It's strange really. You would think that after so much loss and devastation that Hally would have been used to it. Or even expected it.

Perhaps that was why it hurt so much. Because she hadn't. It hadn't even occurred to her that it would end.

The Doctor, Rose and Hally travelling the universe.

How could it end, when it felt so right?

Rose had wanted to go home to see her Mum. It was only supposed to be a short trip. But as usual, wherever the trio went, chaos would ensue. Rose had taken Hally and The Doctor back to Jackie's flat, where Jackie had introduced them to 'Granddad Prentice'.

Or at least his 'ghost'. That's when they'd found out that earth had apparently become a new home for 'ghosts'. Or beings pressing themselves into the surface of the world, as The Doctor had described it.

After trapping one of the 'ghosts' and tracing their origin The Doctor piloted the TARDIS to investigate. What he hadn't considered, was that someone could be waiting for them. And as Hally stared at the console screen, watching as the armed troops surrounded the TARDIS, she wondered how this had never happened before.

Oh… and Rose had brought along her Mum.

"Oh well! There goes the advantage of surprise. Still, cuts to the chase." He shrugged, running towards the TARDIS door. He turned back to Rose and Hally. "Stay in here, look after Jackie."

"I'm not looking after my mum!" Rose countered.

Hally scoffed. "Well, I'm not looking after your Mum!"

The Doctor gave Rose a look. "Well, you brought her."

Jackie piped up from where they'd left her, by the console. "I was kidnapped!"

Rose sighed, trying a different tactic. "Doctor, they've got guns."

The Doctor's hand was hovering over the door now. "And I haven't. Which makes me the better person, don't you think? They can shoot me dead, but the moral high ground is mine." He grinned at the two women. Squeezing himself through the door, closing it instantly behind him.

Hally laughed. "That's a terrible reason to die."

Rose huffed and ran back over to the console to watch The Doctor on the screen. Hally hung by the door, ear pressed to the gap. Listening to what was happening outside.

She scrunched up her face. It was all a bit muffled, but she swore she could hear someone clapping. Multiple rounds of applause. That was strange. What was happening?

Hally shot a look over to Rose, but she had an equally confused look on her face.

As Hally was looking at her, she felt the door open and The Doctor's arm snake inside the TARDIS. He grabbed her and pulled her quickly through the front door. She squinted at the sudden change in light, missing the warm glow of the TARDIS instantly.

"You got me… it's my daughter!" The Doctor laughed weirdly and Hally looked around at the bizarre scene in front of her. About 15 armed guards stood in a semi-circle around them. In the middle was a woman, about 40 with a wide ridiculous grin on her face. The whole group were clapping their hands, smiling and nodding at them.

Hally looked up at The Doctor and he shot her a bemused look.

"It's an honour." The woman said, grinning. Pressing the palms of her hands together and bowing slightly towards Hally. "Truly, I think you might be my favourite! Oh, what the files say about you…" The woman winked at Hally as if she knew something that Hally didn't.

Hally laughed awkwardly. "…Please stop clapping…" She murmured.

The woman squeaked in excitement and start off a fresh wave of applause which the soldiers followed diligently. Hally winced, looking back to The Doctor who just shrugged. Equally as lost.

"But, now, now Doctor. Don't be shy. We all know you travel with a human companion too." The woman tutted at them as if they were naughty schoolchildren.

Hally had never been more uncomfortable.

The Doctor coughed and smiled. Again, he opened the TARDIS door a slither and reached his arm inside pulling.

"…but here she is, Rose Tyler." He grinned at the strange group.

Hally looked back and had to stop herself from laughing as Jackie Tyler practically fell from the door of the TARDIS.

The Doctor cleared his throat, thinking quickly. "Hmm. She's not the best I've ever had. Bit too blonde. Not too steady on her pins… A lot of that…" He mimed talking with his hand, pulling a face.

He gave Jackie a quick once over, looking back to the woman. "And just last week, she stared into the heart of the Time Vortex and aged fifty-seven years. But she'll do." He shrugged, grinning.

Hally snorted. Trying and failing to conceal it as a cough.

Jackie glared at the both of them. "I'm forty."

The Doctor pulled a face, as if Jackie was talking jibberish. "Deluded. Bless. I'll have to trade her in. Do you need anyone? She's very good at tea. Well, I say very good, I mean not bad. Well, I say not bad. Anyway, lead on. Allons y…" He shot Jackie a cheeky grin. "But not too fast. Her ankle's going."

Hally laughed and quickly ran after The Doctor, following after the strange woman who had taken off like she was on a mission.

Jackie was hot on their heels. "I'll show you where my ankle's going."

It seemed that wherever they had landed was some sort of warehouse. The woman took great pride in giving them a tour of all the alien technology they'd managed to scrap.

She welcomed them into a storage hanger. "It was only a matter of time until you found us, and at last you've made it. I'd like to welcome you, Doctor. Welcome to Torchwood."

Hally raised an eyebrow, scanning the room with interest.

The woman was showing off a particularly large gun. "Do you recognise this, Doctor?"

"That's a particle gun." He replied, vaguely uninterested.

"Good, isn't it? Took us eight years to get it to work." She grinned, passing the gun back to one of the soldiers. Sebastian, as it turned out.

Finally, she introduced herself. "Yvonne. Yvonne Hartman."

But The Doctor had already moved on to the next piece of stolen technology. Yvonne seemed more than pleased.

"Ah, yes. Now, we're rather fond of these. The Magnaclamp. Found in a spaceship buried at the base of Mount Snowdon. Attach this to an object and it cancels the mass. I could use it to lift two tonnes of weight with a single hand. That's an imperial ton, by the way. Torchwood refuses to go metric." She laughed, looking at Hally as if she would understand the joke.

Hally just smiled awkwardly. "So… what do you know about the ghosts?" She tried to get them back on track.

"Ah yes, the ghosts." Yvonne chuckled. "They're … what you might call a side effect."

Hally raised an eyebrow. The Doctor tried to ask more questions but Yvonne brushed him off and hurried them away, out of the warehouse and deeper into the building.

Hally sighed, again having to jog a little to keep up. "So you call yourselves Torchwood?" She called from behind The Doctor.

Again, Yvonne was more than happy to oblige with a lengthy description of the discovery of Torchwood. Apparently, it was something Queen Victoria had set up herself after their little visit.

"I mean… the werewolf being there was hardly our fault." Hally bristled.

Yvonne smiled down at her and continued in a patronising tone. "Her Majesty created the Torchwood Institute with the express intention of keeping Britain great, and fighting the alien horde."

The Doctor cut in. "But if we're the enemy, does that mean that I'm a prisoner?

"Oh yes," Yvonne said seriously. "But we'll make you perfectly comfortable. And there is so much you can teach us." She scanned an id card against the door panel, letting the heavy door slide open to reveal the room. "Starting with this."

She strode forward, leading them into some kind of technical laboratory. Most of the technology looked fairly basic and familiar. That was, apart from the floating golden orb in the centre of the room.

It was massive. Its presence massive.

And yet… Hally cocked her head to one side, stepping closer.

Yvonne was talking to The Doctor, introducing him to someone else. But Hally couldn't take her eyes off the orb.

Someone crossed into her field of vision. It was a man. 40s, glasses, looked like a scientist. Hally noted his lab coat. Definitely a scientist.

"Rajesh." The man held out his hand in front of her. She looked down at it and took it. He shook her hand vigorously.

"We tried analysing it using every device imaginable…" He turned back to the sphere.

The Doctor stepped forwards, putting on some ridiculous-looking glasses.

Rajesh continued. "But according to our instruments, the sphere doesn't exist. It weighs nothing, it doesn't age. No heat, no radiation, and has no atomic mass."

Hally frowned.

"But I can see it." Jackie piped up from the back.

"I can feel it…" Hally muttered.

Rajesh and Yvonne turned to her, both of their faces lighting up with excitement.

"You can?" Rajesh stepped towards her and suddenly Hally felt very much like she could quickly turn into one of his laboratory tests.

"This is a Void Ship." The Doctor called back to them from underneath the sphere.

The humans were, understandably confused. So The Doctor took a moment to explain to them what a void ship was, and for that matter what the void was. Hally suppressed a small smile. He did love to show off in front of humans, even if he'd never admit it.

"So how do we get in there?" Rajesh looked hungrily at the ship.

The Doctor shook his head, bouncing back over to the group. "We don't! We send that thing back into Hell. How did it get here in the first place?"

"Well, that's how it all started. The sphere came through into this world, and the ghosts followed in its wake." Yvonne explained.

The Doctor nodded. He looked over to the sphere and back down to his daughter.

"Stay here. See if you can find out how that thing came through. How we might be able to push it back."

Hally nodded, sending a warning glare to Rajesh whose face had lit up with glee.

He turned back to Yvonne, motioning for her to lead them out again. "Show me."

Hally called over to him just as he got to the door. "What do I do if I find anything?!"

"Call me!" He shouted, rounding the corner.

"You don't have a phone!" She yelled after him, but he was already gone.

She let out a huff. Rajesh slid into view.

"I can contact Yvonne if necessary on my comm." He smiled and led her over to the sphere.

"Please… take a look. Take all the time you need."

Hally nodded slowly. Praying to herself that The Doctor wouldn't be long.

After she finally managed to shake Rajesh off and get him to stop following her around the orb like her own shadow, Hally stood firmly underneath the giant sphere.

Rajesh was taking his usual readings as she closed her eyes, reaching her mind out to see if there was anything she could sense coming from the orb.

It was heavy. She could feel that. Not in the normal sense. As Rajesh kept reminding her…'the sphere has no mass'. But its presence was heavy. Perhaps if she could lock onto its energy signature, she'd be able to trace that back to the void. Find where it came through and push it back inside.

She heard the door to the lab open. She kept her eyes closed, concentrating.

Someone was watching her.

She opened one eye and stifled a scoff.

Rose Tyler had 'snuck' her way in. White lab coat and all.

Rajesh saw through her act in approximately 45 seconds and within 60 seconds had locked down the lab and contacted Yvonne.

After a short back and forth, during which The Doctor tried to be stealthy and failed… everyone was finally introduced to the real Rose Tyler and Jackie Tyler, her mother…

Yvonne interrupted the family bickering. "Excuse me? Everyone? I thought I said stop the ghost shift. Who started the programme? But I ordered you to stop! Who's doing that?"

Hally frowned and shared a look of concern with Rose. Something was obviously going on upstairs. Their comm link wasn't all that clear, but Hally was certain that it was bad news.

"…They're overriding the system. We're going into Ghost Shift." She heard The Doctor's voice cut through the commotion.

Above her, the sphere gave a deep rumble. Hally looked up and very swiftly shot out from her position underneath it.

Rajesh practically yelped with fear, running back to his computer.

"We've got a problem down here. Yvonne, can you hear me?" His voice shook. Hally and Rose took a step back and watched as the sphere began to tremble.

"Yvonne, for God's sake. The sphere is active! The readings are going wild! It's got weight, it's got mass, an electromagnetic field. It exists!" Rajesh called desperately into his comm device.

It was only then, did Hally actually notice that there was a fourth person in the room.

"It's all right, babe. We've beaten them before, we can beat them again. That's why I'm here. The fight goes on!" Mickey Smith grabbed some kind of makeshift gun and stepped up to Rose's side.

Hally stared at him open-mouthed, a hundred questions running through her mind. But there wasn't time. The sphere was shaking violently now.

Knowing there was no way out, everyone in the room simply watched in horror as the sphere disintegrated before their eyes. Leaving in its place…

"No…" Hally whispered. Eyes wide.

"That's not Cybermen." Mickey lowered his gun slightly.

"Oh, my God." Hally heard Rose mutter from beside her.

The Daleks levitated down from the sphere. Their beady blue eyes scanned the room in an instant.

"Location, Earth. Life forms detected. Exterminate!" The front Dalek screeched.

Hally took a few steps backwards, the humans backing up too. She held out her hand willing a force field into existence between them and the advancing killing machine.

It didn't seem to deter them. "Exterminate! Exterminate! Exterminate!"

Apparently, it had been Christmas a few days ago.

Not that anyone had told her. Saxon hadn't been seen by anyone for at least a week. That had annoyed her. She wasn't sure why. It wasn't like he owed her anything. Why would he have spent Christmas here? That would have been ridiculous. But still, Hally couldn't help but be a little pissed off that she'd been stuck in this place for Christmas.

Alone.

Everything was still blurry. Like she was watching her life through a screen of static. The closer she tried to look, the louder the noise became. She couldn't remember what it felt like to not have the fog that had descended into her mind. She was so tired.

She'd noticed that nowadays she seemed to carry around a heavy feeling of sadness that would sit on her chest. She couldn't remember when it first appeared or why it was there. But it hurt. It was so heavy.

Since her last meeting with Saxon, she hadn't fought back as she'd promised him. She wasn't sure why. The last week felt like she'd been walking through a dream.

Today felt a bit different though. Like when the morning fog finally clears and you realise how poor your vision had been before. Something had changed slightly.

Perhaps that was why the anger was suddenly back with a vengeance. This morning everything was pissing her off. Her thoughts swirled around in her mind, forever thinking but unable to catch onto anything coherent.

Lunch was finishing, Bethany was chewing loudly. It was annoying. Her guard was staring at her. As usual. That was annoying. She could hear him breathing. That was the most annoying.

She really wasn't sure why she did it. It seemed petty even looking back on it. The guard had come over, most of the other inhabitants (is that what they were?) were getting up out of their seats or clearing away their trays.

"Up." He said when she didn't move.

"No." Hally bit back.

Hally felt Bethany give her a look. The younger girl was probably right. But Hally was pissed off. How dare he leave her here alone?

"Get up."

"I said no." She snarled, turning to face him.

He rolled his eyes. Taking her refusal as a childish challenge. He grabbed her upper arm, roughly pulling her up.

Hally cried out in protest. Scratching at his face and struggling out of his grip.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?!" She suddenly screamed at him.

At this point, everyone who had been around Hally had realised that she was about to have one of her 'moments' and had swiftly moved themselves out of the way. The guard looked unfazed. He sighed and grabbed the Tazer off his belt.

It was Hally's turn to roll her eyes. "How original."

"You have an appointment to attend. I suggest you stop the tantrum and come with me."

Hally laughed. It was probably the longest sentence her guard had ever said to her. Almost like he was giving her a warning. Which was hilarious. He'd never done that before.

"If the 'good Doctor Saxon' would like to speak with me then he can come and get me himself." She spat.

The guard was silent for a moment, watching her carefully. She braced herself, expecting his advance any second now. But he didn't. Instead he turned to his right, towards the small group who were huddled by the edge of the table, keeping their distance from her. The guard reached into the group and to Hally's horror, grabbed Bethany. The young girl's eyes widened and she began to struggle against the guard's grip but he held her tightly around the waist.

Hally took an instinctive step forward, her hand outstretched towards Bethany and a protest on her lips. But before she could make a sound, Bethany's scream ripped through the room as the Tazer the guard had been holding was forced into her side.

"Stop it!" Hally shouted. All anger forgotten. Replaced with white-hot desperation.

But he didn't stop.

"Stop it! Stop it! Please!"

Bethany was screaming and writhing. The guard didn't take his eyes off of Hally.

She didn't know what to do. She put her hands up, a sign of surrender. Begging him to stop.

It wasn't working.

"Please stop! You can't! Please!" Hally was shaking her head, eyes blurring with tears. Her body took over and before she really thought about what she was doing she had moved onto her knees. Her hands behind her head and her eyes staring helplessly at the floor. A tear escaped her eye and fell onto the concrete floor below.

The screaming stopped. No one in the room moved. It was silent apart from the soft whimpers from Bethany.

Hally wanted to look up, to check she was ok. But her body was still stuck in panic mode and she couldn't bring herself to look anywhere but the floor.

She barely heard the guard order everyone out of the room. Bethany's screams were still ringing in her ears as everyone who had been in the canteen slowly shuffled out. The whimpering stopped, leaving Hally to assume that Bethany had been taken out as well. She closed her eyes tightly. Letting the remaining tears splash down her cheeks.

The room was now totally silent. She was alone.

She let out a long shuddering breath. Opening her eyes and lifting her head slightly. She wasn't sure how much time had passed. It felt like it could have only been a few minutes but also it felt like it had been an age.

She wasn't surprised to see him sitting there. On one of the chairs. It was strange. He and his perfectly ironed suit didn't fit here. Sat, right leg crossed over the left on one of the blue plastic chairs. She almost smiled at it.

He was watching her. Again. How long had he been there?

Hally's hands were in her lap now, she was picking at one of her nails.

She must look pathetic, she suddenly thought. But she was so tired, so exhausted that she couldn't find the energy to care that much. Or be that angry.

She was definitely angry. She wanted to scream at him too. To call him a monster. To grab him by the collar and throttle him.

That was a thought. Why was the guard not in the room? Come to think of it. He never was when Saxon was here. That was strange right?

"Why are you here…?" Hally spoke first. Her voice tired from screaming.

His face was blank. Simply watching her.

"I don't mean right now…" She cocked her head to one side. This train of thought was trying its hardest to float away but she grabbed hold of it. Wanting to get her question out.

"I mean here at all. With me."

His eyes narrowed slightly. It was only because they were both staring at each other so intently that she noticed it.

"Because you're right." She croaked out. "No one is ever truly selfless. It doesn't exist. As much as we might want it to. We all do things because in one way or another we will also benefit."

He didn't move.

"So why… why on earth, are you here? What is it that you gain from being here with me?"

One side of his mouth twitched into the ghost of a smile. It was such a small movement. He looked so contained. But she could see it. She could see that he was burning underneath.

"Clever girl." He muttered. "Insufferably." He smiled fondly to himself.

She opened her mouth to demand an answer. But it disappeared. Her thoughts clouded over again and she lost her next thoughts.

Instead, she let out a frustrated cry. Bringing her hands up to her head as if trying to force the musings to stay inside her mind.

"I'm so tired." She whimpered.

"I know."

"Why won't you help me!"

"I will. I promise. Just not yet."

"What does that mean?!" The tears were back. Her words getting caught in the back of her throat.

He stood slowly, walking to her. He looked down at her. Still kneeling on the floor and held out his hand. She took it, slowly getting to her feet. Her legs aching as she stood up shakily.

He reached out with both his hands, cupping her face and wiping the tears off of her cheeks.

"That wasn't fair…" She mumbled.

He obviously cottoned onto her new train of thought because he gave her a small smirk.

"You said it yourself. No one can 'beat you into submission'." He quoted her own words back to her, a glint in his eye. "The only power I have over you, is the power you give me." He whispered.

She frowned, pulling her face out of his hands. "No…"

He chuckled softly. "Yes. You just said so. You agreed. There's no such thing as pure selflessness."

She frowned, not understanding.

"You know you'd fight me endlessly if it was just you, I was hurting. So instead, I can hurt your sense of morals. By hurting the girl it forces you to choose. What is worth more to you? Your own sense of freedom or your position up on that high horse of yours?"

She shook her head, scoffing at him. "You act like it's ridiculous that I wouldn't want an innocent girl to get tortured because of me?"

"Is she innocent?"

"Yes!"

"How would you know?"

"Because! I…" Hally let out a low growl. "Whether she's innocent or not is irrelevant. I'm not going to put myself above the life of another…"

"Why not?"

"I… I don't know! That's just… that's how I feel." She was too tired to deal with his circular talking today.

"Is it how you've always felt?" His face was expressionless now. Firing questions at her in quick succession.

"I mean, I guess so! I don't know!"

"So you'd sacrifice yourself to save someone else? No matter who they were?" He batted back.

Hally threw up her arms. "I guess so! I have no idea! I just think if it's within my power to help someone else, to stop someone else from getting hurt then I should, right?"

He paused for a second. "So why did you abandon everyone?"

Hally scoffed. "What?!"

"Your home. You said you left. You left everyone for dead…"

She shook her head. "No… that's not what happened."

"Yes, it is. That's what you said. You left them to die and went travelling with your father." His eyes burned deeply in complete contrast to the stoic expression on his face.

Hally laughed incredulously. "That's not what happened."

"Isn't it?" He spat.

"No! I blacked out! I blacked out and I woke up with my father." Hally took a step back. This made no sense.

"And you didn't think to check on those you'd left behind?" He cocked his head to one side.

"Well… no, he… they were dead. They're dead!" Hally shouted back at him. Her throat scratching in protest.

"Hmmm." Saxon paused. He was quiet for a few moments, he seemed to be lost in his own thoughts.

Hally realised that she was breathing very hard, her face flushed. That feeling was back in her chest again. The sadness. God, it was heavy. It hurt.

Saxon eventually let out a sigh. Hally frowned. It wasn't a noise she'd heard from him before. He was usually so in control.

Then the moment was gone and his face morphed back into the calm, cold mask she'd grown used to seeing.

"Well. You have an easy choice then don't you? The girl will remain unharmed so long as you behave. Do you think you can manage that?" He couldn't hide the bite behind those last words.

"Yes." She nodded, slowly.

"Yes, … what?" He raised an eyebrow, expectantly.

"… What?" She asked, confused.

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Exactly."

With that, he turned on his heel and strode out of the canteen. Leaving Hally stood alone, and slightly baffled.