The clock in the distance chimed for the last time, catching the attention of Lady Tremaine and her daughters inside the ballroom. Desperately they try to push past all of the people in the crowded space, their faces fully exposed and their eyes flashing green. All of them were fighting amongst themselves as they bared their fangs and bit down on each other's flesh. It didn't take long for the majority to start falling to the ground and grasp each other's feet in a desperate attempt to survive a minute longer.

The three women pushed past the angry crowd and headed outside to escape from the madness, knowing that if they stayed any longer they would eventually be attacked as well. And even so, with the clock striking midnight, they knew that Cindy's time was up. What they saw outside near the garden, however, made them stop in their tracks. With a simultaneous gasp, they stood at the dried up riverbed, the bridge in shambles, and a dead body lying in mud.

"Mother… is that…?" Drizella said as her sister turned towards their mother, shock on their faces.

"It's the Prince, dear," Lady Tremaine said. She rubbed her hand against her black skin, stressed and on the verge of collapsing. She felt as though she was going to cry.

"But… but I thought that the others couldn't interfere?" said Anastasia. "They must have escaped captivity."

"They realized what we were doing. I tried to keep our plans out of sight from the rest of our population, but I knew that, eventually, they would realize that we're keeping a potential meal away from them. If anything, most of them could have passed through our defenses and disguised themselves using basic codes, like the Prince."

"Well at least he's dead now," said Drizella. "One less person to compete with."

"Tell that to the other three hundred in the ballroom," Anastasia added.

"They're all so desperate," Lady Tremaine said, snickering. "They're too busy fighting to realize that the girl they sniffed out is beyond their reach. We have to move quickly; our device won't last too much longer and the earthquakes tell us so."

"Rose Tyler must have escaped," said Drizella. "I don't see her anywhere."

"She looked like a frightened little soul while she danced with him, so it's possible that she outsmarted him somehow," Lady Tremaine said. "After all, he was the only one who managed to isolate himself and make a fair attempt at sucking the remaining energy we need to live."

Anastasia focused her eyes on the other side of the small, shallow river with intense interest, spotting something shining in the moonlight. "What's that on the other side?"

"What do you mean?" asked her sister.

"I see something bright and shining on the grass near the trees!"

Quickly they trailed through the mud and stepped out of the way of the crack, placing their feet on the grass and followed Anastasia to the items she saw. To their, the glass slippers were ripe for the picking.

"I'm so happy to see these stupid little things!" cried Anastasia, picking up one of the shoes with delicate hands.

"This means we could continue the story, right?" Drizella turned to her mother, hope on her face.

"We don't know if the King is one of us or code, but if he is, then we are lucky. Very lucky. I'll be sure to lock the crowd in that room, and out of starvation they will eventually kill themselves."

"But… what about the Prince?" chimed Drizella. "He's dead, so wouldn't the code be unable to adapt the changes?"

"Not so. The device is capable of flexibility, after all. We have such control for a reason. He can lock her up for her most gruesome murder, for example." Lady Tremaine eyed the Prince's dead body near the crack, walking over to the dirtied pile of flesh that fell deep within the earth. Carefully she climbed down and shoveled in mud and dirt to make it easier to travel down the steep slope. Once she got close enough to the body, the alien's black face and faded green irises were all wan and lifeless, as well as covered in grime. With what little power she had, Lady Tremaine placed her hands on top of the male creature's head, morphing it back to the design intended for the story: black hair and a handsome, Greek-like face. Lady Tremaine's daughters smiled as their mother glanced back up at them, a mischievous visage on her face. "Will you two be good daughters and spread the unfortunate news?"

"Cindy… Cindy, your dress!"

The Doctor's voice as well as their ears interrupted the passion that they were sharing. Cindy looked down to find that the gown she once wore was replaced with the dull fabric of her maid's outfit. She didn't understand what happened, but she knew it had to do with the fairy godmother.

She never told me about this!

"How could this be?" she asked, more to herself than to the Doctor. The sadness in her tone was palpable.

The Doctor reassured her. "Usually in the Cinderella story, the fairy godmother tells her that the spell she gives to her will be broken at midnight. And according to the clock…" He turned towards the space between the trees, where the clock was clearly visible. "… It is three minutes past that. Wait a minute, why weren't you given this information?"

"I don't know! If I wrote the story then I'd wear that gown for months!" Cindy protested. "I mean, really? What point is it to take the gown away?"

"To hurry back home," he said. "Because the moment the Prince sees you leave as the spell fails, he orders the Duke to desperately search the whole kingdom for the glass—" He suddenly paused, suddenly remembering the next turn of events. The Doctor looked at Cindy's feet, only to see her barefoot with a few red cuts.

"Doctor…?"

"Cindy, where did you leave your shoes?"

"I… I took them off because they were hurting my feet."

"Where?"

"Just outside the forest. Why? What's so important about—"

The Doctor grasped her hand. "Follow me!" Yelping at his quick movements, Cindy ran alongside him as they entered the gaze of the moonlight, the dewed grass taking a bit of the pain away from Cindy's sore toes. "Cindy… you shouldn't have taken them off!"

"I'm assuming this has to do with the story?" Cindy sighed, her hand to her forehead out of realization.

"Yes! A single slipper is the only clue to the Prince since he never asked for your name. Searching around town requires the slipper, because the moment the slipper fits, you become his bride, which equals the end of the story; a happy ending, one that I know Lady Tremaine and the stepsisters plan to destroy."

Pushing blonde hair away from her face, Cindy asked him, "And what could that be?"

"I don't know, Cindy!" Cindy's frustration was contagious. For a little while they stood in silence, contemplating on the events. The Doctor heaved a sigh, digging his hand in his hair as he looked back at the broken bridge, only to see evidence of the already wrecked scene being disturbed. "Oh, no…"

The Doctor jogged towards the edge of the bridge, walking carefully along what remained, and looked down the crack to find no trace of the Prince. His eyes widened as he reached his conclusion, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "No, no, no, no, NO!" He ran back to Cindy, holding her in his arms as she looked at him with scared eyes.

"Doctor, calm down! What's wrong? Is it the Prince?"

"He's gone. The body is gone!" he replied, a mix of anger and fear in his tone. "And I know who did it."

Cindy's eyes widened at the thought of Lady Tremaine picking up the Prince's lifeless body and bringing it to the King, only to see his son deceased. She didn't know if all of the 'humans' were actually aliens in disguise, but if they were following with the story, then she knew that with the power that the King had, it would surely mean the end of her.

"Doctor… are they trying to sentence me to a life in prison?"

"If you're thinking what I'm thinking, then yes. That's exactly what they want. Granted, it's not what they planned, but if they have such control over these events, then this event surely wouldn't stop them from editing the story. You'll live a life in that prison, and while they don't have the luxury of making your life miserable, they will cause your life to become miserable. They'll be able to feed off of your anguish until—"

He drifted off, leaving Cindy in his arms. Cindy could sense something that disturbed him in his eyes, and proceeded to place her hands on his chest, slowly wrapping her arms around his neck to give him a bit more security. The Doctor could only imagine Cindy rotting away in a cell, grieving over the loss of the small life she had, depressed and alone. He pictured her withering and dying the older she got, as the aliens continued to gorge on her weakening life force… until poor Cindy could no longer wait for sleep.

"Are they going to kill me?" he heard Cindy ask, her voice quiet.

The Doctor's eyes blazed with rekindled rage, not believing that their kind could resort to such barbarics. "They cause so much pain to their victims to the point in which those poor souls—" He felt a white-hot burning sensation in the pit of his stomach at the mere thought of it, one that made his adrenaline skyrocket. He never liked a vain death, despite wishing it upon himself many a time. He especially hated a vain death when the person who was responsible was the victim itself. Pushing the thought out of his mind before he spat out the answer to her question, he told her, "Right. Now… I think we ought to get back to the TARDIS. After several days my ship has probably healed up and will be able to make our escape!"

"What about the pictures and my identity?"

"It's become too dangerous for you and for me. Right now they're out there ready to make the most damning circumstance to keep you in their clutches. Not to mention that I have no method of stopping them. I'm sorry, Cindy, but we need to leave as fast as we can. I'll tamper with the TARDIS; I'll try to get your identity back through the picture we still have. Allons-y!" Cindy could hardly get a say before he was dragging her away from the horrid mess they made earlier. Even though he never answered her before, she sensed and had an idea of what he was reluctant to speak of. She didn't blame him for changing the subject so rapidly. However, she couldn't let him order her around.

"Doctor, we can't go to the ship," she protested, firmly planting her feet in the soil.

The Doctor kept pulling her arm, but knowing that she was too stubborn to budge he turned to her. "Why? You don't want to go?"

"Of course I want to go!" Cindy said, exasperated. "Of all the things in the world that I would rather do, I would go with you to travel as far away from this place as possible. But don't you see? If there's one thing I've learned in these long days, is that I shouldn't run away and hide!"

"Cindy, you'll be at risk—"

"That's the entire point, Doctor!" Cindy took his hands in hers. "Given the circumstances I would run away, but with my identify in their hands, I cannot risk leaving it behind and letting you give up on Rose."

"I never gave up on her," the Doctor growled. "I just can't stand the idea of you getting hurt again. It's bad enough that the three are probably on our tails and will stop at nothing before they devour every last drop of your soul. Like I told you: I don't know what these creatures are capable of and I need to keep you safe!"

"And you have, Doctor… Believe me, I appreciate it so much. You know that I adore all that you've given me, but I'm making a choice for my own future right now. Let me fight for this. All my life I've been stepped on and treated like a dog, and what did I do? I sat back and let them push me around like the mop I used to clean the floors with. For once, I'm not going to let opportunities slip away or let anyone stop me. I am getting those pictures back, no matter what! And I sure as hell am not going to let fear get in the way of my future and freedom again."

The Doctor ruffled his hair, pulling it back and letting it dangle in his face as he sighed. Cindy could only watch, standing in place defiantly, waiting for some kind of response.

Finally, with his hands on her shoulders, he said, "I can't change your mind, Cindy… but if it means you do what's right for you, then I'm willing to take those risks."

Cindy smiled. "Thank you."

"I really don't approve of it, though."

A playful punch in the arm was Cindy's response. "Well, tough, because I'm not leaving this place without those pictures in the hands of those gruesome monsters."

Mockingly the Doctor put on a surprised expression, his lips forming an O. "Somebody's a bit feisty!" Laughing, Cindy pulled her body closer to his, forgetting the fact that she no longer looked as beautiful as she did before midnight.

"You're such a menace."

"I do try."

Gripping his hand, Cindy shyly asked, "Um… do you mind walking me home again? Considering it is past midnight and I need my beauty sleep?"

The Doctor let out a laugh. "It will be my pleasure."

He didn't want to voice it allowed, but deep down he wanted the walk back to the mansion to last an eternity. His steps were shorter and slower, almost in pace with Cindy's shorter stature, and with her at his side he didn't have a reason to walk at a faster pace. He felt like he was sacrificing her to the devil the closer he got to Lady Tremaine's residence. Part of him told him to take her place, throwing every thought pertaining to common sense to the side and escape while they still could. Stubborn Cindy wouldn't give in, which made him proud of her confidence yet scared of the consequences. They were already in deep enough trouble as it was, and the last thing the Doctor wanted was to bring her back directly to the same place that caused her so much harm.

Cindy was right, though. She needed to do this. Nevertheless, he made the most of his walk with Cindy's warm hand in his as he let himself enjoy the little time he had left, even though he spent most of the night with her as it was.

Cindy gave him a short, passionate kiss goodnight and a hug before jogging back to the front door of the vacant house. The Doctor was left wanting more, leaning against a nearby tree with a sense of longing yet knowing he couldn't run after her. She gave him a final smile at the door before shutting it behind her, leaving him in the darkness. The Doctor hardly slept that night.