A/N: I know I'm late with the update, apologizes for that. Had a long weekend where I live and didn't realize it was already next week. Ooops. As I said, I'm still in the process of learning to stick to an update schedule, so you'll have to forgive me when this happens sometimes. In any case, here is the next installment.

"Anyone out there? We need help! Hey!" Jack punctuated each word with pounding his fists on the door violently. His voice sounded raw and was tainted with fear - all the while he was grinning like a maniac at Rose.

She shook her head and gave him a small smile in return, thinking of how much the Doctor would roll his eyes right at that moment. She felt a sudden sting of pain in her chest and her face fell. She took a shuddering breath and gripped the sculpture in her hand tighter, determination etched into her features and Jack started to shout louder, taking his cue.

"My friend's bleeding! Someone help! Her eyes are bleeding! She can't see! The Councilman told us she'd be alright. Anyone out there?! We need help!"

There was a sound of rushing footsteps from outside and a murmured argument as the door creaked and was opened promptly. It almost swung off its hinges, trapping Rose between the wall and its wooden surface.

What neither Rose nor Jack was counting on was the number of guards swarming into the room. They thought one or maybe two people would come to their aid. What they found instead was a small army of men in red uniforms, with strange, purple staffs glinting in their hands, a pointed crystal sitting on top.

There wasn't much time to think things through - Jack grinned at the guards while Rose threw the sculpture at the one standing nearest to her and they ran out of the room. They managed to slam the door shut before any of them realized what was going on and sank down onto the floor in fits of laughter. They scrambled slowly to their feet after a few seconds of uncontrolled laughter, trying to stay quiet. Jack was still wiping at his tears when Rose let out a loud gasp. The former Time Agent spun around, his hands clenched into fists; ready to strike whatever was attacking them when he realized there was nobody around. He opened his mouth to ask Rose was what wrong, but a split-second later he realized what made her speechless.

They were standing in the middle of a hallway, he gathered as much at first glance when they left their prison. What he didn't notice is that everything around them seemed to be made of crystals. They were standing on a semi-transparent green floor that seemed to scatter sunlight all across the hall. Which was very sizable, Jack observed. There were similar walkways above them as far as the eye could see - some busy with people rushing to and fro, some empty and alight with blinding sunlight. A few even seemed to be blocked for some reason. Huge boulders of greenstone were placed on each end and men in deep red robes stood guard on each side. The door they exited blended in perfectly with the wall behind them, a clear honey-brown that seemed to swirl in the heightened atmosphere of thousands of crystals reflecting sunlight off of each other.

"The Doctor said they have three suns," Rose spoke quietly. "Before we came here. I was going to tease him about how we never got to see even one of them in the blizzard."

She gave him a sad smile and Jack's heart clenched painfully in his chest.

"We're going to find him Rose." He opened his arms and Rose ran into his embrace. Running his hands through her hair he hugged her tight. "We'll find him, even if we have to go through every room of this blasted place."

Rose sniffled into his collar and nodded.

"Hey," he cupped her face in one hand. "We're good, Rosie. We've got each other, remember? And I will never leave you. I promise."

Rose's face brightened and he nodded for emphasis, placing a quick kiss on her forehead.

"Good. Now let's see if we can find an exit. This glinting doesn't help much with visibility,"
he added.

Rose's tongue appeared between her teeth as she smiled on. "Well, they do call it the Emerald Palace. If nothing else, they at least have a talent for names."

"And abusing people," added Jack wryly.

He regretted not keeping his mouth shut a moment later when her face fell and she tried to blink back tears. She was worried about the Doctor, Jack could tell, and he was being entirely honest, he was too. Very worried. By this time the Doc usually found them. Jack didn't want to imagine what Otto and his men must have done to him that he was unable to come. Then again, it could be the Palace. The energy of the crystals might interfere with the sonic, in which case it would take a while for even the Doctor to find them in such a vast place.

He took Rose's hand gently in his own and squeezed it.

"Let's go."

"Why are we running?" asked Suri.

"I don't know. Seemed like a good option back there!" the Doctor panted and made a sharp turn. Suri almost ran into the wall as a result and was about to take out her pesh-kabz when the Doctor tugged on her arm.

"Oi! Be a good girl and put the dagger away. I'll explain in a minute. Now could you get a move on?"

Suri shook her head, but slipped the weapon back into her left boot and increased her pace to a sprint. She was overtaking the Doctor quite fast, but he didn't seem to mind. It was only at the next intersection that he yelled at her to turn left.

"Why left?"

"I don't know, just a gut feelin'. It never lies," he grinned at her while patting his stomach and Suri couldn't decide whether to laugh or to cry. He was clearly a madman. Worse than that, he didn't seem at all perturbed about being chased through the Imperial Hospital by Warlocks who had permission to kill.

"I just hope you know what you're doing…"

"I always do, me. Hang on. Did you see my screwdriver?"

They arrived at a closed door at the end of the tunnel and Suri was about to turn back and leave the idiot alone when he mentioned the screwdriver.

"Really? What use is a screwdriver? They've got magic!"

The Doctor scoffed. "No, they don't! It's just utilizing kinetic energy better than you lot. Not that the crystals weren't amazin', but creating a temporal paralysis takes way too long with that kind of equipment. Rather effective when you can manage it, but it's no use to us now."

Suri scowled again and was about to argue and call him out on being bonkers, but he cut her off once again, "So, did you see it?"

"Did I see what? And what the hell are you talking about? Kinetic energy and temporal… nonsense…" she trailed off, looking at him quizzically.

"Paralysis."

She cocked her head to one side.

"Temporal paralysis. That's the technical term for what you did in the hospital ward, throwing all those crystals together in the air. You stopped Time for a minute there. Well, not really, but it's a bit hard to explain when you think that witchcraft exists. I still haven't figured out how you did it exactly. But the method is genius! You lot looked like you were dancin'."

"That's because we were. It's the sacred Dance of the Seven Sisters. When the song of the moons align to form a circle, we perform a dance and the world stops." She looked off into the distance and didn't see the Doctor frown.

"You mean you only do this once every… six weeks, five days, eleven hours and nine seconds?"

Surprise overcame the reverent look Suri had just a moment ago and she nodded. "Yes. But how did you know that? You're a Wanderer, you're not part of the Sisterhood."

"What's this Sisterhood then? Is it like a religious order?"

"I guess where you come from they might call it that. It is not. It's a way of life. The bettering of the self. The fight against the Lonely Gods."

"Who are the Lonely Gods and why do you fight them?"
"It's them," she stuck out her chin and jerked her head in the direction where they came from, a contemptuous look on her face.

"The Council?"

Suri nodded.

"Okay. Why are they lonely?"

"Oh, it's not them who are lonely. It's everybody else. Don't you know our language, Wanderer? Yolg'izlik means the Lonely Planet."

He seemed to stop his fidgeting and think for a moment. He opened his mouth to reply when they heard muffled shouting in the distance.

"They're comin'. Quick, hide under there!"

Suri looked incredulously at him as he pointed to the ventilation shaft.

"I'm not going in there."

"Well, unless you give me my screwdriver, we don't have another option."

He was already busy trying to open the ventilation shaft, not looking at her or waiting for her response.

"What does it look like?"

"Like a screwdriver, but it's sonic."

Suri rolled her eyes and tried to think back to their first meeting with the Doctor.

After leaving him on the bed, she completed the Dance and released the people in the hospital. There was gasping and fearful looks, but she walked on, determination in every step, walked straight to the golden podium in the middle and stood up tall on it.

"People of Yolg'izlik, listen to me!"

The noise quietened down and she could feel peace surrounding her, as always, when they were in the aftermath of the Dance.

"We have lived in fear. In isolation. In loneliness." The words sat heavily on her tongue and all she wanted was to be rid of them. Not yet child, she scolded herself, not yet. Still got a way to go. Still got a lot to learn.

"How long has it been since you looked upon the blue of the sky, the golden glow of our suns and you were happy? Can you remember it? Happiness? Can you say you loved and have been loved in return, by the person you have chosen in your lifetime? Can you?"

She was shouting by now, her voice rising, catching flight, growing wings as she saw the sadness so deeply ingrained in the souls of her people. For they were her people too, despite their many differences, despite her disapproval of the support these people gave to the Council. They were one. And they were fighting for the same thing, even if they stood on opposing sides.

"We are not enemies. I know what the Council says about the Sisterhood. I know what many of you thinks of us! I know you think we're cheaters, we're scum, we're the free chains that brought this planet down, but it is not so! I stand here today and ask you, beg of you, to look at me and see that I do not want loneliness on this planet."

Spreading her arms, she lifted her head and caught the eyes of the few people who would look at her.

"I am not your enemy. I might not be your Sister, not the way there once were Sisters, but I stand here today in the name of love. I fight here today to chase away the loneliness."

One of the nurses in a purple uniform (a sign of loyalty to the Council) moved to stop her, but a red-haired revolutionary cut her short - Amelie was her name? Something like that, Suri wasn't sure.

"Why are you all sick? What poisons us?"

There was a murmur of different words spoken, but the most distinct one was the term 'mood patches'.

"That's right! And what makes us use the mood patches?" She looked around the room, only to see dumbfounded looks and she felt like crying. She had done this many times before, but it wasn't any easier, not matter how many times she went through it already. These people were treated like cattle, not told why they had to obey the Council, not asked what they wanted, expected to follow orders blindly.

"What makes us use them? Well, I'll answer if no one else can. We use them because living without opens us up to the truth. To the pain. A pain so unbearable we have to rely on chemicals to wash it all away. To numb us until we cannot feel anymore. And why do we live like that? Because of the Council! Because it is not legal on Yolg'izlik to marry for love! Because the children are viewed as a nuisance instead of the treasure they are. Because the only way we are able to conceive children is if we put on a patch and let the chemicals take over our bodies! Enough, I say!"

They weren't roused yet, she could tell, but they were still listening. The one cumbersome nurse was held in a death-grip by the ginger girl whose name Suri couldn't remember and no one else seemed inclined to speak up against the Revolution.

"We aren't cattle, are we? We are told - you are told what to do, but never why you do it. We mustn't question the authority, the Council, because it is dangerous. Look at me, I'm dangerous. I have a death penalty on my head. Had it since I was three. But I am still alive. And still fighting. And I will keep fighting until my last breath!"

She could see eyes shining with emotion now and she knew the favour of the gods was on her side this time.

"Come and fight with me! That is the only way to overcome this nightmare! Stand up and make your voice heard. Make your life count! Don't abandon your children! Marry for love! Look in my eyes with love!"

A unifying cry of "For love!" reverberated through the hospital ward and Suri became hopeful.

"For love!" she shouted.

"For love!" the crowd echoed.

"With love!" she yelled.

"With love!" they repeated.

The doors banged open and Warlocks rushed in, deep red robes flying wild around their ankles, brandishing their staffs, throwing bolts of electricity in all directions. Suri saw one of the nurses crumble to the floor in a heap and signalled to her team to retreat. The ginger girl hit one of the Warlocks already and seemed to want to stay and fight, but one of Suri's pesh-kabz landing two inches from her left ear stopped her.

The revolutionaries started to leave the building as fast as they could. The patients and nurses were shrieking again, chaos overwhelming the hospital. Suri was hit by one of the bolts originating from the warlocks' staff and stumbled backwards. She was caught from behind and steadied on her feet by a reassuring hand on the small of her back.

When she turned she was looking into the warm blue eyes of the prisoner she just left on the hospital bed.

"So, what's your name then?"

She was so disorientated by those shining blue eyes and the gentle hands that caught her that she didn't even think before the words were out of her mouth.

"Suri. My name is Suri."

He nodded slightly, took her right hand in his and smiled a devilish smile.

"Nice to meet you Suri. Run for your life."

And so they ran.

If she thought back hard, she could remember seeing a thin, greyish blue object on the side table beside his bed. She did pick it up as they exited the ward, but it looked nothing like a screwdriver. Not by her definition at least. Still, might be worth a try. Who knows what being sonic did to things?

"Are you looking for this?" she asked nonchalantly and threw him the object.

His smile when he caught the strange looking pencil (for Suri thought that was the most accurate description she could give it) was so bright she was taken aback for a moment, staring at the sheer beauty of it and decided with a shake of her head that she liked him. Crazy or not, he was the most interesting person she's ever met. And he seemed to genuinely care about people, even if his almost phlegmatic attitude to danger didn't appeal to Suri.

"Yes! That is exactly what I was looking for!"

He scrambled to his feet and ran to her, kissing her forehead swiftly before rushing to the door and fidgeting with the lock until it opened. Suri didn't have time to scowl at the sudden, uninvited contact - he was pulling her inside the next chamber by the hand, swiftly closing the door behind them as the shouting got louder and they could hear hurried footsteps. It seemed to reach them just as the door clicked shut and they both yelled triumphantly as their escape seemed to go down successfully.

Their merriment didn't last long however, as they soon discovered there was no way out of the room except for the door they came in through.

"What now?" Suri asked impatiently, all the cheer evaporating from her heart as the Doctor paced around the room.

"We wait," he replied.

"Wait?!" she asked incredulously.

"Well, you've got any better ideas?"

Suri crossed her arms and shook her head.

"Then we wait."

They sat down on a large crate back to back.

A/N: Thank you for reading. As always, your reviews and follows/favs mean the world to me and keep me writing, so please leave one if you're enjoying this story.