artemis before the Opals do and get out of here."
"Have you got a plan?" asked Foaly.
The Doctor ran a hand through his hair, causing the dirt that was still in it to sprinkle out onto the floor.
"Sort of…" he replied. "As long as nothing gets worse."
"We've got to find Holly too," said Mulch. "I came with her here when she got a call from Artemis."
The Doctor nodded, and the three trudged up the stairs of the wine cellar, only to have the door open in their faces.

The Doctor, Foaly and Mulch jerked away from the opening door, almost falling back down the stairs. But it was only Artemis and Holly. The Doctor breathed a sigh of relief.
"What's happening?" asked Holly, obviously not been told what's happened yet.
The Doctor grimaced.
"Opal," Foaly answered her.
"All three of her."

Mulch decided smartly to dig a brand new tunnel instead of trying to go back through the half-caved in one. While they waited for him to dig it and harden the walls with dwarf spittle, they brought each other up to date on what was happening, and what had happened. The Doctor went off by himself back into the old half-caved in tunnel, and crawled along it until he reached a small hole that the light from the sky was filtering through. He poked his head out to see the Opals standing in a huddle and plotting. They finished talking after about a minute and then Past Opal and Present Opal walked right up to the TARDIS doors and inspected the Doctor's time machine. Opal/Rose walked across the grass, staring at the ground, looking for something. The Doctor thought she was looking for the tunnel until she leaned down and picked up something quite small. She straightened and grinned at the small piece of metal that was attached to a string. Rose's TARDIS key.

The Doctor watched as Opal/Rose, still grinning, strolled up to the TARDIS herself. And the Doctor was powerless to stop her as she fitted the key into the lock, and opened the doors of the great time machine. His original plan was useless now. The Opals had the TARDIS.

I want that on a shirt 'The Opals have the TARDIS' but no one would get it...anyway...next chapter up tomorrow, and after a long chat with my beta when I was supposed to be doing my work in History I've finally figured out absolutely everything about what is going to happen, there are only a few chapters left so it should be finished by next weekend or the weekend after =D

But Only Eternity Sneak Preview

'The reunion was cut short when the Doctor muttered into the Captain's shoulder.

"I'd hate to say this but...I need your help."'

not very good I know, but I'm tired okay? and yes keep reading! Your favourite he's-not-really-a-captain-Rose Captain Jack is coming!

sorry again about the confusing chapter...hard to explain