Not ten minutes ago, I found out about Clara in Face the Raven. I'm about to die!

So here we are with a new chapter. I'm starting them off with Midnight, but I'm actually going to come back after this episode with Silence in the Library. This episode was extremely difficult to write due to so many people talking at once. Hopefully it worked out though. Let me know in a review. Happy Thanksgiving to all my American friends.


The TARDIS sat alone in a large resort hotel room. Her Thief had decided to take the Wolf on a leisurely vacation for her first trip and he let the TARDIS choose. Not many times had he let her take control like that, but she liked it. Sure, she often ignored whatever he planned for them to go anyway, but it was nice for him to actually allow her for once.

She had taken them to the planet Midnight, which was made entirely of diamonds, but the atmosphere of the planet was weak, letting through the x-tonic radiation from the sun. Meaning, no one could get to the valuable minerals that Midnight was made of without getting vaporized.

About four hundred years from the time she'd landed in, the Leisure Palace Company transformed Midnight into a Leisure Planet, building Leisure Palaces all over. That's where she brought her three occupants. Not only had she known that they would enjoy it, but she felt something in the timelines tugging her there. There was probably an adventure waiting for them.

The TARDIS remembered back to the times before her Thief had lost his Wolf. He had always been so happy. Adventures weren't just for the wonder of seeing the planet and learning new things; he traveled because he wanted to see her smile. He had done everything for her smile.

But then she had been ripped away from her Thief. The TARDIS had watched as he delved into his adventures just to keep his thoughts away from the Wolf. The dark-skinned girl had helped a bit, but then the flame-haired woman came and he had a friend.

The Wolf was here now and already in the single day she'd been back, the TARDIS had seen the difference in her Thief. He'd hardly left the Wolf's side, even sitting in while she slept. The TARDIS was happy for him, but she realized that there was a trial coming that neither of them expected. And it was coming soon.


"Maybe if we ask her one more time…"

Rose groaned. "Doctor, just let her rest. This trip is for her too." She pointed out.

"Look!" He pointed at a public telephone, grinning. "How convenient."

She rolled her eyes as he slipped a coin of some sort into the slot and asked for a Donna Noble. Right as he opened his mouth to speak, she heard Donna's refusal from the other end and his face fell.

"Sapphire waterfall. It's a waterfall made of sapphires!" His eyes lit up as he spoke enthusiastically about the attraction. "This enormous jewel, size of a glacier reaches the Cliffs of Oblivion, and then shatters into sapphires at the edge. They fall a hundred-thousand feet into a crystal ravine."

There was a slight pause as Donna likely replied with something snarky.

"Oh, come one. They're boarding now! Four hours, that's all it takes." Rose sighed, wishing she actually knew what was being said on both ends. "You be careful. That's X-tonic sunlight." Another pause. "Alright, I give up. We'll be back for dinner. What do you say we try that anti-gravity restaurant?"

Rose nodded vigorously and whispered, "With bibs."

"With bibs." He added. "See you later." He shrugged as Donna spoke again. "Nah. Taking a big space truck with a bunch of strangers across a diamond planet called Midnight? What could possibly go wrong?"

He hung up the phone and looked to Rose who was gaping at him with her arms limp at her sides.

"What?"

"Did you really just say that nothing could possibly go wrong?"

"Well, actually, I asked what could."

She shook her head. "I can't believe you did that. Whenever anybody says that, somethin' always goes wrong. Somethin' bad's gonna happen now. I know it."

The Doctor grabbed her hand as they strode toward the shuttle. "Rose, the worst that can happen is one of the passengers is a fugitive murderer who is plotting on killing us all." They both stopped in their tracks as they considered this. "Probably not."

"Hopefully not."

They entered and took their seats, Rose at the window. They watched as the Hostess passed through the aisle with a cart, speaking to a blonde woman in a blue suit.

"…complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts," She was saying.

"Just the headphones, please." The Hostess handed it to her and then made her way over to them.

"That's the headphones for channels one to thirty-six. Modem link for 3D video games." She handed each of the items to him as she said them and he passed them off to Rose. "Complimentary earplugs. Complimentary slippers. Complimentary juice pack and complimentary peanuts." By the time she was done, Rose's arms were full and she struggled to stuff the things in her pockets. "I must warn you: some products may contain nuts."

"That'll be the peanuts." The Doctor informed her and Rose stifled a giggle.

The Hostess, looking slightly annoyed, turned back to him and said, "Enjoy your trip."

"Oh, I can't wait! Allons-y!" He grinned at her as she looked at him.

"I'm sorry?"

"It's French, for let's go."

"Fascinating." The Hostess replied in a way that said she really wasn't interested at all. She moved her cart to the people behind them and started giving them the "complimentary spiel."

Rose leaned over to him and whispered, "I don't think she likes you."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, feigning incredulity. "Everybody likes me."

She patted his shoulder, consolingly. "Yeah, you just keep thinking that."

"Oi!"

The man in the seat behind him reached his arm up to shake the Doctor's hand, nearly knocking Rose on the head. "Hobbes. Professor Winfold Hobbes."

"I'm the Doctor. Hello!"

"And I'm Rose." She gave a little wave at him and he flushed.

"It's my fourteenth time." The Professor informed them.

"Oh!" He looked over at Rose. "Our first."

The Professor's young black assistant leaned over the seat as well and shook their hands. If Rose could be perfectly honest, the girl had a better grip than her employer. "Dee Dee. Dee Dee Blasco."

"Don't bother them!" The Professor scolded her, completely unaware of the fact that he'd just done the exact same thing. "Where's my water bottle?" He asked when they sat down again.

Rose looked behind them at the passengers closer to the back. Two parents were arguing with their teenage son about sitting next to them, even saying that they had slippers, like that was going to bring him over.

"Well, at least we won't get bored." She said.

"Ooh! Yes! I get the slippers!" He snatched them from her hands.

"Fine, but I get the peanuts." She opened the package and began snacking on them.

"Careful." She raised an eyebrow. "It may contain nuts."

"You never know," She joked.

The Hostess made her way up to the front of the shuttle and began speaking to the guests. "Ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon, welcome on board the Crusader Fifty. If you would fasten your seatbelts, we'll be leaving any moment. Doors."

The doors automatically sealed shut and when she ordered it, the shields went down too.

"I'm afraid the view is shielded until we reach the Waterfall Palace. Also, a reminder: Midnight has no air, so please don't touch the exterior door seals. Fire exit at the rear and, should we need to use it, you first." She giggled at her own joke. "And now I will hand you over to Driver Joe."

A screen lit up in front of them with their travel plan displayed and a voice came through the speakers. "Driver Joe at the wheel. There's been a diamondfall at the Winter Witch Canyon, so we'll be taking a slight detour, as you'll see on the map."

The Doctor slipped on his specs. A little orange square moved across the screen with orange dots trailing behind it, eventually splitting into two different sets of dots. One set representing the originally intended path and the second representing the new one.

"The journey covers 500 kliks to the Multifaceted Coast. Duration is estimated at four hours. Thank you for traveling with us and, as they used to say in the olden days, wagons roll."

The voice stopped and the shuttle shook a bit as they began their descent. "For your entertainment, we have the Music Channel playing retrovids of Earth classics," The Hostess said as she pressed a button on a remote and a screen came down in front of each seat, playing Raffaella Carra singing "Do It Again."

Rose looked over at the Doctor with an expression that screamed for help. He simply shrugged in amusement.

"Also, the latest artistic installment from Ludovico Klein." A colorful hologram appeared in the midst of the room, doing a spinning motion. "Plus, for the youngsters, a rare treat." She turned around and pulled down a projector screen and the actual projection started playing over her face. "The Animation Archives. Four hours of fun time. Enjoy!"

She then retreated to the back of the shuttle. Rose and the Doctor examined everything around them, music and cartoons blaring in their ears. Rose grasped his arm and said into his ear, "Help me."

He smirked at her and then pulled out his sonic screwdriver, which he then proceeded to use to turn off all the "entertainment." Really he hadn't minded it, his thoughts would've been on things other than Betty Boop, but since Rose asked…

"Well, that's a mercy." He heard the Professor say from behind them and it seemed, from the look on the face of the woman who was sitting alone in the front, she agreed.

Coming back towards the front, the Hostess apologized, clicking on her remote to get everything back up and working. "I do apologize, ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon. We seem to have had a failure of the Entertainment System."

"Oh!" The Doctor said, faking disappointment.

"That's just too bad," Rose added with an adorable pout on her lips. The Doctor smiled at her.

"But, what do we do?" The red-headed woman asked.

"We've got for hours of this? Four hours of sitting here?" Her husband asked.

Rose shifted out of the way as the Doctor turned around in his seat and exclaimed, "Tell you what, we'll have to talk to each other instead." Rose covered her mouth with the back of her hand to prevent a laugh as he looked at the faces of the other passengers, who didn't seem to think much of the Doctor's idea.


98 Kliks Later

The Doctor was sitting on his knees in a seat, facing Biff and Val, the red-head and her husband, who were telling a story about an abstract pool. Rose decided that she would go meet the silent woman in the front while they talked.

"Hello there," She approached the woman. "D'you mind if I sit with ya?"

The woman shook her head and Rose sat down next to her.

"I'm Rose. What's your name?"

She put down her book and smiled. "I'm Sky Silvestry. Nice to meet you."

Rose grinned at her. "So, is this your first time to the falls?" She asked, trying to start up conversation.

"It is. First time I've been to the planet also. I've been traveling around, all over the place. You see, I've recently found myself single." Sky answered.

"I'm sorry." Rose consoled her, but then curiosity overwhelmed her and she had to ask, "What happened?"

"Well, the usual. She said she needed her own space. Went to a different galaxy actually. I reckon that's enough space, don't you think?"

"You'll find someone eventually. I did."

"Are you and him…?"

Rose looked down at her hands. "I don't know what we are." She paused for a little bit before continuing. "We got…separated. And now we just got back to each other a day ago. Not much of a chance to analyze our relationship yet."

"But you know what you want it to be." She stated.

Rose stood rather abruptly, feeling suddenly uncomfortable. "Excuse me. I'll just be in the loo."


128 Kliks Later

"I'm just a second-year student, but I wrote a paper on the Lost Moon of Poosh," Dee Dee was saying as she poured the Doctor a cup of coffee and poured herself one too. "Professor Hobbes read it, liked it, took me on as researcher, just for the holidays. Well, I say researcher. Most of the time he's got me fetching and carrying. But it's all good experience." She assured him.

"And did they ever find it?" The Doctor asked.

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "Find what?"

"The Lost Moon of Poosh."

"Oh, no. Not yet." She replied, giggling at the thought that it would have been.

"Well. Maybe that'll be your great discovery, one day." He raised his cup. "Here's to Poosh."

"Poosh." She raised her cup as well and they toasted to the planet.


209 Kliks Later

The Doctor moved back to the seats he and Rose had originally taken and saw her curled up with her eyes closed. She was sleeping. He brushed a few hairs away from her eyes and internally laughed at how silly the action was.

Sometimes, when they'd been the only two on the TARDIS, they would be in the library, sitting on a sofa and he would read to her. She would snuggle into him as she listened to his voice and felt it reverberating in his chest.

More often than not, she would fall asleep, leaning against him. He had never admitted it to her, but times like these were the ones he cherished most. Times like these, he was able to look at her and let his emotions take hold of him and not be afraid. Times like these, he allowed himself to love her so completely without fear, because he knew she couldn't see it.

While they would sit there in the TARDIS library, he would shift so that they would be more comfortable and he would fall asleep as well. He would always wake up before her and leave before she did. Sure, he loved her and he wasn't afraid to admit it to himself, but he'd thought that if he'd told her and then lost her, that he wouldn't be able to bear it.

Now that he had her lost once, he knew that he was wrong. It hurt more. Just knowing that she was out there and that he would never be able to see her again (or so he thought) hurt more than ever, simply because he never got to tell her that he loved her.

And yet, even now that she was back, it was difficult to get the words out. No moment felt right. He knew that she still felt the same by the way she kissed him. He was afraid that she resented him for getting her trapped in another world and overall ruining her life, but she was still Rose and never saw him as the monster he was. Sometimes, he wished she would.

The Doctor shook his head to clear away his darker thoughts and went to go get some food.


251 Kliks Later

"So, this is Midnight, do you see, bombarded by the sun. X-tonic rays, raw galvanic radiation." The Doctor was crouching in his chair next to Rose's still sleeping form, watching as Professor Hobbes gave an illustrated lecture on Midnight, using the projector and screen.

"Dee Dee, next slide. It's my pet project. Actually, I'm the first person to research this." He informed proudly. "Because, you see," He sat down, still facing the rest of the passengers. "The history is fascinating. Because there is no history. There's no life in this entire system. There couldn't be. Before the Leisure Palace Company moved in, no one had come here in all eternity. No living thing."

There was a slight pause as everyone took this in. Jethro, the son of Val and Biff, was the first to speak. "But, how do you know? I mean, if no one can go outside-"

"Oh, his imagination." Val rolled her eyes. "Here we go."

"He's got a point, though." The Doctor told them.

"Exactly! We look upon this world through glass," Hobbes said as he stood again. "Safe inside our metal box. Even the Leisure Palace was lowered down from orbit. And here we are now, crossing Midnight, but never touching it."

Suddenly, the shuttle began to shake and a small, sharp beeping went off. They came to a shuddering, grinding halt and everybody started looking around them.

"We've stopped." Val stated. "Have we stopped?"

"Are we there?" Her husband asked.

Dee Dee shook her head. "We can't be. It's too soon."

Hobbes came forward with his input. "They don't stop. Crusader vehicles never stop."

The Doctor looked to the Hostess, who seemed to be just as confused as they. "If you could just return to your seats. It's just a small delay." She headed to the intercom phone.

"Maybe it's just a pit stop?" Biff suggested.

"There's no pit to stop in. I've been on this expedition fourteen times. They never stop." The Professor said.

Sky turned around to face them, clearly agitated with all the worrying going on. "Well, evidently, we have stopped. So there's no point in denying it." She snapped.

"We've broken down." Jethro said.

"Oh, thanks, Jethro." His mum replied sarcastically.

"In the middle of nowhere!" He dramatized to scare them all a little bit.

Rose stirred from beside him. "What's goin' on?" She asked, rubbing the sleep away from her eyes. "What's happened?"

"We've stopped," the Doctor replied as she sat up more.

"Ladies and gentlemen, and variations thereupon," said the Hostess. "We're just experiencing a short delay." She put the projection screen up. "The driver needs to stabilize the engine feeds." Stabilize the engine feeds? That makes no sense. "It's perfectly routine, so if you could just stay in your seats."

"Stay here. Keep them calm," The Doctor whispered to Rose as he went towards the cockpit. He pulled out the psychic paper, since he knew the Hostess probably wouldn't care for just any of them wandering in there.

"No, I'm sorry, sir. Could you please-"

He held up the paper to her face. "There you go. Engine expert. Two ticks." He pressed the button and the door opened. He heard the Hostess telling him to come back and sit down, but he ignored her and the door shut behind him.

One of the two pilots turned to him. "Sorry, if you could return to your seat, sir."

He flashed his psychic paper at the man. "Company insurance. Let's see if we can get an early assessment. So! What's the problem, Driver Joe?" The Doctor asked.

Joe nodded to a screen displaying the engine feed. "We're stabilizing the engine feed. Won't take long." He assured him.

The Doctor looked at the engine feed and knew that the man was lying. "Er, no. 'Cause that's the engine feed, that line there, and that's fine. And it's a micropetrol engine so stabilizing doesn't make any sense, does it? Sorry! I'm the Doctor. I'm very clever. So, what's wrong?" He finished.

"We've just stopped." The other pilot said. "Look, all systems fine. Everythin's workin', but we're not movin'."

The Doctor took the sonic screwdriver out and scanned the controls. "Yeah, you're right. No faults. And who are you?" He asked now that the man had proven himself.

"Claude. I'm the mechanic." He said, looking up at the Doctor. "Trainee."

"Nice to meet you." He answered distractedly.

Driver Joe spoke up again. "I've sent a distress signal. They should dispatch a rescue truck, top speed."

"How long 'til they get here?"

"About an hour." Joe said. Hmm. Okay, could be better. A lot can happen in an hour.

"Well, since we're waiting," He sniffed. "Shall we take a look outside?" Joe hesitated. "Just lift the screens a bit."

"It's a hundred percent X-tonic out there. We'd be vaporized!" He said, like it was crazy. And it probably was.

"Nah! Those windows are finite-glass. They'd give you a couple of minutes. Go on! Live a little." He grinned.

Joe laughed nervously and shrugged. The screen lifted to reveal a landscape made entirely of diamonds, glittering and gleaming in the deadly sunlight. The three men made noises of awe.

"That is beautiful." The Doctor declared.

"Look at all those diamonds, poisoned by the sun. No one can ever touch them." Claude said.

"Joe, you said we took a detour?"

"Just about forty kiliks to the west." He replied.

"Is it a recognized path?"

"No, it's a new one. The computer worked it out on automatic." Who knows what could be out there, then.

"So, we're the first. This piece of ground. No one's ever been here before. Not in the whole of recorded history."

Claude shifted his head and pointed. "Did you just…?"

"What?" The Doctor asked, looking where he'd directed.

"No, sorry. It was nothing."

"What did you see?" He looked between Claude and the landscape.

He pointed again. "There, that ridge. Like-like a shadow. Just-just for a second."

"What sort of shadow?" The Doctor asked as a warning went off. They all started looking around for the source.

"X-tonic rising." Joe said. "Shields down." He pressed the button and the shields began to descend.

Right as they were about halfway, Claude tapped the Doctor's arm and exclaimed, "Look! Look! There it is! There it is!" He pointed again. "Look, there!"

"Where?!" The Doctor asked urgently, but the shields were down completely now. "What was it?"

"Like just something shifting. Something sort of dark, like it was…running."

"Running which way?" He asked softly, trying to calm the young man down.

Claude looked at him. "Towards us."

Joe had had enough. "Alright, Doctor, back to your seat, and, uh, not a word. Rescue's on its way. If you could close the door, thank you."

There was definitely something going on now. Anything could be out there. Humans thought that no one had ever been on the outside, because the sun was poisonous to them, but what if it wasn't to somebody else?