Disclaimer: Doctor Who belongs to the BBC. I do not own any of it, nor do I get paid.

A/N Thanks for the awesome birthday wishes and reviews on the last chapter. I can't believe we are already at the final part of the first story in the sequel. Time flies and all that...

Anyway, Part 4 of 'The Quest'. Finally we realise the Guardians' intention. And exactly what 'The Quest' is all about.

Happy Reading!

The Quest: White and Gold

Previously

Rose gasped as she saw three long glass holding cells, big enough to hold one person, illuminated by the spotlight. The first one had the Doctor, the next one had Rory and the last one had Amy. They were all in a trance-like state, unable to move or say anything.

"The test is simple," said the Gold Guardian. "Life or death. Except you can only save two of them. The third one will die. Your choice, Rose."

Rose shook her head. "I can't do that," she said.

"It's not a difficult test, Rose," said the Guardian, staring at her squarely.

"But if this really is just a test, then it doesn't really matter who I pick, do I?" she asked suddenly. "No one will actually die."

"Ah," smiled the Guardian. "No, I'm afraid it isn't that simple. Had Rory Williams defended Orestes, he would have found himself killed by the furies. Had Amelia Pond not taken that poison dart meant for Onio, she would have been forced to stab herself by the dagger later. Ergo, you have to make your choice and if you make the wrong choice, the person you chose to die will really die."

Rose felt her triumphant smile slide off. She really had been hoping for an easier choice to make. If what the Guardian had said was true, then one mistake on her part could mean that one of them would die. How was she meant to make that choice?

"Take your time with it," said the Gold Guardian pleasantly. "Remember that the one you condemn to death will really die if you are wrong."

"Why, though?" asked Rose suddenly. "Why are we being tested like this?"

"There will be time for that later," said the Guardian dismissively. "If you prove yourself worthy, then you shall know our purpose."

"And I become worthy by killing one of my friends?" demanded Rose, narrowing her eyes.

"Yes," answered the Guardian simply.

Rose gritted her teeth and looked at the three glass holding cells. The Doctor was first. Out of the question, she would never kill the Doctor. It was just outrageous. She shook her head slowly and looked at the next cell which held Rory.

She had known him for a while now and cared a great deal for him. He was like the annoying brother she never wished she had yet she couldn't help but love him. He was brilliant and she could not kill him anymore than he could kill her.

Which left Amelia Pond. Rose had not been particularly fond of her when they had first met. She was a Space Pirate, a common thief. Yet, she had helped them save the universe from the Daleks. After the events were all over and done with, she had expected that Amy would be dropped off wherever she wanted and they would keep going.

However, she hadn't anticipated what had actually happened.

"That is...unbelievable," said Rory, his eyes wide with awe as the Doctor finished the story of the Bad Wolf.

"It still begs the question of how Rose knew to activate the defence," said Amy.

Rose reluctantly had to admit she had a point. She looked at the Doctor for an answer and he avoided her gaze, choosing to straighten his cravat instead. Feeling slightly irritated, Rose added the other thing that was bothering her. "And since when do Time Lords believe in goddesses?"

The Doctor sighed. "One of Gallifrey's founders was always said to be...a bit eccentric," he admitted. "He was the one who put the defence in. But I don't know why Rose could activate it."

"What was the founder called?" asked Rose.

The Doctor stopped twirling the vector tracker. "The Other," he said.

"That's an odd name," said Rory.

"Yes well, it's not very important now," said the Doctor. He turned to Amy. "So, Captain, have you made up your mind about where you want to be left off?"

Amy looked a bit surprised and then shook her head. "I have...no idea. I don't know when or where my crew could be. I suppose you could drop me off on Lyon. I can start again."

The Doctor stared at her thoughtfully for a long moment. "Yes," he said finally. "Or, you are welcome to join us."

Amy stared at him in shock. "Okay," she said finally. "Count me in."

"Splendid!" said the Doctor. "Let's see now: the Victorian times sound good. How about it?"

With a shaky breath, Rose was brought back to the present. It would be easy to pick Amy to be the one sent to her death but Rose felt sick to her stomach at the thought. Granted that she didn't know Amy as well as the Doctor or Rory, or even cared about her as much as she did about them, but there was no way she was going to kill her. That was unfair, not to mention completely wrong.

She saw the Guardian watch her patiently and Rose took a steadying breath. She had to change her perspective. If it had been her in one of the cases, she would have gladly sacrificed herself to save the others. Then, she thought about what the Doctor would do.

The answer came to her in a flash. She looked up at the Guardian and gave a nod. "I have made my choice," she said.

Still smiling, the Gold Guardian gave her a small, flat device that looked like a remote control. It had three switches, numbered from one to three. "Each of the switches corresponds to the cells in front of you. Switch on the two that you want to save."

Rose took the remote control and wondered again if she was making the right choice. But she thought of the Doctor again and what he would do in this circumstance and her decision solidified itself in her mind.

Without hesitating, she pressed switch number 2. A green light lit above Rory's head and he took a deep breath and opened his eyes. Hands shaking, Rose felt herself waver just a little bit as she thought of the next part of her task. Her eyes moved between the Doctor and Amy and she finally just closed her eyes and pressed...switch number 3.

The remote vanished from her hands and Rose opened her eyes only to find that the glass cases had disappeared. The Gold Guardian stood there with a calculating look in her eyes, and a disorientated Rory and Amy standing behind her. "Well," the Guardian said finally. "It seems you have made your choice."

"Was it the right one?" asked Rose, shakily.

The Guardian gave her a smile. "Only time will tell," and vanished into thin air.

"No! Come back!" Rose yelled. "Where's the Doctor?"

"Rose, what happened?" Rory asked as he rubbed his head.

Rose barely heard him as she felt her legs tremble. "I killed the Doctor," she whispered, aghast.

The Doctor ran a hand through his curls and tried to steady his vision. The last thing he remembered was leading Rose into the Gold Guardian's test. And then, nothing. Until he had woken up nearly twenty seconds earlier.

It was in an empty chamber and the Doctor waited patiently for one of the Guardians to reveal themselves. So, he was not disappointed when the White Guardian appeared casually out of thin air. He was dressed in a crisp white tailored suit, with a white panama hat on his head.

Unlike the last time the Doctor had met him in his fourth form, he wasn't carrying a drink nor was he seated. He was standing rigidly with a grave expression on his face.

"Ah," said the Doctor. "I suppose you are here to tell me why precisely you are putting my companions through twisted tests?" he asked. "Sir," he added at the end, not wanting to aggravate the situation further.

"We had to ensure that they were capable," said the White Guardian.

"I would have told you that if you had asked," said the Doctor. "And on a related matter, capable for what, precisely?"

The White Guardian sighed and crossed his arms at his back. "A grave danger threatens our universe, Doctor," he said.

"You mean worse than what just happened?" he asked, thinking of Gallifrey almost being wiped from the skies. "Sir," he added hastily.

"Much, much worse," said the White Guardian. "It is not just about the ephemeral universe anymore, Doctor. The War has begun among the Guardians themselves."

"I assume that you are referring to the Black Guardian," said the Doctor. "All due respect, sir, but you and the Black Guardian are supposed to be at odds. That is how the universe maintains its balance."

"Yes, I am aware of that, Doctor," said the White Guardian, his tone slightly admonishing. "However, I am afraid the Black Guardian has been joined by another Guardian."

"Impossible," said the Doctor. "The Guardians are supposed to be independent."

"Yet the Crystal Guardian has chosen to ally himself with the Black Guardian," said the White Guardian.

The Doctor almost gasped out loud. "The Crystal Guardian? Meaning..."

"The Celestial Toymaker, as I believe he called himself when he met you," said the White Guardian. "Now, you see my concern."

"And you have the remaining Guardians on your side. Red, Azure and Gold," guessed the Doctor. "I still don't understand what you need me or my companions for."

"The War can be stopped, Doctor. But for that to happen, the universe has to be stopped," said the White Guardian. "Just for one moment."

The Doctor's eyes went wide. "The Key to Time," he realised. "You want me to reassemble it again?"

"Indeed, Doctor," said the White Guardian. "It is the only way we can stop the Black Guardian and the Crystal Guardian from asserting their dominance over the entire universe."

"I still don't understand why you had to test my companions. I have assembled the Key before and I will be successful at it again," said the Doctor.

"The stakes are higher, Doctor, as the ephemerals would say," said the White Guardian. "The Black Guardian and the Crystal Guardian have already started recruiting an army of ephemerals to possess the Key. They will not stop at anything to kill you or your companions. I had to ensure that your companions were capable of handling this."

"I assume that they have all passed your tests?" demanded the Doctor. "Sir," he tagged on since his tone had been far too rude.

"Oh indeed," said the White Guardian with a small smile. "With flying colours, I might add."

The Doctor couldn't help a small, proud smile. "I always take the best," he said.

"Quite," said the White Guardian. He held out a small, transparent rod with red, orange, yellow and white markings at one end. "You will need this."

"Ah yes, the core of the Key to Time," said the Doctor as he took it. "I have almost missed this."

"The first segment of the key has always remained in your TARDIS, Doctor," said the White Guardian. "But the rest have been scattered all over the cosmos. The time is ticking, Time Lord."

"Yes sir," said the Doctor.

"Be careful, Doctor," said the White Guardian as he began to fade away slowly. "Remember, danger will be dogging your footsteps. Beware, Doctor! Beware the Black Guardian and the Crystal Guardian!"

The Doctor sighed and looked back at the core in his hands, and felt a brief sense of nostalgia as he thought of Romana. Those had been simpler times. Just a fix of the universe. Not a War among the Guardians that would cause destruction of the cosmos.

Still, it was a quest that he knew was essential. Plus, it would allow him to show his companions a few different sights. Nodding to himself, he saw his old safe that had conveniently been moved into this chamber. He unlocked it and found the first segment of the Key.

With a smile, he examined it and put it back inside. One down, five to go.

Rory was hugging Rose and even Amy was patting her shoulder in comfort. She had managed to tell them in hurried tones what her test had been and the fact that the Doctor hadn't turned up, had made them all assume the worst.

"It's okay, Rose," said Rory, too numb to think of anything better to say.

Amy was touched by the fact that Rose hadn't simply chosen to kill her. It would have made the most logical sense. She squeezed her shoulder in comfort and gratitude.

"A group hug without me?" came the Doctor's amused voice and the three of them gasped in unison. He grinned mischievously at them and the next second, all three of them had nearly tackled him with hugs. He laughed as he steadied them. "I assume this means you missed me?" he asked cheekily.

"Shut up," muttered Rose, slapping his chest before burying her head in his neck again.

Rory and Amy were first to break away but Rose stayed longer in his arms, apologising over and over again. "It's alright, Rose," said the Doctor. "You made the right choice. It was a perfectly logical thing to do. Even if I had died, I would have regenerated. Rory and Amy do not have that luxury. So, it made sense."

"But I didn't know if you would be able to regenerate," protested Rose.

"Even if I wasn't able to, I would rather my companions be kept safe," he said. "You did good," he said sincerely, meeting her gaze steadily.

"What were all the dumb tests for anyway?" asked Rory.

The Doctor grinned. "We have been handed our very own quest," he said, excitedly.

"What kind of a quest?" asked Amy with interest.

"The Quest for the Key to Time," said the Doctor.

At his words, the chamber around them seemed to dissipate like bad reception on telly, and they found themselves back into the main console room. "Is that it then?" asked Rory. "The Guardians are gone?"

"Yes, I should think so," said the Doctor as he walked over to the console and began to run diagnostics on it.

"Hang on though," said Rose. "What is the Key to Time?"

The Doctor smiled at her. "It is a very powerful artefact that has the power to stop the universe for just one instant," he said brightly.

"Stop it?" asked Rory in confusion. "Why?"

"So that you can fix whatever is wrong without upsetting the balance," explained Amy, understanding it at once. "That is some powerful artefact."

"Which is why it has been broken up and spread across time and space," said the Doctor.

"How are we going to find it then?" asked Rose.

"With this," said the Doctor, showing them the core. "This is the core of the Key to Time. When all six pieces of the key are connected, this goes right in the middle of it, to complete the structure. And until we do so, the core acts like a detector. It can catch the signal of the hidden key piece and revert it back to the normal form."

"How do we know where the pieces are?" asked Rory. "I mean, you said they were all across time and space."

"Ah," said the Doctor and carefully plugged in the core into the TARDIS console. "Like this."

Amy looked at the screen nearest to hers and gasped. "There are new space-time coordinates here," she said.

"That must be the next destination," said the Doctor. "The second segment."

"The second?" asked Rose. "Where's the first?"

"In the TARDIS," said the Doctor. He rechecked the coordinates and looked at his companions. "So, what do you say? Are you ready to take on the quest?" he asked, his eyes shining.

They exchanged a look. "Not even slightly," laughed Rose as Amy and Rory chuckled.

The Doctor beamed brightly. "Good. Here we go then!"

A/N End of story #1. Thanks for reading.

So, the Guardians are fighting amongst themselves. According to their own rules, they can't directly participate in the war, meaning each side would recruit its own fighters. It's bound to get interesting.

The Six Guardians are: White, Red, Azure, Gold, Black and Crystal. Of them, only White, Black and Crystal Guardians have appeared in the actual TV show. We got the rest from the extended media.

The next story is called 'The Space Mystery'. I have tried a very different narrative structure with that and it may or may not be set on the Orient Express. In Space.

Part 1 will be up on Tuesday. Until next time then.

~ Phoenix