Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it, nor do I make any money from it.

A/N Thank you for the overwhelming response on the first chapter of the story. I love each and every one of you so much!

For those of you waiting for the next chapter of 'Desperado', I'll have it up over the weekend. I promise.

Here is Part 2 of 'The Quest'. The Doctor and companions have to make their way through the maze of the TARDIS corridors to find out exactly what is going on. Bound to be fun.

Happy Reading!

The Quest: Red

Previously

"Rose," he said finally. "Remember when I said that this looked a bit futuristic?"

"Yeah, what of it?" asked Rose.

Rory held the light near one of the walls and Rose's eyes widened. They were in a corridor. A very familiar corridor. "You see?" he asked.

"Yes," said Rose. "We're inside the TARDIS."

"67 bottles of beer on the wall..." sang Rory under his breath as Rose marked the door that they had just come with a cross made from her lipstick.

"Stop singing that stupid song," snapped Rose as she put away her rapidly diminishing tube of lipstick. "It's catchy and annoying."

"You got a better idea?" he asked. "I started at 200 bottles and I'm now getting a headache. Plus, my feet ache because we have been walking for what feels like hours."

"Your feet hurt?" asked Rose angrily. "Trying walking about in heels."

Rory made a face as they made their way through yet another dark corridor. "66 bottles of beer on the wall, 66 bottle of beer..."

"...take one down, drink it down. 65 bottle of beer..." Rose joined in as she marked the next door.

"I have read that a Time Lord's imprint is on his capsule's briode nebuliser."

"You are correct," said the Doctor as they let the flare's light guide their way through the corridor. "Yet my connection to the TARDIS has been muted. Like interference on a radio."

"What could do that?" asked Amy with a gasp.

She saw the Doctor's jaw clench in anger. "I don't know but I intend to find out. Come along, Pond."

"Pond?" asked Amy with a smile as they wandered through the maze of corridors.

"Well it's your last name isn't it?" asked the Doctor. "I don't much like military terms, so calling you 'Captain' is getting old."

"I do have a name, you know," she said.

"Ah yes, Amelia," he nodded. "Like a name in a fairytale. Yet you choose to be called Amy."

"Rory gave me that name," she said, hoping that he couldn't see her blush in the dark. "Never had a nickname before so I thought I would keep it."

The Doctor hid his smile. "Well, that's a good reason as any to keep a name," he said.

They walked in silence for a few moments before Amy sighed. "You really ought to get this place signposted," she said. "How long have we been walking?"

"Forty three minutes," he answered shortly. He stopped suddenly and touched the door in front of them. Amy moved closer to him and saw that the door bore a cross drawn in red. She was about to ask what it was when the Doctor put his nose to the door and sniffed it quickly. Then, to her enormous surprise, he gave it a quick lick. "Hmm, Red Passion," he said.

"You know lipstick shades?" asked Amy before she could help it.

The Doctor snorted as he opened the door. "Hardly," he said. "It's Rose's."

"43 bottles of beer on the wall, 43 bottles of beer..." sang Rose and Rory in perfect harmony. "Take them dow..." they both stopped when they felt a cold breeze at their backs. They turned around only to find that there was a wall there now.

"What the hell?" muttered Rory.

Rose tapped the wall with her knuckles. "It's solid," she said and then shook her head. "The corridors have been moving, it seems."

"So we're the idiots going round and round in circles for hours?" asked Rory as he sat down, leaning against the wall. "Just perfect," he said bitterly.

Rose sat down next to him and sighed. "This is ridiculous. Why are we trapped inside the TARDIS?" she asked.

Rory opened his mouth to answer only to be cut off by a loud roar that raised the hairs on their arms. He met Rose's equally horrified gaze. "What was that?" he asked in a whisper.

The roar was louder this time and Rose and Rory jumped to their feet. "It came from down there," she said, pointing straight ahead which was the only way they could go now that there was a wall at their backs.

"Right okay," said Rory as he took Rose's hand and they began to move down the corridor cautiously.

It was silent now and the only sounds they could hear were their own muted footsteps and breathing. They were walking for about five minutes when they came across a door. Unlike the plain white doors that they had encountered so far, this was a pair of dark red double doors set in a gothic archway.

The roar sounded again and the two of them jumped slightly. The roar had definitely come from the beyond the doors. They exchanged a look before pulling the double doors open. They had been expecting to encounter a ferocious beast ready to tear them apart. What they did see was a courtroom.

"What the hell?" murmured Rory as he and Rose slowly entered the room. It was a wide circular room, surrounded by long, Grecian columns. A woman wearing a plain white toga sat at the head atop a high throne and it was plain to see that she was the judge or the closest equivalent to whatever this trial was.

To her right, in a raised gallery were a group of 12 men dressed in white. While not as regal as the judge, they were still holding themselves importantly. The man on trial was standing in the middle of the room, being gazed down upon by what was clearly the judge and the jury. A group of three vulgarly dressed women were standing at the throne's foot, hissing angrily and pointing at the accused.

"Silence!" the judge ordered imperiously and the three women fell silent but continued to glare at the accused. "The proceedings shall now begin. Who brings the charge?"

"We do! The furies do!" the three women cackled in harsh voices.

Rose and Rory glanced at each other in confusion. No one seemed to have noticed their presence; it was as if they were observing a film yet everything seemed solid enough.

"And what is the charge?" asked the judge calmly, raising a perfect brow.

"Matricide," cackled the furies. "Orestes murdered his mother! And the punishment for this heinous crime shall be nothing but death!"

"I decide what punishment should be doled out," said the judge coolly and the furies fell silent at once. "Orestes," she said, looking at the accused. "What do you say to these charges?"

The accused, Orestes, gave a deep bow towards her. "My dear lady Athena," he said in a calm voice. "It is true that I have killed my mother. But I only did so because I was instructed to do so."

Rory and Rose gasped. Athena? Orestes? They had walked right in the middle of Greek mythology. They stayed frozen, unsure about what to do.

"You were instructed?" asked Athena. "By whom?"

Orestes turned and pointed right at Rory. "He did!" he said. "Lord Apollo told me to kill my mother."

At first, Rory thought he was pointing to someone behind him but it was quickly clear that Orestes meant him. "What?" he asked incredulously. "I didn't tell him to kill anyone. And I'm not Apollo. Rose, tell them!"

There was no reply and he turned to look at Rose, only to find her staring straight ahead of her, unmoving and unseeing. "Rose?" he touched her shoulder but it had no effect. It was like she had been frozen in time.

"Apollo!" called Athena in a commanding tone. "Enter the court."

Rory tried again to call to Rose but she remained as still as a statue. Giving up, he walked into the courtroom slowly. Orestes beamed at him as he entered and Rory felt his gut churn. What the hell was going on?

"We would like to hear what you have to say for yourself, Apollo," said Athena calmly. "Did you instruct Orestes to kill his mother?"

Rory paused to think his answer through. He wasn't exactly clear on this legend; he knew Roman stories better than the Greek ones for obvious reasons. While he knew who Orestes was, he really did not remember this part of the mythology.

He took a deep breath. "I did not instruct him to kill his mother," he said clearly.

There was whispering from the jury which went silent when Athena turned her cool gaze on them. The furies were jeering in happiness.

Orestes was gazing at Rory with a betrayed expression on his face. "What?" asked Orestes, aghast. "But you said. You promised!"

"What did he promise?" asked Athena.

"Why does it matter?" asked one of the furies. "Orestes is merely trying to run from his crime. Let us kill him for it!"

"Silence!" Athena ordered. She turned to Orestes. "Have you been lying to the court, Orestes?"

"My lady Athena, I haven't been lying to the court," said Orestes earnestly. "I do not know why Lord Apollo is turning on his word."

"Apollo?" asked Athena.

Rory took a deep breath. "I would never ask anyone to kill their own mother," he said honestly. Screw the faux scene of a Greek tragedy; there was no way he could support someone who killed their own mother only because a supposed god told them to do it. He missed his mother everyday and he had lived far too long without her. And Orestes had taken his mother's life. Rory was all for leaving him at the mercy of the furies.

"He lies!" yelled Orestes, madness gathering in his eyes. "He said that a mother is not a true kin."

"How is your own mother not your true kin?" demanded Rory angrily, glaring at Orestes. "She gave birth to you. You share the same blood."

"I have my father's blood not my mother's," snapped Orestes. "She was merely a container; a vessel to nurture my father's seed in."

"A container?!" Rory exploded. "You complete arse! She was your mother. You are a part of her. She cared enough to let you come into this world and you dismiss her as some sort of an object? How dare you?!" Rory saw red and he clenched his fist to punch Orestes but before he could, everything around him went still.

He looked around quickly but the whole scene had frozen up just like Rose. He heard a single person clapping slowly and he turned in the direction. His mouth fell open as he saw a woman so beautiful that she couldn't possibly be real, literally floating towards him.

She had long red hair that brushed the ground as she walked and she was wearing a flowing red gown. Her eyes were a uniquely amber colour and her arms and wrist were adorned with ruby studded gold jewellery.

"Well done," she said, smiling at Rory. "Well done, Rory Williams."

"Who are you?" he asked, completely in awe of this unearthly beauty.

"I am a Guardian of Time," she answered. "More specifically, the Red Guardian. The Guardian of Justice and Truth."

"Right," said Rory, eyes still wide. "So, this was what? A test?"

"Correct," she smiled. "A test to see if you knew the importance of truth and justice."

"And I passed?" asked Rory, just to make sure.

"With flying colours," she beamed. "You looked like you were about to hit Orestes. While I would have quite loved to see it, I had to stop it."

"Did Orestes get punished?" he asked curiously.

The Red Guardian sighed. "No," she said. "The real Apollo did defend him. He drew on the fact that Athena was born from her father's forehead rather than from a mother which meant that a mother was an unessential part of a child's life."

"That's ridiculous," snapped Rory.

"That's ephemerals for you," she said. "I will never quite understand you all."

"But what's it all for?" asked Rory. "You trapped us in the TARDIS and gave me a test. Why?"

The Red Guardian smiled. "You shall know in time," she promised. "For now, revel in the pleasure of passing your test, Rory Williams."

With that, she vanished into thin air, taking the courtroom and all its occupants with her. Rory turned around and saw Rose stirring as if waking up from a dream. It took a moment for her to focus and she gasped and ran to Rory. "Rory, what happened?" she asked.

In a quiet voice filled with awe, he explained about the Red Guardian and the test of justice and truth. Rose listened in silence and when he was done, she gave him a hug. "You did well, Rory," she said.

"But that is not what happened in history," he said. "Had this been real, I would have messed up history."

"I think that was the real test," said Rose wisely. "Would you pick the truth and justice over history?"

Rory's eyes went wide. "Really?" he asked.

"It makes sense," said Rose. She beamed at him. "You passed the Guardian's test."

"You are taking this remarkably well," said Rory.

"Well at least now we know that we are not trapped by something bad," said Rose. "She said that she was a Guardian of Time, wasn't she? Then she doesn't want to harm us. Whatever reason she has for testing us, there is a reason behind it all."

"You're right," nodded Rory. "Think we should keep moving?"

"Oh yes," said Rose. "Because I'm quite sure it will be my turn next."

Rory squeezed her hand as the two of them left the empty chamber and went back out into the corridors. Taking a collective deep breath, they ventured into the dark corridors again.

The Doctor and Amy followed the track of Rose's lipstick but after the seventh door, the trail went cold. The Doctor huffed in frustration while Amy cursed outright.

"What now?" she asked.

The Doctor turned around and his eyes went wide when he saw the wall that had appeared behind them. "I think the TARDIS or really, whatever is trapping us here, wants us to keep going straight."

Amy nodded as the two of them kept moving down the corridors. They kept moving straight until they came across a pair of deep blue double doors set in a gothic archway. Exchanging a look, they pushed the door open and Amy gasped when she saw what was inside.

"Welcome Princess," came the warm voice. Amy felt terror seize her heart. She knew this story far too well and if she was being thrust into the role of the princess then she had a choice to make.

A choice that could make or break the universe.

A/N End of Part 2. So how was it?

I know there are varying accounts of Orestes' punishment but I relied on the Aeschylus one from the Euminedes. In that, Apollo does defend Orestes by proving that a mother is not a true kin, hence the furies (whose job it is to punish blood crimes) couldn't punish Orestes. We have little to no canon information about Rory's mother and if you remember, in this verse I had his poor mother killed when he was 11. So, I suppose the injustice would resonate quite deeply with him.

The Guardians are canon (most of them, anyway). There are six of them. More info on them to come in later chapters.

Anyway, it's Amy's turn next. That will be Part 3. Let me know what you thought of this one.

The next one will be up on Tuesday. See you then!

~ Phoenix