and here we have the reason why this story was rated T in the first place...

"HOLD ON!" he called, running to the doors of the TARDIS. He threw them open, but the scene he found wasn't what he had been looking for. He hadn't made it. He was too late… again…

Because there she was, falling, falling down into the Darkness. He wouldn't be able to catch her, he couldn't fly, and the only thing below the two of them was Darkness. The TARDIS refused to go any lower, too.

"NO!" he screamed, kicking the door. He ignored the TARDIS's silent protests and started to turn his back on the scene so he wouldn't have to watch it again. But he couldn't tear his eyes away, and he watched as she fell, screaming, down into the Darkness.

The Darkness welcomed her body, and she was gone.

Tears streamed down his cheeks.

"I'm sorry" he said, even though she wouldn't be able to hear him. The Darkness was laughing.

"Go on" it said "you've got nothing else to live for… just jump. End your life, and then you could be with her forever…"

"Doctor?"

He gasped, hearts skipping a few beats as he was pulled out of the dream. He took a few deep breaths and then got a good look at his surroundings.

"You alright?" Alice asked from behind him.

The Doctor looked down, and then immediately wished he hadn't. The sight made his hearts beat even faster and made him feel a bit dizzy. Time Lord or not, he was still scared of heights. And he was on the edge of a cliff, or something very cliff-like anyways.

"I was going to jump" he gasped, the realization hitting him hard.

"What?" Alice asked. He took a few steps backwards away from the edge and turned to look at her. "Why would you do that?" she asked.

"Well I- I must have sleep walked here. I was – dreaming, if you could call it dreaming." He took a few deep breaths. "That was a nightmare."

"Do you want to talk about it?" she asked.

"No, I-I'd rather not"

"I understand" Alice said "maybe you should head back to bed, see if you can get some real sleep."

The Doctor sighed, calming down already. "Yeah, that would be a good idea" he said, and started out the door.

Everything from there was all slow motion though. A sword was thrust at him from behind, and would have gone straight through his stomach if he hadn't moved in time. He turned to see who was wielding the sword. It was Alice.

Freaked, and yet not so freaked, the Doctor ducked to avoid getting his head chopped off.

The next part was all a blur, but then the Doctor watched as Alice's body fell. He looked from her body to his hand, which was holding a blood covered knife.

The Doctor woke up in a cold sweat. His hearts were racing faster than should have been possible, and he was having a bit of trouble breathing. He checked to make sure he wasn't dreaming again, and was happy to find that he wasn't.

Alice!

His mind had come to that conclusion quickly, and he was out of bed and running through the TARDIS's numerous corridors within seconds. He reached Alice's room in no time, but what he found made him worry.

Her bedroom door was open, and she was nowhere inside.

The Doctor ran to the console room, and did a scan to see if Alice was anywhere inside the TARDIS. She wasn't.

"Where could she have gone!" the Doctor asked aloud. "We're in the middle of the vortex…" He realized then that TARDIS wasn't moving. They had landed. Now where they had landed was a mystery.

The Doctor went to the doors of the TARDIS and headed outside. It looked like they were on Earth. Or a planet very similar to Earth. He pulled a device out of his pocket and set it to track Alice. Thankfully she wasn't too far. Now he just had to find her.

"Just one more step," it whispered in her ear "that's all it will take…"

Alice stood there, in some random person's backyard, on the diving board of their pool. Her hands were tied loosely behind her back, but only because it is impossible to tie your own hands behind your back properly. One more step, and she would plunge into the pool.

But now she was having second thoughts…

"What do you mean?" it asked. "Don't you remember what happened to him?"

Images flashed through her head, playing the horrible scene again.

Sword in his side, knife in his back, blood: everywhere. He was covered with it, she was covered with it. The entire scene was just one dark bloody mess.

She turned to look at him, but all she could see in his eyes was the Darkness

"Don't make me watch it again!" Alice shouted. If there had been room for her to fall to her knees she would have. It was also a really good thing that the people that lived in this house weren't home.

"Do it then!" the Darkness told her. And so she did. She took the final step that would send her into the depths of this pool.

The water was cold, and immediately shocked her out of the dream and back into reality. Her head hit the surface, and she gasped in some air before she was pulled back down. She struggled against her bonds and escaped them easily. Her head broke the surface again, but she was pulled down again. She made an attempt for dry ground and eventually grabbed the edge of the pool.

One of her hands slipped, and when she reached up to grab the edge of the pool again, a hand tool hold of hers. It was strong, and kept a firm hold on her. For a split second, she panicked. She looked up though, and was greeted by a pair of warm brown eyes and a small smile.

"Doctor!" she gasped, joy and relief filling her.

"Alice" he replied, sounding as happy as she was. He held out his other hand and she took it. He pulled her out of the water easily.

"You alright?" he asked, sounding extremely worried.

"I'm fine" she said, even though she wasn't quite positive about it.

"Good" he said, pulling her into a hug, not caring that he was getting soaked in the process.

"Do you know how I got here" she asked as he let go.

"No clue, but I think I might have an idea. I'll have to explain later though, right now we need to get back to the TARDIS and then get the heck outta here!"

"Good idea"

That decided, the two of them ran for the TARDIS.