Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who (the show, including planets, aliens, creatures and anything else of their design) or any of the characters. I only own my OC Selene.
8. The Satan Pit
" I am the sin and the temptation and the desire. I am the pain and the loss."
" Get that door OPEN!"
Selene began to pull on the handle hands slipping slightly.
" … And the dead will come. I have been imprisoned for eternity. But no more!"
" Door sealed. Door sealed." They were all backed up against the door and pointing against it to no avail… the Ood got closer and closer…
OoOoOoO
" The Pit is open. And I am free!"
OoOoOoO
" Open fire!" Jefferson shouted, eyes narrowed with determination. He and the other officer lifted their guns and shot at the Ood, Rose and Selene pressing against the cold metal door to get as far away from the gunfire as possible.
" We're stabilizing… we have orbit!" Zach announced over the intercom system. The Ood dropped, eyes shutting, completely still. With the dangers gone, Rose jumped the steps and the bodies and ran for the intercom.
" Doctor!?" She asked in a panic. She only got feedback and nothing else. " Doctor can you hear me!? Doctor, Ida, are you there?"
Selene bolted away from the door as the wheel spun on it, heading right for Toby again, who was still in an unconscious heap on the floor.
" It's me!" Danny yelled out as he ran through the door. " But they're coming. It's the Ood." He began to spin the lock closed. " They've gone mad."
" How many of them?" Jefferson asked.
" All of them! All fifty!" Danny's voice jumped an octave for a moment in the panic driven state he was in.
" Danny, out of the way. Out of the way!"
" But they're armed!" The older man shoved him aside and reopened the door. " It's the interface device! I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon!"
When the door opened, just as Danny said, the first Ood in the doorway used its interface device to kill the female security guard. Screaming, she dropped dead. Jefferson aimed and shot at all the Ood in the door, hoping to push them back. Zach called for lockdown on the doors, and then asked,
" Jefferson, what's happening there?"
" I've got very little ammunition, Sir, how about you?" Jefferson asked into the communicator on his wrist.
" All I've got is a bolt gun. With, uh, all of one bolt. I could take out a grand total of one Ood. Fat lot of good that is."
" Given the emergency I recommend Strategy Nine."
" Strategy Nine agreed. Right. We need to get everyone together. Rose, what about Ida and the Doctor, any word?" Zach asked.
Rose was standing with the blank intercom in hand, biting her lip viciously in worry. Panic rose in her throat with an uncomfortable sensation… almost like she was about to be sick. She shook her head.
" I can't get a reply, just… nothing," She said. " I keep trying but it's…"
" No, sorry, I'm fine!" The Doctor's voice rang out. " Still here!"
" Give us a heart attack why don't you!" Selene called out, knowing Rose's thumb was still pushed on the talk button.
" You could have said, you stupid—"
OoOoOoO
Feedback rang sharply in the Doctor's ear.
" Whoa! Careful! Anway, it's both of us, me and Ida, hello!" He said on a rather cheerful note… with a rather serious face. " But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this… chasm."
The duo stared at the darker than night pit that was less than a few feet in front of them. The rock was sandy and barely looked like it would hold stable if weight was put on it.
" How deep is it?" Zach asked them.
" Can't tell. It looks like it goes down forever."
" 'The pit is open.' That's what the voice said," Rose pointed out with a nervous tone. Anything a mysterious voice says is usually never good, and that paired with a deep, dark pit of seemingly nothingness, the odds didn't look good.
" But there's nothing, I mean… there's nothing coming out?" Zach inquired again.
" No, no, no sign of the Beast…" The Doctor assured them.
" It said 'Satan.'" Rose's voice sounded shaky, teary. He knew she was probably worried and scared beyond belief…
" Come on, Rose. Keep it together."
" Is there no such thing?" He didn't reply. " Doctor. Tell me there is no such thing."
" Ida? I recommend you withdraw immediately," Zach told her.
" But we've come all this way!" She protested with a sigh.
" Okay, that was an order. Withdraw. When that thing opened, the whole planet shifted. One more inch, and we fall into the black hole! So this thing stops right now!"
" But it's not much better up there with the Ood!" Ida shot back strongly.
" I'm initiating Strategy Nine! So I need you both back up top immediately, no ar-"
The intercom cut off with the click of a button.
Ida, who'd shut it off, looked back at the Doctor.
" What do you think?" She asked him.
" He gave an order…" He pointed out, peering down into the pit.
" Yeah, but… what do you think?"
The Doctor put a knee up on the outer metal rim of the opening and began to think.
" It said 'I am the temptation'…"
" I-if there's something in there… why is it still hiding?" Ida's voice began to attain a nervous edge to it.
" Maybe… we opened a prison, but not the cell…" He mused, the lights inside his helmet illuminating the distant thinking look that his features held.
" We should go down… I'd go. What about you?" She asked, smiling. The Doctor scoffed slightly and his nose scrunched up a bit.
" Oh, oh, in a second, but then again…" He chuckled and looked over at her. " That is so human. 'Where angels fear to tread.' Even now, standing on the edge… It's that feeling you get. Yeah? Right at the back of your head… That impulse… that strange little impulse… That mad little voice saying 'go on, go on, go on, go over, go on.' Maybe it's relying on that. For once in my life, Officer Scott… I'm going to say… retreat." He sighed and stood straight. " Now I know I'm getting old."
OoOoOoO
Toby groaned quietly as he felt consciousness rush back into his head. His eyes fluttered open… and Selene noticed they were back to their normal blue. She helped him sit up, shifting her weight to sit on her heels in order to do so. He glanced at her, remembering what that… thing had him do. Put her in front of the gun. She didn't look upset or frightened… just worried.
" Rose, we're coming back," The Doctor's voice said over the intercom.
" Best news I've heard all day!" Rose exclaimed, smiling broadly. She set the intercom down, noticing as Jefferson cocked his gun, stony faced and aimed it right at Toby.
" What're you doing?" Rose asked confused. Toby scrambled backwards, staring up at Jefferson in horror. His hand was gripping Selene's, sure that he was about to die.
" He's infected. He brought that thing on board. You saw it," Jefferson announced.
" Are you going to start shooting your own people now?" Rose asked, appalled. She walked over, Danny not too far behind. " Is that what you're going to do? Is it?"
" If I have to."
" Then shoot us 'if necessary' as well. You don't even know if he did bring it on board," Selene pointed out, keeping herself at Toby's side. " Besides, you saw what happened, didn't you? It transferred to the Ood. He's clean. No symbols, no red eyes. Gone."
Toby, gasping for breath, stared up at the man he'd known for so long.
" Any sign of trouble, I'll shoot him," Jefferson settled on, taking the aim of his gun off the blond man. Rose crouched down beside Toby as the man walked away asking,
" You alright?"
" Yeah… dunno…" He muttered, mind still spinning.
" Can you remember anything?"
" Just… it was so angry… It was… fury and rage and death." He paused and stared at Rose. " It was him." He looked over to Selene, realization hitting him hard. " It was the Devil."
" Give me a hug…" Selene whispered softly, pulling him into an embrace. One of Toby's arms wrapped around his shoulder as he stared around frantically. She rubbed his back and let her chin rest on his shoulder. Selene could feel the terror coursing through his body, causing him to shake.
" Okay, we're in, bring us up," Ida's voice said. Rose stood and walked over to the control panel Selene following after she made sure Toby was sitting up properly.
" Ascension in three… two… one…" He hit the switch.
The power crackled out.
" This is the darkness. This is my domain," Said a deep voice, being vocalized by all the Ood. Toby looked around in horror, knowing the Beast was speaking. " You little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns, which die in the end."
" That's not the Ood!" Zach exclaimed. " Something's talking through them."
" Only the darkness remains."
" This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane, of Sanctuary Base Six, representing the Torchwood archive. You will identify yourself."
" You know my name…" It said smugly.
" What do you want?" Zach demanded.
" You will die here, all of you. This planet is your grave."
" It's him. It's him. It's him," Toby repeated. He hugged himself and began to rock back and forth, panic overcoming his face.
" If you are the Beast, answer me this: which one, hmm?" The Doctor inquired. " 'Cause the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there is planets in the sky! The Arkiphetes, Quoldonity, Christianity, Pash-Pash, New Judaism, San Claar, Church of the Tin Vagabond. Which Devil are you?"
" ALL of them."
" What then your… The truth behind the myth?"
" This one knows me. As I know him. The killer of his own kind." The Beast hissed.
OoOoOoO
The Doctor's brow furrowed at the words. He'd lie if he said a bit of worry didn't spring up inside him.
" How'd you end up on this rock?" The Doctor asked, staring at the monitor, which showed security footage of all the Ood, speaking for the Beast.
" The Disciples of the Light rose up against me and chained me in the pit for all eternity."
" When was this?"
" Before time." It responded.
" What does that mean!?" The Doctor demanded.
" Before time."
" What does 'before time' mean!?"
" Before time and light and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before THIS universe was created." It clarified. The Doctor's brows arched.
" That's impossible. No life could have existed back then," He retorted calmly.
" Is that your religion?"
" It's a belief."
" You know nothing. All of you. So small…"
OoOoOoO
" The Captain so scared of command…"
Zach's eyes dropped downward and he felt his skin go cold.
OoOoOoO
" The Soldier… haunted by the eyes of his wife…"
Jefferson felt his heartbeat quicken and guilt rush over him.
OoOoOoO
" The Scientist, still running from daddy…"
Ida had to hold back her gasp, but couldn't contain the look of shock that overcame her face.
OoOoOoO
" The Little Boy who lied…"
Danny's brows, which had been creased, relaxed as he gulped.
" The Virgin…"
Toby turned his head towards the voice and shrunk more into himself.
" The Girl who doesn't belong… Who finds herself longing to be accepted…"
Selene covered her mouth with a hand, hoping the tears that stung her eyes wouldn't spill over.
" The Lost Girl so far away from home… The Valliant Child who will die in battle so very soon."
Rose stared at the monitor in absolute terror. She slowly raised the intercom.
" Doctor, what does that mean?" She asked shakily.
" Rose… Selene… Don't listen," The Doctor implored.
" What does it mean?"
" You will die… And I will live," The Beast said, the screens of the monitors now holding the image of a completely red creature with horns, growling and roaring. Rose jumped back from the screen, and Selene stared in shock.
" What the hell was that?" Danny asked.
" I heard that thing inside my head!" Toby told them.
" Doctor, what did it mean?" Rose asked again.
" What do we do? Jefferson!" Danny said in a panic.
" Captain, what's the situation on Strategy Nine?" Jefferson inquired.
" The orbit, the planet, the black hole… everything's true!" Toby exclaimed.
" We can'tbelieve anything it says, it just wants to scare us!" Selene tried to reason, but the tears that had rolled down her cheeks didn't support her logic. She rubbed them off her now pink skin and tried to drown out all the sound everyone was making.
" Stop!" The Doctor tried to reason, but everyone kept talking. After another moment a loud range of feedback rang out. " You want voices in the dark then listen to mine! That thing is playing on very basic fears—darkness, childhood, nightmares, all that stuff."
" But that's how the Devil works!" Danny protested strongly.
" Or a good psychologist."
" But how did it know about my father?" Ida demanded.
" Okay, but what makes his version of truth any better than mine, hmm? 'Cos I'll tell you what I can see. Humans. Brilliant humans! Humans who can travel all the way across space, flying in a tiny little rocket right into the orbit of a black hole! Just for the sake of discovery, that's amazing! Do you hear me, amazing! All of you! The captain, his officer, his elder, his juniors, his friends! All with one advantage. The Beast is alone. We are not. If we can use that to fight against him—" The Doctor's rousing speech was cut off as the cable for the lift snapped.
As a puff of dust rose out from the pit, Rose shouted into the intercom,
" Doctor! We lost the cable! Doctor, are you alright? Doctor!"
" Coms are down. I've still got life signs, but we've lost the capsule. There's no way out," Zach announced, with Rose still trying to get a response. " They're stuck down there."
Everyone, except Toby, crowded around the top of the hole, staring down into the darkness.
" But we've got to bring them back!" Rose insisted.
" They're ten miles down, we haven't got another ten miles of cable," Jefferson deadpanned.
" Thank you, Señor Sunshine," Selene spat at him. " There has to be some way of getting them back up." Just as Jefferson was about to make some sort of retort, the door had a vicious bang on it. They all spun towards it, worried that it would break and the Ood would come spilling in.
" Captain…" Jefferson muttered into his communicator. " Situation report…"
" It's the Ood…" Zach sighed. " They're cutting through the door bolts, they're breaking in…"
" Yeah, it's the same on door twenty five."
" How long before night of the red-eye Ood commences?" Selene asked as Rose bit her nail.
" Well, it's only a basic frame. It should take ten minutes," Jefferson responded, they're spat only moments ago put on the back burner. THUD. " Eight."
" I've got a security frame, it might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you."
" Right. So, we've got to stop them or get out… or both," Rose resolved.
" I'll take both, yeah? But how?" Danny asked, pessimism leaking into his voice.
" You heard the Doctor. Why do you think that thing cut him off?" Rose asked.
" 'Cause he was being smart. He was right. It didn't want him telling us what to do. We need to think our way out," Selene said, crossing her arms.
" Come on! For starters, we need some lights. There's got to be some sort of power somewhere," Rose exclaimed, voice turning authoritative.
" There's nothing I can do! Some captain, stuck in here, pressing buttons!" Zach said, voice filled with self-loathing.
" That's what the Doctor meant," Rose said.
" Press the right buttons," She and Selene said in unison.
" They've gutted the generators!" A pause. " But the rocket's got an independent supply. If I could reroute that… Mr. Jefferson, open the bypass conduits, override the safety."
Jefferson pulled Danny out of his way and began to press buttons.
" Opening bypass conduits, Sir."
" Channeling rocket feed in three… two… one… Power!"
The lights popped back on.
Rose clapped.
" There we go," She said.
" Let there be light!" Danny said with a smile.
" What about Strategy Nine?" Selene asked, tossing hair from her face. Headache was still pushing on the sides of her head, but it was easy enough to ignore now… more important things were begging attention.
" Not enough power, needs one hundred percent," Jefferson informed, gun still at the ready.
" Well, let's look for a way out, shall we? Zach, Mr. Jefferson, work on it," Selene said, gesturing around. She and Rose turned to Toby.
" Toby, what about you?" Rose asked as they walked over.
" I'm not a soldier," He sputtered, scrambling to his feet unsteadily. " I can't do anything.
" But you're an archeologist," Selene pointed out, smiling a bit.
" What do you know about the pit?" Rose continued.
" Well n-nothing, we can't even translate the language," Toby complained.
" Right…" Rose mumbled, turning away and pulling Selene with her.
" No, h-hold on! Maybe."
" Maybe?"
" It's been inside your head. Think it might have left anything behind?" Selene suggested. He nodded quickly, sucking in a breath.
" The letters do seem to make more sense," He admitted.
" Then get to it!" Selene patted his arm.
" Anything you can translate, just… anything," Rose agreed. She spun to look at Danny. " Anyway, Danny boy, you're in charge of the Ood! Any way of stopping them?"
" Well… I don't know." He sighed and looked away.
" Then find out." Rose dragged him by the sleeve over to the control panel. " The sooner we get control of base, the sooner we can get the Doctor out. Now get going. Shift." She smacked his arm lightly and went to look into the pit, Selene soon at her side.
Selene's hands were laced together, long fingers pressing tightly together. Having been taken to church quite frequently when she was younger, she remembered this episode as being one of the freakiest to her. And, in real life, it was worse. She hadn't expected the Beast to say anything about her… and yet it did. It gave her an ice-cold chill, just like when Mr. Finch spoke about her back when they faced the Krillitanes.
" You alright?" Rose asked quietly, keeping the conversation between them. Laughing humorlessly, Selene shrugged.
" I honestly don't know," She said, scrubbing a hand through her hair again.
" Is… is what that… thing said true? That you feel out of place?" Rose's eyes were trained on her friend's face, worry clear in her eyes. Selene wondered if she should say yes, say that it was right. That she did feel out of place, out of luck, or, like Danny had said probably less than an hour before 'the third wheel.' But the situation was already too serious, so she shrugged and tried to pull a half smile onto her lips.
" Comes and goes I suppose. We should see how Jefferson's doing on rerouting the energy…" Selene trailed off, turning away from the pit and her blond friend, making her way towards the leather-clad man.
" Open junctions five, six, seven." THUD. " Reroute filters sixteen to twenty four, go." The machine beeped as it began to do just that.
" There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood. Trouble is, we haven't got them on board," Danny grumbled.
" Well, that's handy, listing things we haven't got," Rose said wryly, crossing her arms. " We haven't got a swimming pool, either,"
" Which we do have in the TARDIS," Selene pointed out for the hell of it. And it was true; it may have been an on running thing in the series mentioning odd rooms that the TARDIS had… but the pool was a complete truth. It liked to move on occasion though…
" Or a Tesco's." Rose arched a brow at Danny.
The computer beeped again and the angered look on his face shifted into one of absolute shock.
" Oh my God. It says yes! I can do it! Hypothetically. If you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, it can disrupt the telepathy! Brainstorm!" Danny exclaimed joyously. Rose's eyes widened and she leaned towards him.
" What happens to the Ood?"
" Well, it'll tank them. Spark out!"
" Well then, do it, Dan!" Selene said as Rose grinned.
" Okay! No… but… I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood habitation." Danny sighed again, shaking his head.
Another thud as the door continued to break.
" That's what we'll do then," Rose decided, patting the man on the back. " Mr. Jefferson, Sir!" She slid over to him. " Any way out?"
" Just about. There's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here," He explained, nodding to a diagram on the screen.
" Ventilation shaft," Rose said, smiling.
" Yeah, I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation—well, no air in fact, at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms."
THUD.
" Yeah, but I can manipulate the oxygen field from here. Create discreet pockets of atmosphere. If I can control it manually, I can follow you through the network," Zach offered, obviously thinking it was the only way to do it.
" So we'll go down, you make sure the air stays with us and we don't suffocate?" Selene reiterated.
" You wanted me pressing buttons."
" Yep, we asked for it, okay, we need to get to Ood habitation. Work out a route," Rose told the captain, shoving her hands in her pockets. The day was just getting better…
OoOoOoO
The Doctor and Ida, after hauling a drum with the lift cable to the pit and deciding the Doctor would be descending into said hole, were preparing for the little excursion.
" That should hold it," Ida said after adjusting and fixing the drum into the ground. " How's it holding?"
" Fine. Should work." The Doctor held onto the cable, which was attached to the harness on his suit. " Doesn't feel like such a good idea now…" He said, peering into the pit. He stepped up on the metal edge and laughed. " Ha! There it is again-that itch. Go down, go down, go down, go down, go down…" He sounded slightly insane, but when was that a first?
" The urge to jump…" Ida looked up at him. " Do you know where that urge comes from, that sensation? Genetic heritage. Ever since we were primates in the trees. It's our body's way of testing us, calculating whether or not we can reach the next branch," Ida explained, fixing up the last bits of what was securing the cable to the drum and the drum to the ground. The Doctor shook his head.
" No, that's not it. That's… too kind. It's not the urge to jump. It's deeper than that. It's the urge to fall!" He grabbed onto the cable and jumped backwards, plummeting into the pit.
" Doctor!" Ida called out, having to yank the break of the drum on to stop the cable from unwinding too fast. " You okay?"
" Not bad thanks," He told her, looking around. He took in the walls around him and underneath him… or… lack there of. " The walls of the pit seems to be the same as the cavern, just… not much of it." He shone his flashlight downwards. " There's a… crust about twenty feet down then nothing—just the pit. Okay then… lower me down."
" Well, here we go then," Ida said, hitting a switch and letting the cable slowly unwind, lowering the Doctor further into the unknown.
OoOoOoO
" Danny!" Rose shouted as they lifted up a piece of grating in the floor, which led to the maintenance tunnels.
" Hold on!" He responded, still typing away.
" Danny, we've got to go now, come on!" Jefferson shouted, pointing the gun at the door, which was about to break down at any moment.
" Yeah!" Danny said as the computer beeped. He yanked a circuit looking card and grinned. " Put that in the monitor and it's a bad time to be an Ood!" Once he joined them, Rose put an arm around him.
" We're coming back. You got that? We're coming back to this room and we're getting the Doctor out," Rose said.
" Okay, Danny, you go first, then you, Miss Tyler, then you, Selene and then Toby. I'll go last in defensive position," Jefferson ordered, everyone beginning to slide in. Danny dropped down, Rose soon to follow as the door continued to buckle and spark. " Now come on! Quick as you can!"
Selene dropped down, falling immediately onto all fours in the tunnels. Once she landed, she moved out of the way to let Toby drop down. He was much more coherent; he didn't shake any more and he'd stopped looking around like a madman.
" Which way do we go?" She heard Danny ask.
" Just go straight ahead. Keep going till I say so," Zach told them.
Jefferson dropped down just in time, slamming the grating closed above them. They began to crawl, one in front of the other, down the cramped metal tunnels, waiting for Zach's word. Rose glanced up in front of her, only to see Danny's backside right in her face.
" Not your best angle, Danny," She teased him.
" Oi! Stop it!" He complained. Toby, directly behind Selene, glanced down at her bottom, to which he smirked slightly.
" I don't know, it could be worse," He said.
" Oi!" Selene called back at him, earning a full smirk from the archeologist.
" Straight on till you find Junction 7.1. Keep breathing; I'm feeding you air. I've got you."
They crawled in silence, knowing that way the air would last longer; it was an unspoken fear all of them were thinking. That the air would run out. The next unspoken fear was mutually agreed on as well; death by Ood would not be a pleasant experience. At Junction 7.1, they all shifted to crouch or sit, catching their breath. After a second, there was a zapping sound as Danny switched his communicator again.
" We're at 7.1, Sir," He informed.
" Okay, I've got you," Zach told them. " I'm just aerating the next section."
" Getting kind of cramped, Sir. Can't you hurry up?" Danny complained.
" I'm working on half power here!"
" Stop complaining!" Jefferson drawled, leaning against the side of the air vent. Selene, half leaning against Toby, half leaning against the wall, pointed at him, sucking in another breath.
" For once, I agree with you, Mr. Jefferson," She told him with a smile.
" Mr. Jefferson says stop complaining," Rose relayed the information.
" I heard…
" He heard!"
" We all did," Selene pointed out. The cramped quarters, the number of voices and the thin air were bringing the headache back. A cranky Selene in a small tunnel probably wouldn't bode well.
" Okay w-well the air's getting a bit thin," Toby said into his communicator.
" He's complaining now," Rose sighed, blond hair falling in messy strands around her face.
" I heard," Jefferson grumbled.
" Can we please stop talking? That'll make the 'thin air' situation a bit better maybe?" Selene suggested, pushing the sleeves of her sweater up to her elbow.
Rose, rolling her eyes at her friend, sniffed and made a face.
" Is that you, Danny?" She asked.
" I'm not exactly happy!" He grumbled.
" I'm just moving the air. I've got to oxygenate the next section," Zach told them to end their complaining session. " Now keep calm, or it's going to feel worse."
Something clattered around in the vents, not too far away.
" What was that?" Danny asked as Jefferson shifted to hold his gun, aiming it down the empty tunnel.
" Mr. Jefferson, what was that?" Rose asked louder.
" Sounded like something falling," Selene muttered.
" What was that noise?" Toby reiterated.
" Captain, what was that?" Jefferson asked.
" The junction in habitation five has been opened. It must be the Ood. They're in the tunnels!"
" Open the gate!" Danny said in a panic.
" I've got to get the air in!"
" Just open it, Sir!"
" Where are they, are they close?" Rose called out.
" I don't know, I can't tell. I can't see them. The computer doesn't register Ood as proper life-forms!" Zach informed with a slightly annoyed voice.
" Who's idea was that?" Rose asked, brows creasing in absolute confusion. Danny shifted uncomfortably and yelled,
" Open the gate!" He was close to hysterics.
" It was your idea wasn't it!?" Selene shot at him, to which he just waved his hands at her in a way to tell her to shut up.
The gate flew up and they began to crawl like mad.
" Danny, turn left. Immediate left!"
" The Ood, Sir! Can't you trap them? Cut off their air?" Jefferson inquired, sliding backwards, gun still aimed.
" Not without cutting off yours." Zach informed in a monotone. " Danny, turn right. Go right. Go fast, Dan! They're going to catch up!"
" I'll maintain defensive position!" Jefferson called out.
" You can't, stop!" Rose shouted, stopping.
" Miss Tyler, that's my job! You've got your task, see to it," He told her, stopping and turning to face the currently empty tunnel, gun at the ready.
" You heard what he said, now shift!" Toby called up to Rose. Rose reluctantly moved, allowing the rest of the line to keep moving. The sounds of rapid gunfire echoed out behind them as they stopped at the next junction.
" 8.2. Open 8.2, Zach!" Danny shouted. " Open 8.2!"
" I've got to aerate it!"
" OPEN IT NOW!"
" I'm trying!"
Danny began to bang on the gate, as if it was going to help open the metal slate. Selene reached out and grabbed his wrists, making him look at her.
" That isn't going to help, Danny. I wish it did, but it doesn't. So don't waste your strength. Lord knows we really need every bit of energy we have," Selene told him. It was probably the first few sentences she'd said to him that didn't involve an insult or some sort of sass. With the reverberating sound of gunfire and thin air, Selene suddenly felt woozy and fell into the side of the tunnel, head whizzing. Toby put an arm over her shoulders to keep her up right and then activated his communicator.
" Zach, get it open!" He told the captain, staring down the tunnel in fear.
" Jefferson, I've got to open 8.2 by closing 8.1," Zach said quickly. " You've got to get past the junction. Now move!" A pause as Jefferson didn't do as told. " That's an order, now move!"
Jefferson was using all he had. Both guns were out of ammunition. The Ood were crawling fast over the bodies of their fallen brothers. He tossed the pistol and began to slide backwards again.
" I'm going to loose oxygen, Jefferson, I can't stop for your dramatics!"
The gate lifted as Jefferson started to move again.
" Danny, turn left and head for 9.2. That's the last one," Zach informed again. " Jefferson, you've got to move faster! John, move!" The gates began to close…
" Mr. Jefferson, you can do it!" Selene called out, already knowing full well he wouldn't. Toby's hand pushed her forward.
" Keep going!" He told her.
BAM.
The gate shut.
" Regret to inform, Sir… I was a bit slow," Jefferson panted, leaning against the gate. " Not so fast these days."
" I can't open 8.1, John… not without loosing air for the others," Zach said regretfully.
" And quite right, too, Sir. I think I bought them a little time."
" There's nothing I can do, John. I'm sorry."
" You've done enough, Sir, made a very good captain under the circumstances." He smiled to himself. " Might I ask, if you can't add oxygen to this section, can you speed up the process of its removal?"
" I don't understand, what do you mean?"
" Well, if I might choose the manner of my departure, sir…"
OoOoOoO
Selene, like the others, listened and had to cover her mouth with a hand and wipe at her eyes with the other. She may not have liked the man all too much in the time she'd known him… but he was trying to do a job. And he'd done it. He was saving their lives. And, in those last few moments, being civil towards each other was… nice. And… she'd lie if the moment he said 'my departure' she teared up. Because she did.
OoOoOoO
" Lack of air seems more natural than, well…" He spotted an Ood coming towards him. " Let's say… death by Ood. I'd appreciate it, Sir!"
" Godspeed, Mister Jefferson."
" Thank you, sir."
Air whooshed through the tunnels.
OoOoOoO
" Report… Officer John Maynard Jefferson PKD, Deceased, with Honors, 43K 2.1," Zach said, voice thick with sadness. Everyone was silent a moment.
" Zach…" Danny started, voice cracking. " We're at the final junction. 9.2. And if, uh, my respects could be on record. He saved our lives."
" Noted. Opening 9.2."
The gate flew open.
Ood looked them in the eye and tried to crawl through.
" LOWER 9.2!" Rose shouted, the gate trying to slam back shut. " Zach, lower it!"
" Back, back, back!" Danny insisted, beginning to crawl back down the passage.
" We can't go back, the point's sealed off. We're stuck!" Toby shot back, just as Rose noted the grate above her head.
" Come on! Up!" She shoved the grating open and hauled herself out, followed by Danny. Selene flung her arms upward and took hold of the offered hands, collapsing when she got herself out of the passage.
" Toby, come on, come on!" She called out.
As Toby turned and looked at an Ood, inches away, his eyes turned blood red. He smirked and held up a finger in a shushing motion. The Ood stopped. It didn't attack.
Turning back, completely normal, Toby yelled,
" Help me, oh my God, help me!" He clambered up out of the hatch, the three pulling him out. The grate slammed shut and the door in the corridor they stood in opened, more Ood filing out towards them.
" It's this way!" Danny called out, running for the next door. When they got through the door to Ood habitation, Selene let everyone in first, almost falling behind if it weren't for Toby snagging an arm around her waist and pulling her in as he slammed the door shut.
" Get it in!" Rose pestered the man as they all ran to the railing to peer down into the Ood habitation.
" Danny, get it done!" Toby insisted.
" Get it done quick or we're gonna be dead!" Selene pointed to were the Ood began to march towards them.
" I'm trying, I'm trying! I'm getting at it!" Danny said, absolutely flustered. Then, as the Ood approached them on the stairs, Rose shouted.
" Danny, get that thing transmitting!"
" Or, dammit, I will!" Selene added in, the trio backing away as Danny finally got the computer chip in.
Each Ood over the sanctuary base suddenly grabbed their heads, swaying every which way as they one by one dropped to the ground, unmoving. It took a moment to sink in but suddenly they realized it had worked.
" You did it. We did it!" Rose practically squealed, hugging Danny, who yelled,
" Yes!"
" Oh thank God!" Selene said with a smile, relaxing entirely. Toby grinned and gave her a hug, spinning her around for a moment, laughing. As he set her down, he quickly pressed a kiss against her lips, surprising the both of them. It was short, very short, and actually quite sweet. Selene couldn't remember the last time she'd been kissed; probably by her last boyfriend whom she didn't like to speak of… and that was over two good years ago. He pulled back, arms still around her waist, her arms still around his neck in the embrace they'd shared. They stared at each other for a moment, both soon breaking apart to give a hug to the other two in the room. Everyone still smiling, Rose grabbed the intercom.
" Zach, we did it, the Ood are down. Now, we've got to get the Doctor," Rose said.
" I'm on my way," He told them.
They all began to run back towards the drilling sigh, Toby ushering Selene forward with a hand on her lower back.
OoOoOoO
"… You get representations of the horned beast right across the universe." The Doctor and Ida had been carrying on conversation as he was slowly lowered into the pit. They were currently discussing the Beast and all the different forms it was seen as across the universe and what not. " In myths and legends of a million worlds—Earth, Draconia, Vel Consadine, Daemos, the Kaled God of War, it's the same image over and over again. Maybe… that idea came from somewhere, bleeding through, the thought at the back of every sentient mind," The Doctor had been talking rapid fire for a while now, and Ida, still at the top of the pit, listened intently.
" Emanating from here?" She asked.
" Could be."
" But if this is the original, does that make it real? Does that make it the actual Devil, though?" She sounded worried, that was for sure. Who wouldn't be worried if they found out the Devil or the greatest demon of all demons or the greatest evil was real?
" Well… if that's what it wants you to believe," The Doctor mused, staring up the cable line into nothing but darkness, looking down into the exact same thing. His brows furrowed a bit. " Maybe that's what the Devil is in the end—an idea."
There was a loud, high-pitched squeal, and the Doctor jolted to a stop. The cable had met the end of its length.
" That's it. That's all we've got," Ida told him. " Are you getting any sort of readout?"
The Doctor checked his wrist device and shook his head, brown eyes staring at all the readings, or, again, the lack thereof. There seemed to be a lot of things lacking in the pit… again adding to the horrible mystery that liked to drag the Doctor onto all sorts of dangerous missions.
" Nothing. Could be miles to go yet. Or…" He stared down below himself. " Could be thirty feet and no way of telling…" He thought a moment. " I could survive thirty feet…"
" Oh, no, you don't! I'm pulling you back up!" Ida protested, starting the drum up in reverse, pulling the Time Lord back up. The Doctor hit a button on his harness. The drum stopped. " What are you doing?"
" You bring me back and we're just going to sit there and run out of air. I've got to go down."
" But you can't. Doctor, you can't!"
" Call it an act of faith…" He began to unhook the cable from his harness, very slowly.
" But… I don't want to die on my own," She whispered.
" I know," The Doctor agreed, undoing another hook. He knew exactly what she meant. Its why he traveled with companions; it was why he had Rose and Selene. To not be alone, and with every day being a dangerous new adventure… he wouldn't die alone as long as they were by his side. Another hook undone. " I didn't ask—have you got any sort of faith, or…"
" No… not really…" Ida said, from her new spot perched on the edge of the pit. " I was brought up neoclassic congregational… 'cause of my mum, she was… my old mum… But, no, I never believed."
" Neoclassic, has that got a Devil?"
" No, not as such, just, um… the things that men do."
" Same thing in the end," The Doctor said, still undoing all the hooks.
" What about you?" She asked.
The Doctor gripped onto the cable. He looked around the nothingness that surrounded him and thought it over.
What a good question… He thought to himself as he gently swayed back and forth on the cable.
" I… believe… I believe I haven't seen everything? I don't know… It's funny isn't it? The things you make up, the rules… If that thing had said it came from beyond the universe, I'd believe it. But before the universe? Impossible!"
A lot of impossible things keep happening, Doctor, He could just hear Selene say in his mind. He pictured the smirk she'd wear when she said it too. That one that was playful and serious at the same time. He chuckled inwardly as he continued.
" Doesn't fit my rule…" He mused. " Still, that's why I keep traveling. To be proved wrong." He began to work on the last clips. " Thank you, Ida."
" Don't go!" She suddenly said.
" If they get back in touch, if you talk to Selene… tell her I'm sorry. That I wished I could see how much she would have loved all the things I would show her… and tell Rose… just tell her…" There was a long pause, Ida waiting for the message to relay. " Tell her…" A longer pause where he debated whether to say it or not. No… no he couldn't admit it. He lost too many people… he can't say it… " Oh, she knows."
And with that, the last clip was undone, and he plummeted downwards… completely soundless into the dark…
" Doctor, are you there? Doctor, Ida, can you hear me?" Rose's voice asked in a panic.
" Please say something," Selene's voice came on next. " Doctor? Doctor! Ida!"
" He's gone," Ida said sadly.
" What do you mean, he's gone?" Rose asked.
" He fell… into the pit. And I don't know how deep it is, miles and miles and miles."
" What do you mean he fell?"
" Well, I couldn't stop him. He said your names…"
OoOoOoO
Back up at the drilling site, Zach took the intercom from Rose as she stared, watery eyed at nothing in particular.
" I'm sorry," Zach said. Rose turned to Selene and the two hugged tightly. Selene could feel hot tears roll onto her shoulders and she could feel her own tears running down her face… of course she knew the Doctor was alive… but it was all reality now, and with all the looks of sympathy directed at her and Rose… it was too much.
" Ida… there's no way of reaching you," Zach told her. " No cable, no back up… You're ten miles down. We can't get there."
" You should see this place, Zach. It's beautiful. Well I wanted to discover things. And here I am," She sobbed softly.
" We've got to abandon the base. I'm declaring this mission unsafe. All we can do is make sure that no one ever comes here again."
" But we'll never find out what it was."
" Maybe that's for the best."
" Yeah."
" Officer Scott—"
" It's alright. Just go. Good luck."
" And you…" Zach put the intercom down and everyone stayed silent for a long moment. Zach clicked a button, shutting the intercom. " Danny, Toby, close down the feed links. Get the retrotopes online. Then get to the rocket and strap yourselves in. We're leaving." As everyone scattered to do as told, Rose pulled away from Selene and turned to face him.
" We're not going," She told him.
" Rose, Selene, there's space for both of you," Zach said spinning to face them.
" No… we're waiting for the Doctor. He always waits for us," Selene said, voice soft.
" I'm sorry but… he's dead."
" You don't know him… 'cause he's not! I'm telling you, he's-he's not!" Rose said, voice cracking. " And even if he was, how could we leave him? All on his own, all the way down there? No… we're going to stay."
" Then I apologize for this. Danny, Toby, make Rose secure," Zach ordered. Danny and Toby each took a hold of each of Rose's arms, trying to hold her in place as she kept trying to pull away, yelling that she wouldn't leave. She only stopped as Zach injected a sedative into her arm. Gently placing her on the ground, Toby and Danny grabbed a hold of Selene's arms. She looked up at them, eyes still teary and shook her head.
" Please…" She muttered, not trying to pull away. She looked up at Danny and then Toby. " I'm not going to fight you, I just want to—"
" I'm sorry, it has to be done," Zach told her, pressing another injection of sedative into the crook of her arm. She rather quickly slipped into unconsciousness, Toby fully taking her weight and lifting her up. " I have lost too many people, I'm not leaving either of you behind." Zach picked Rose up and put her on his shoulder. " Lets get them on board."
Toby took the lead, still holding the completely unconscious Selene gently in his arms, only stopping when he saw an Ood twitch.
" Did that one just move?" He asked with worry.
" It's the telepathic field. It's reasserting itself!" Danny said in surprise. Zach shook his head.
" Move it. Get to the rocket. Move!" Zach was anxious as all the Ood started to twitch again… They had to get out and get out fast.
OoOoOoO
The Doctor lay motionless at the bottom of the pit. His eyes were shut peacefully and the lights inside his helmet still illuminated his face. The glass of the helmet was shattered, sprayed out in front of him. Slowly, he groaned. He began to roll over, pushing himself up to his knees with a sudden gasp. Wait… gasp. He… he could breathe! He stood up, gripping the broken helmet in surprise.
" I'm breathing…" He pulled off the helmet and looked up. " Air cushion to support the fall…" He clicked on the communicator on his wrist. " You can breathe down here, Ida." Static. " Can you hear me Ida?"
OoOoOoO
Once on the rocket, everyone began to get into their respected seats. There were four across in the middle and two up at the front. Rose was seated on the end next to Toby, and Selene was belted in between the blond man and Danny. Toby gently slid Selene into a seat beside his, making sure not to jostle her too much. He clipped the harness of the seat around her securely and began to process of helping with lift off. He glanced over at her every once and a while to see if she was waking up.
With a soft groan, her eyes opened slowly and she blinked blearily to gain her bearings. After a moment, her creased brows relaxed and she slumped against her seat.
" In the rocket, then…" She whispered, rubbing her face.
" It'll be okay, Selene," Toby told her. " I'm… I'm sorry about your friend." He reached out a hand and gently rubbed her shoulder as she continued to keep her hands over her face.
" Dislocating B clamp, C clamp. Raising blu-nitro to maximum. Toby, how's the negapact feed line?" Zach asked, hitting switches.
" Clear! Ready to go, Sir," He told him, smiling a bit. " For God's sake, get us out of here!" He felt a twinge in the back of his head… it wasn't going away… it didn't feel right… Rose began to wake up, looking around the cramped rocket slowly.
" Captain… I think we're gonna have a problem passenger!" Danny said, nodding to Rose and Selene, who still refused to lower her hands.
" Keep an eye on them!"
" What's…" Rose muttered, looking around frantically.
" It's all right, Rose. We're safe," Danny called over to her.
" I'm not going anywhere!" She announced loudly. " Get me out of this thing! Get me out!" She was yanking on the seatbelt, unable to get it off.
" And… lift-off!" Zach shouted as the engines rumbled. Rose's cries of 'no' were drowned out as they took off, all of them shaking and vibrating.
OoOoOoO
" A rocket…" The Doctor muttered as he stood quickly, staring at the gaping space above him. They were leaving. Rose… Selene… on a rocket back to Earth… he… he was alone again…
OoOoOoO
Rose, jaw set in angry determination, eyed a bolt gun, just in front of her. Her hands lashed out and grabbed it, aiming it at the back of Zach's head.
" Take me back to the planet," She practically hissed, her brows creasing together in pure anger. " Take me back!"
" Or what?"
" Or I'll shoot."
" Would you then? Would you really?" Zach asked, face blank. " Is that what your Doctor would want?"
" Rose…" Selene whispered, hands falling from her face. " Put it down…" She looked exhausted, sick almost. Her head was pounding again, and all the tension wasn't making anything better. Rose, looking at her face, slowly flopped back against her seat, going completely limp.
" Sorry, but it's too late, anyway. Take a look outside. We can't turn back. This is what the Doctor would have wanted. Isn't that right?" Zach asked of her.
Rose shifted in her seat to stare into the orange-red light of the black hole, that was slowly getting farther away from them. She slowly sat back in her seat, holding her hand to her mouth and staring at nothing. She looked over at Selene, who sat just as limply in her seat, eyes trained on her boot-clad feet… not registering the one hand Toby had on her forearm.
OoOoOoO
The Doctor, knowing he now had all the time he had to explore the bottom of the pit, found a cave and was examining the paintings on the rock. They depicted none other than the Beast, painted bright red and demonic, with lines of what appeared to be some sort of being, trying to fight it.
" History of some big battle, man against Beast," The Doctor said to himself. " I don't know if your getting this, Ida. I hope so. Anyway, they defeated the Beast and imprisoned it." He stared at the paintings for a little while longer before turning and shining the flashlight onto something he spotted behind him. An urn. Two bronze urns on separate pedestals. Shining the light back on the painting, he saw a depiction of two urns on pedestals. He slowly walked towards them. " Maybe that's the key…"
Reaching out with a gloved hand, he touched one. It began to glow gold and hum lowly. Suddenly, the second urn began to do the same.
" Or the gate. Or the bars," The Doctor mused as he went to stand between the two.
There was a deep rumbling, causing the Doctor to direct his gaze forward… and his brown eyes widened at what he saw. In a pit, an impossibly large creature slowly righted itself. It was huge and red in hue, with curling rams horns on the side of its demonic and skeletonic looking head. It's eyes were pitch black with glowing fire like dots in the center, acting as actual pupils. Its chest was taut over large bone and seemingly scarred and swept with black soot. Its large hands with black claw-like nails were encircled with metal cuffs, which were held to the wall with chains. A similar set up had been done to its horns and most likely its feet as well. The chains clinked and rattled as the Beast shifted to growl at the Time Lord before it, bearing it's sharp and horrible teeth.
OoOoOoO
Toby began to laugh. The smile that pulled on his face didn't seem right. He couldn't stop laughing.
" What's the joke?" Danny asked in an almost annoyed voice. Toby slowly looked over Selene to the dark haired man.
" Just… we made it! We escaped!" He sounded giddy. " We actually did it!"
" Not all of us…" Rose muttered, staring off blankly.
" We're not out of it yet," Zach reminded them from the captain's seat. " We're still the first people in history to fly away from a black hole. Toby, read me the stats."
Toby, still grinning, looked up to the screen overhead.
" Gravity funnel holding, Sir! Ooh, it's holding!" Selene looked over at him and stared at the look on his face.
" Toby… Are you alright?" She asked quietly, shifting her arm so her hand was on top of his. She knew Toby was practically no longer there. The Beast had finally taken him over completely. In fact, he probably hadn't been Toby for a while. But… there was no harm in hoping that wasn't the case. He grinned down at her.
" I'm perfectly fine, Selene. Everything is perfect."
OoOoOoO
The Doctor, staring in shock at the Beast before him slowly said,
" I accept that you exist. I don't have to accept what you are, but your physical existence, I'll give you that." The Beast snarled again. " But I don't understand. I was expected down here. I was given a safe landing and air." A hint of a smirk pulled on the Doctor's face. " You need me for something. What for?"
The Beast lunged at him as much as he could, talon like hands clawing at rock bathed in red and orange light. It pulled back after a moment, its large breaths making its enormous shoulders rise and fall.
" Have I got to… I don't know… beg an audience or… Is there a ritual?" The Doctor leaned to the side slightly and arched both brows as he tried to think of things he'd had to do in the past. " Some sort of incantation or summons or spell? All these things I don't believe in, are they real?" The Beast shifted and stared at him. It did nothing but let out another breath of hot air. " Speak to me! Tell me!" It snarled like a lion, almost as if daring him to figure it out.
" You won't talk… or… you can't talk. Hold on, hold on. Wait a minute, just let me… OH! No!" He looked down then his head snapped up as he stared at the Beast. " Yes!" He grinned. The grin fell. " No… Think it through… you spoke before. I heard your voice. An intelligent voice! No! More than that—brilliant!" The Doctor held out a hand towards the creature, still trying to work out the entangled snare his thoughts were in. " But… looking at you now… All I can see… is… the Beast. The animal. Just the body. You're just the body, the physical form! What's happened to your mind, hmm?" The Doctor tilted his head, lips pressed together, eyes wide. " Where's it gone? Where's that intelligence?"
The Doctor's eyes slid upwards and he froze. The rocket. The passengers… The archeologist. The one they'd heard speak as the Beast.
" Oh, no…" He muttered, straightening up.
OoOoOoO
" Stats at fifty-three, funnel stable at sixty-six point five. Hull pressure all constant… Smooth as we can, Sir, all the way back home," Toby told Zach. " Coordinates set for planet Earth." He began to smile that completely not-Toby smile again.
OoOoOoO
" You were imprisoned, long time ago—before the universe, after, sideways, in between, doesn't matter," The Doctor dismissed with the wave of a hand, examining more of the paintings. " Prison is perfect. It's absolute. It's eternal. Oh, yes! Open the prison, the gravity field collapses! This planet falls into the black hole!" The brunette Time Lord grinned and marched to stand back between the two urns. " You escape, you die—brilliant!" He threw his arms in the air, his excitement dying as his thoughts began to roll again. " But that's just the body. The body is trapped. That's all. The Devil is an idea. In all those civilizations, just an idea. But an idea is hard to kill… An idea could escape. The mind. The mind of the Great Beast."
He jutted a finger to point at the Beast, as it leaned forward again, it's seemingly burning flesh twitching into angered expressions.
" The mind can escape." The Doctor jumped back in excitement as it all made sense. " OH! But that's it!" He exclaimed. " You didn't give me air, your jailers did!" He spun around, arms held out to stare around at everything surrounding him. " They set this up all those years ago. They need me alive because if your escaping, I've got to stop you!" The Beast roared in anger, thrashing around in its bonds. He grabbed onto a large rock and moved to one of the urns, an almost triumphant smirk on his face. " If I destroy your prison, your body is destroyed, your mind with it."
The Doctor brought up his arms and held the rock just over the urn, preparing to smash it. He suddenly froze when the faces of Selene and Rose popped back into his head. He dropped the rock on the ground and shook his head.
" But then, your clever enough to use this whole system against me." He grabbed onto the pedestal and stared at the urn. " If I destroy this planet, I destroy the gravity field. The rocket—the rocket looses protection and falls into the black hole," He said, face falling to its absolute lowest. " I have to sacrifice Rose. I have to sacrifice Selene."
The Beast began to growl lowly in short gasps. It was laughing. The Doctor had gotten it right.
OoOoOoO
" It doesn't make sense," Rose mused when she finally pulled herself out of her thoughts. " We escaped but… there's a thousand ways it could've killed us. It could've… ripped out the air… or… burnt us or anything. But it let us go. Why?" A thought hit her and she and Selene made eye contact. " Unless it wanted us to escape." The look on Selene's face was grim. So, either she'd gotten it right and Selene knew it and couldn't say… or she was thinking the exact same thing.
" Hey, Rose, do us a favor." Toby leaned closer to her. " Shut up," He hissed. He was no longer acting like the shy, mild-mannered man they'd met. And Selene shook her head to Rose, clearly saying 'don't provoke him.'
" Toby…" Selene whispered. His head whipped around to look at her. He arched a brow in reply, eyes getting colder and more distant. " Nothing. Never mind…" With a smirk, he looked back up at the monitor.
" Almost there. We're beyond the reach of the black hole in forty, thirty-nine—"
OoOoOoO
" So that's the trap," The Doctor said glumly, staring at the Beast with dull eyes. " Or the test of final judgment, I don't know… But if I kill you, I kill them." The Beast growled again, thrashing its head about. The Doctor clapped his hands together behind his back. " Except, that implies in this big grand scheme of Gods and Devils, that they're both just victims. But I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake Gods and bad Gods and Demigods and Would-Be-Gods, and out of all that… out of all that whole pantheon, if I can only believe in two things… two things as one… I believe in them!"
The Doctor grabbed onto the rock again and ran to one urn. He smashed it to pieces. He ran to the second one and did the same, tossing the rock to the ground.
" This is your freedom! Free to die!" The Doctor called out. " You're going into that black hole and I'm riding with you!"
The Beast thrashed wilder than before, breathing out flames, roaring angrily. The Doctor mockingly made a snarling face back at it, staring as it began to loose control.
OoOoOoO
" What happened!? What was that!?" Danny yelled out as the rocket began to shake. Toby's face darkened.
" What's he doing?! What is he doing!?" He exclaimed angrily.
" We've lost the funnel! Gravity collapse!
" What does that mean!" Rose called out.
" It means we're falling into the black hole, Rose! It means we can't escape!" Selene called out to her, grabbing onto the sides of her seat.
Sirens wailed, lights began to flash. Everyone didn't know what to do; death seemed inevitable as they spiraled towards the black hole. Rose craned to look out the window and her face fell even more.
" It's the planet. The planet's moving. It's falling!" She sat back down in her seat and turned to look at Toby, only to shrink back into the wall, mouth a gape. He was glaring right back at her with crimson eyes, blue lips and ears, the symbols back on his skin.
" I am the Rage and the Bile and the Ferocity!" Toby shouted, voice deep. The voice of the Beast.
" It's Toby! Zach, do something!" Rose called out as Toby's head whipped around to glare at Selene instead.
" I am the Prince and the Fall and the Enemy!" He was straining against the seatbelt, hands tightly gripping the chair.
" What happened!?" Zach called out as Danny began to completely loose it.
" It's him! It's him! It's him!" He yelled.
" I am the Sin and the Fear and the Darkness!"
" It's completely taken him over, it isn't Toby anymore!" Selene called out, cringing away from Toby as he leaned towards her again. Craning back in his seat, Toby's mouth opened and fire flew from his mouth. Everyone stared in horror.
" Stay where you are! The ship's not stable!" Zach caught sight of the fire. " What is he!? What the hell is he!?"
" I shall NEVER DIE!" Toby snarled, thrashing in his seat. " The thought of me is forever! In the bleeding hearts of men in their vanity and obsession and lust! NOTHING shall ever destroy me! NOTHING!"
Rose, who'd scrambled from her seat and grabbed onto the bolt gun, slid back and aimed it at the front window.
" Go to hell," She muttered, firing the only bolt. The window shattered and Selene had to quickly reach over and pull the clip on Toby's seatbelt, which sent him hurtling forward into the vacuum of space. He was growling and clawing at nothing, glaring at everyone on the rocket. Selene stared as his angry face slowly drifted away from them, bellowing out angrily. Rose hugged her seat to keep from being sucked out, hiding her face.
" Emergency shield!" Zach shouted. Hitting a button, the emergency shield went up and panic continued to ensue. " We've still lost the gravity funnel. We can't escape the black hole!"
" But we stopped him," Rose pointed out. " That's what the Doctor would've done." If she were about to die, she'd rather her thoughts be about the Doctor rather than hurtling into a black hole.
" Some victory!" Zach spat. " We're going in."
" The planet's lost orbit! It's falling!" Danny shouted, staring at a monitor diagram.
OoOoOoO
The Doctor ran from the cave, blown backwards by a blast of steam. He grunted as he hit something solid. Looking up, he saw a very familiar blue wooden door. He was propped right up against the TARDIS, as if it had been waiting for him. He laughed, not thinking of a better time it could have shown up.
OoOoOoO
The diagram went red and filled with static.
" The planet's gone!"
" Farewell to the impossible planet…" Selene whispered, shutting her eyes.
" I'm sorry," Danny said to the two women sincerely.
" Accelerate," Zach said. " I did my best. But, hey, first humans beings to fall inside a black hole… that's… how about that? History."
Everyone clamped their eyes shut, ready to die…
The lights went back on.
The shaking stopped.
" What happened?" Rose asked.
The rocket began to tilt.
" We're… turning," Zach said in confusion. " We're turning around… we're turning away!"
Static came on over the intercom system.
" Sorry about the hijack, Captain. This is the good ship TARDIS," The Doctor's voice told them, causing Selene and Rose to look up at the speakers, smiling. " Now, first things first; have you got a Rose Tyler and Selene Thomas on board?"
" I'm here! It's me! Oh my God!" Rose said with pure joy.
" Ready to get back in that blue phone box," Selene said with a smile, eyes closing again. " Care to tell us where you are, Doctor?"
" I'm just towing you home! Gravity-shmavity. My people practically invented black holes. Well… in fact, they did! In a couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe. Oh, and, Captain… can we do a swap? Say, if you give me Rose Tyler and Selene Thomas, I'll give you Ida Scott. How about that?"
" She's alive!" Zach exclaimed happily, slowly grinning.
" Yes! Thank God!" Danny whispered.
" Yeah! Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be alright. I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip…" Everyone could hear that tinge of regret in his voice. " They went down with the planet." There was a beeping sound. " Ah! Entering clear space. End of the line, mission closed."
OoOoOoO
The TARDIS landed in the cargo hold, and the passenger swap was put into action. Rose and Selene both walked into the TARDIS, staring at the Time Lord, still in his space suit. Rose grinned and ran up the ramp, meeting him in a hug, which lifted her off the ground he chuckled and she laughed as they tightly embraced. Selene slowly walked up the ramp and leaned against the railing, spacing out for a moment.
" Selene?" She looked up when the Doctor said her name. He grinned at her, arms wide. " What, I don't get a hug? You're the one always giving them!" He teased. Smiling, she walked over and hugged him tightly. But she didn't laugh. Her smile didn't last long either. She squeezed her eyes shut and hugged him tightly. The day had been long and taxing. She'd lost a friend. She'd had enough of planets near black holes. " You alright?" He asked, pulling away and looking at her, concerned. She tried a smile, which came out as a grimace. She shrugged and put her hands in her pockets.
" Long day, I guess," She replied, stepping out of his embrace. Rose and the Doctor exchanging a worried glance for their friend, but then he began to pull off the space suit, revealing his normal suit underneath. He went to the console and pushed a button, Rose joining his side.
" Zach, we'll be off now," He said. " Have a safe trip home. And the next time you get curious about something—oh, what's the point? You'll just go blundering in. The human race." He looked over at Rose with a small smirk.
" But, Doctor, what did you find down there? That creature, what was it?" Ida's voice asked.
" I don't know. Never did decipher that writing. But that's good! Day I know everything, I might as well stop." Rose looked at him curiously.
" What do you think it was. Really?" She asked him.
" I think… we beat it. That's good enough for me," He told her, flicking switches again.
" It said I was going to die in battle," She said worriedly. He looked her in the eye and said,
" Then it lied." She smiled. " Right! Onwards, upwards. Ida, see you again, maybe."
" I hope so."
" And thanks boys! From Selene and I!" Rose called out, smiling.
" Hang on, though, Doctor. You never really said… You three… who are you?" Ida asked.
" Oh!" The Doctor said, thinking it over. " The stuff of legend!" He smiled at his two companions, flicking another switch… and they were off.
OoOoOoO
" This is the final report of Sanctuary Base Six. Officer Tobias Zed, Deceased, With Honors, 43K 2.1. Also, Ood 1, Alpha 1, Deceased With Honors…"
OoOoOoO
Rose recounted what happened up on the base when the Doctor was in the pit, and vice versa. Selene kept quiet, leaning against the railing while playing with a frayed edge of her sweater.
" Selene…" Rose said softly, getting the brunette's attention. " Is what the Beast said true? I know I asked before, but… do you really feel out of place here?" Her voice was tinged with worry as she leaned beside her friend. The Doctor, who'd been working around the console froze to hear what Selene would say. She wrapped her arms around her stomach for comfort.
" I… yeah. I do sometimes. I guess I feel that I'm more of a tag-along, that I'm just along for the ride. That I'm not making much of a difference for anyone. I'm just… a speck of dust drifting in a sea of people who change worlds," Selene admitted, sighing. She shook her head with a small laugh. " I sound like such a child, don't I?"
" Don't talk like that," Rose said softly, putting an arm around her shoulders. " You think you don't make a difference? What about Toby? You must've known he was possessed long before any of us, and you still kept by his side quite adamantly, in fact. I still say he fancied you… and you've helped save the world more than once. The Doctor and I know you've made a difference. So just keep working on it, I'm sure you'll see it too," Rose said comfortingly, pulling her into a hug. Selene hugged tightly back, feeling tears slip from her eyes.
" Maybe he fancied me, maybe he didn't, I guess I'll never find out… but… Toby was a friend… I wish… I just… Everyone who meets me seems to get cursed. Think about it. Reinette, dead waiting for us to come back. Mickey, he's stuck in an alternate universe. Mrs. Moore. Dead. Toby, dead… I'm a package of bad-luck walking around," She muttered into Rose's shoulder.
A warm hand dropped onto her back and she looked up to see the Doctor standing behind her. He stared down at her and pulled her into another hug.
" You're not bad luck. I mean, look at Rose and I, we're still walking and living aren't we? I've said this once, I'll say it again; you're special. You can save the world, you already have saved the world. You can't loose sight of yourself in the universe. You'll go mad. Trust me, it isn't the best thing to happen. Now. Chin up," He said, bumping her chin with a finger, smiling sweetly at her. " Get some rest. We'll go on some nice relaxing adventures next, why don't we? We can go tanning on a beach on some planet neither of you have ever heard of, or go on a hike with Lewis and Clark! Go on, both of you, rest up! Big days ahead of us!" The Doctor grinned as he earned a watery smile from Selene, both she and Rose walking arm and arm to go get some rest.
Hiking with Lewis and Clark… now that was something he'd never done.
Afterword: 'Ay, another chapter done! Not too impressed with how I wrote it, I must admit, but then again, I'm exhausted from all this freaking snow. Due to Winter Storm Nemo, I have a good two or so feet of snow in my yard. UHG. And my room is FREEZING so my fingers are cold while I type XD I need some typing gloves…
Anyway, Pretty intense stuff went down. Toby kissed Selene, Toby became possessed and died… The Doctor says he believes in not only Rose BUT ALSO Selene, so, yeah, ya know… normal day in the DW universe.
REVIEW REPLIES:
DoubleHeartedHuman: I thought Toby deserved a close friend before… ya know… this chapter happened XD I hope you enjoyed! Thanks again!
grapejuice101: I'm glad you like it more! Wasn't my exact favorite either, but it was fun to write! Hope you enjoyed! Thanks again!
The Yoshinator: I couldn't get much of a original scene in this one; too fast paced. Though I suppose that last bit in the TARDIS was an original scene. Short, but there. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Thanks again!
Whyna Katran: Ah, thanks! I'm glad I'm rewriting the episodes well, this one, not too sure about it… well, I hoped you enjoyed it, anyway! Thanks again!
: I'm glad you liked it! Don't worry, you didn't sound harsh, I'm really greatful you pointed out; I need my readers to point things like that out so I actually notice it XD And I have an EXACT time line and episode where they end up together. I've already planned it out! XD Anyway, hope you enjoyed! Thanks again!
JayceeJade: Hope you liked it! Thanks again!
E-man-dy-S: Hope you enjoyed the chapter! I love writing this story, it's so much fun! Thanks again!
And thank you to those who have read this and added it to their favorites/story alerts. It means a lot to me! Thanks guys!
By the way, I have a poll up on what story you guys might be interested in me writing next. Go vote if you like!
NOTE! : Okay, so the next chapter will be Love and Monsters. Since it's not very Doctor revolved directly, I'm gonna give them a little side trip till Jackie calls Rose. So, let me know if there is a time period/place, historical figure, some planet or other you'd like them to visit, 'cause I love suggestions! Although, hiking with Lewis and Clark would be funny. Anyway, let me know! Thanks again you guys!
~Mary