Rose was staring at her again.

Hally offered the young woman a small false smile, trying to diffuse the awkwardness.

They'd only returned to the TARDIS about an hour ago, after apparently outsmarting the devil. After Rose, Hally, Jefferson, Danny, Toby and Zach had taken the Ood down they'd managed to get back in contact with Ida at the bottom of the pit.

"He's gone." Ida said, Rose was gripping onto the communication device.

"What do you mean, he's gone?" Rose muttered, panicked.

"He fell into the pit. And I don't know how deep it is. Miles and miles and miles." Ida's voice was distant.

"But what do you mean, he fell?" Rose countered again, Hally could hear the anger in her voice.

Hally didn't believe it. Not really. She tried to reach out with her mind to find The Doctor.

There was nothing.

But he couldn't be gone. Surely…

"I couldn't stop him…" Ida whispered sadly. "He said your name." She tried to comfort Rose over the radio. "Told you, to look after her."

Rose shot Hally a look. Hally frowned. Why would he tell the human to look after her? If anyone was in the position to be protecting anybody it would be Hally.

Zach took the radio away from Rose, he regretfully informed Ida that she was stuck. There was no way they could rescue her.

"You should see this place, Zach. It's beautiful. Well, I wanted to discover things, and here I am." Hally could hear the older woman's voice cracking with emotion.

Zach was silent for a moment. "We've got to abandon the base."

"I'm not leaving him here." Hally's voice rang out loudly over the discussion of the others. "Whatever it is. I can destroy it."

Rose shook her head gently, her eyes teared up and Hally could see that she was struggling with something. Being pulled in two directions.

"You can take Rose. But I'm staying." Hally's eyes flashed angrily.

The next thing she could remember was waking up next to Rose in the small rocket. Rose had shot her an apologetic look. Hally's eyes had stung with tears of betrayal. Not that they could dwell for too long, after that they'd realised the beast had invaded Toby's mind and was using them on the rocket to escape.

The Doctor had appeared just as their ship was about to fall into the black hole. Rose had been elated, but Hally couldn't help but feel like they'd abandoned him. Why had Rose let them leave him there?

Hally looked away from Rose's hazel eyes to stare at the console room floor. The Doctor had left the console room a few minutes before to 'make everyone feel better with a nice cuppa', but the two women hadn't spoken a word to each other since.

She could feel the human's eyes burning into her skull.

"Why are you staring at me…?" Hally whispered, eyes flicking to the corridor The Doctor had disappeared down.

She heard Rose sigh loudly. "I…"

Hally looked back up at her and frowned. Again, the human's eyes were misty with unshed tears.

"Why did you get on that rocket Rose?" Hally pressed. She could see that the human was conflicted. She was hiding something.

"Because…" A single tear ran down her face, she quickly wiped it away.

"Because, The Doctor told me to look after you. Ida said - …"

Hally cut her off. "Uhuh, because you always do what The Doctor tells you to do?" She raised an eyebrow. Knowing full well that Rose actively disobeyed The Doctor almost as much as she did.

"Zach was taking you onto the rocket. I couldn't exactly leave you could I?" Rose huffed, raising her voice slightly.

Hally crossed her arms. "But The Doctor was there, on the planet… and you went after me?"

Rose nodded slowly. "Yes."

"You chose…" Hally spoke slowly, emphasising each word. "…to come after me, and leave The Doctor behind?"

Rose stared back at her, not moving. Something was burning behind her eyes.

"I can't remember, is it 1 sugar or 2 Hal?" The Doctor came bounding back into the console room, three steaming mugs in his hands. He paused at the entrance of the console room, evidently sensing the strange tension.

"Everything alright…?" He looked over at Rose. She placed a smile on her face and nodded.

"Of course, just… weird day."

Hally watched the interaction between them both. She sighed softly and took one of the mugs from The Doctor. "It's actually 3, but this will do." She sent him a small smile and settled on one of the chairs, gently blowing on the contents of the mug.

The Doctor passed Rose her mug and the two lent against the console. They fell into a comfortable silence. Every now and then she felt her father's eyes on her, joined every so often by the eyes of the human. Hally wasn't sure why her cheeks started to burn, but they did. She felt like a child whose parents had caught them doing something they weren't supposed to.

"What was the thing in the pit, in the end?" Rose's voice was small as if she was only talking to The Doctor.

He shot her a smile. "Oh, I don't know. The universe is old and huge. I guess I don't know everything that's out there." Rose smiled at him.

"It's possible, I guess, that it was what civilisations and religions would consider to be the devil." He ran a hand slowly through his hair. "But then, there could be lots of those throughout the universe. There's power out there that we might not ever understand…"

"So… how could it know things about us…? What it said… about me dying in battle?" Rose was chewing the inside of her lip.

Hally piped up, both The Doctor and Rose turning to look at her. "Basic telepathy. 'The Beast', whatever it was, was just feeding off our fear. It also told us we'd all die on that planet, and we didn't. So it's not an all knowing being. Just a big, old, red thing with basic telepathy skills." She smiled encouragingly at the human.

Rose nodded slowly, seemingly calmed by her explanation.

"What did it mean… when it was taunting everyone… it called you the wife of the deathless? Queen of Chaos?" Rose cocked her head to one side.

Hally laughed, shaking her head. "I don't know." She looked down for a moment. "Probably just another dumb metaphor to try and scare us." She paused, looking between the two, neither seemed overly convinced. "I don't mind Queen of Chaos though." She smirked, making Rose laugh. "Has a nice ring to it."

Sometime after 20th December 2007

Hally woke up to complete darkness.

She blinked her eyes a few times to check that she'd really woken up.

Still, everything was black.

She lay still for a few moments, trying to figure out where she was. She was lying down on what felt like a bed. She slowly sat herself up, finding the edge of the bed, she let her feet dip down to the floor. It was cold, felt like stone.

She gingerly stood up, not just because of the darkness, but because when she moved she could feel a dull, painful ache deep in her muscles. Slowly she edged her way forwards until she found a wall. Cold, stone, again. It didn't take her long to feel around the perimeter of the room. No windows, one bed and one heavy metal door, with no handle on the inside.

She sat herself back down on the bed, her muscles stinging angrily at her after moving around the room. Leaning her back against the cold wall she stared into the blackness at where the door was. She supposed she had expected someone to arrive soon. Doctor Saxon, or anyone. But no one came. No one came for what felt like days.

7 days to be precise.

Not that Hally could have known that. Stuck in her pitch-black prison with nothing to help figure out how many hours had passed. She was so hungry. It was so dark.

Sometimes she would pace around the room. Muttering angrily to herself.

Sometimes she would sit on the edge of the bed, thinking. Trying to think her way out.

But her thoughts never stuck. As usual these days, any useful thoughts simply floated away into the blackness.

Then.

Finally.

Someone came.

She heard them first.

Footsteps, heavy footsteps outside the door.

Then she heard a bolt being pulled across and the heavy metal door being pulled open.

Light flooded through the door and she had to cover her eyes with her arm. The footsteps stopped and Hally slowly peeled her arm away from her face. Her eyes trailed up the long shadow on the floor to the silhouette of the guard. Her guard. Hally felt her jaw tighten. She wanted to jump at him, to scratch his piercing blue eyes out. But she was so weak. So hungry and so tired.

Instead, she let him grasp her upper arm and pull her out of the room. They walked in silence through a maze of corridors that she vaguely recognised. Perhaps they all just looked the same in this place. Eventually, he slowed outside the usual light panelled wood door. Number 9. He pushed open the door and pushed her inside, not even bothering to deposit her on the sofa as he usually did. Saxon was already in the room. Hally turned to look at him as she heard the door close and click.

Saxon wasn't looking at her. He was writing something in his notebook.

Hally suppressed a growl, his disinterest grating on her.

The man who had left her in a dark room for days.

She marched over to his desk, leant over and pulled his notebook out from under his gaze, slamming the book shut with a thud.

He paused, eyes still trained on the space where the notebook had been. A small smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth before he leant back in his chair, eyes finally rising to meet hers.

She had to force her voice not to falter. "What is it this time then, hmm?" She demanded. Irritation flared up inside her at how small her own voice sounded.

Saxon smiled slowly and motioned towards the sofa behind her. "Sit. And Eat. You must be hungry." He was patronising her on purpose, she could see the dark glint of mischief in his eyes.

She looked behind her at the sofa, gritting her teeth. She was about to inform him that she would NOT be sitting when she noticed the sandwich and biscuits laid out on the coffee table just in front of the sofa.

She let out a huff and sat down. Not looking at him as she grabbed the sandwich and started to eat it quickly.

Saxon didn't say anything, the room was silent apart from the sounds of Hally chewing. Which seemed to be uncomfortably loud.

"I know what you're trying to do…" Hally started, half muffled by sandwich.

Saxon simply raised an eyebrow.

"…It won't work." She swallowed. "You can't beat or starve me into submission you know. People have tried way before you." She laughed. "If you'd learnt anything about me at all, you would have realised that by now." She shot him a smug smirk, popping a biscuit into her mouth.

His small smile was back. It unnerved her. His smile. It was so knowing, so calm. It made no sense.

"I suppose you're right." He stated slowly.

Her eyes narrowed slightly. He was mocking her again, she could tell.

"I don't help people because I want affirmation." She spat out. "I do it because I can." Her eyes flashed. "…and because it's the right thing to do." She added.

His eyes twinkled with concealed laughter. "Where do you think it comes from?" He cocked his head to one side. "Your need to do the right thing?" He was smirking fully now and Hally couldn't shake the feeling that he was toying with her.

She shrugged, trying to fain nonchalance. Gain some of the power back in the conversation. "What do you mean? It's just innate, isn't it? The need to help." She said as if he'd asked a stupid question.

His eyes darkened for a split second. "No, not really. Even the most selfless of things, always have a selfish angle."

Hally frowned. "That's not true." She countered back instantly.

"Oh." He raised both his eyebrows, a look of genuine interest. "Really?"

"No." She confirmed.

He watched her for a moment, leaning further back into his chair. "So, when you joined the war, for your friend, was it? You were only doing that to protect him?"

Hally bristled slightly. She didn't like where this was going. "Yes. Of course. Because Persca loved him so I had to protect him." She explained, her voice short and sharp.

Saxon chuckled softly, motioning to her. "So there was no part of you that joined out of spite?" He tried. "Out of anger, a need to impress?" Hally frowned as he listed off options. Each one brought more heat to her cheeks. "To gain back your friend's love? To find your husband...?" He finished.

Hally's heart was hammering in her chest. Was it anger? Or guilt?

"No…?" She hadn't meant for it to come out as a question.

Saxon shook his head. The teasing glint disappeared from his dark chocolate eyes and was replaced with something else. "No one ever does anything purely for the good of another." His eyes were locked on hers. Unforgiving. "You protect the girl because you want approval. Approval from her, approval from your father. You do it because you want to show you're powerful." He had leant forward, elbows resting on the table. Hally clenched her fists.

"You want to impress." He smirked. "You want to impress me."

Hally let out a strangled noise of anger. "No. I don't." Her voice cracked. She got to her feet and braced herself against the other side of his desk, squaring up to him. "I hate you." She hissed.

"I think we're done." She spat finally, turning to dramatically storm from the room.

He was on his feet and his hand was wrapped around her forearm instantly, preventing her from moving.

"I decide when we're done." His voice was cold, but Hally could hear the strain behind it. She could see the rage burning behind his eyes.

A thought flickered across her mind.

Who…?

The thought disappeared before she could even open her mouth.

They both stood, unmoving a silent. Staring the other down, each trying to force the other into the submissive position.

Hally relaxed under his grip, a gentle frown on her face. "I don't understand what you want from me?" She whispered, exhaustion creeping into her voice.

He didn't let go of her arm, but he loosened his grip. "I don't want anything from you." He spoke quietly, only just loud enough for her to hear. "I just want you to be yourself. Accept yourself. You can be good and bad and selfish all at once and it's ok. We're all contradictions. All of us."

She searched his face for a hint of a lie, the mocking smile that had been there before completely gone.

"I'm not going to stop fighting you." She muttered back.

He smiled slightly, sadly perhaps. "I know."