- c h a p t e r   f i f t e e n -

Melody was the first to hop out of the TARDIS as it arrived at its destination. Her golden hair streamed out behind her as she jogged over to the center of the room. The boys, still at the doors, were biting their lips in fear. Just because they hadn't spotted any Dumarians on the scanner didn't mean that there were no Dumarians there at all. 

The trip was finally over after around eight hours of travel. For the Connor and Melody, who had never experienced anything more than one hour before that point, it was a relief to have finally arrived. The girl had taken all of her stiffness out by immediately rushing out of the TARDIS and running around. The others had been more cautious than her-but then again, at the moment they were both a bit more afraid that the aliens from Karus would come out and ambush them.

But nothing appeared to be happening to Melody. There were no sudden movements in the corner, no lasers aimed directly towards her head. All in all, she just looked to be a young woman standing with outstretched arms, staring up at the ceiling. There was a laugh on her lips and light in her eyes. Her rest in the TARDIS had definitely rejuvinated her-she hardly felt any sort of pain in her ankle at all.

Finally the Doctor and Connor decided that it was safe enough to get out of the TARDIS and investigate further. There didn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary, as ordinary as the former place of peace could possibly be with a starry ceiling and broken machinery.

"Where do you think our friends from Karus have gone?" Connor murmured, only halfway speaking to the others in the room. "It is called Karus, right? The planet that the aliens are from."

"Indeed," the Doctor replied, keeping his voice down as well. "Dumarians from Karus. As for where they've disappeared to...well, I wouldn't get too comfortable."

"I don't think I'll ever be fully comfortable in here," Melody admitted. "Just knowing of everything that has happened makes me feel all iffy. But I feel comfortable enough." Her lips curled into a smile once again as she tried to get the boys to perk up. 

"But now we have to seek out Clara," the Doctor said, making sure that the point of this mission was clear. He knew that if he wasn't careful that this entire trip could have been for nothing. He decided to lead the way back to the circular structure, the group silent for the entirety of the journey. Connor had claimed he had a way to fix the conflict, and this was just about to be tested.

After a tense walk to the main piece of machinery filled with glances all around to make sure there were no Dumarians stalking them, the group finally stopped and began their conversation. 

"So, Connor," the Doctor exclaimed, clapping his hands together. He was excited, that much was true, but his nerves were evident in his shaky smile. "You say you have an idea to get Clara out safely?"

"I know what to do," Connor responded, his voice grim. He had kept this back the whole time, hoping that the Doctor and Melody would continue on with him. "But I don't think you're going to like it, neither of you."

"Wait, what?" Melody asked, her eyes widening. She wasn't used to Connor being so serious over anything. 

"There's two of us," Connor said. "If there needs to be one person going in as one person goes out, then I could go in. It would work. We could get Clara, easy as that."

"No," the Doctor stated, his voice firm. "Yes, it would work, but I can't let you do that."

"Why not?" Connor questioned, staring at the numbered sign with its enormous one on it. He glanced to the side, looking at the portal that would bring him into the room that contained Clara. It wasn't a bad place in there, he could feel it. There just wasn't anything that seemed particularly terrible about it to him. 

"I've already gotten one of my friends stuck in there, I'm not going to let you just go in and do the same to yourself," the Doctor exclaimed, crossing her arms. 

Connor was very quickly getting frustrated with the Time Lord. He turned his attentions to Melody, hoping that his girlfriend would be there to offer some form of support for him. He was sure that he had figured this all out, and he didn't like being told that he was wrong. 

"Melody," he said, walking over and taking her hand. "Melody, you know what I'm trying to say, yeah?" She looked up into his eyes, the blue irises gleaming softly in the limited light of the area. But then she pulled her hand away and took a step back. 

"I can't believe this was your big idea," Melody said, her face falling. "You got all of our hope up and then...nothing. That trip took hours, hours! Nothing in the TARDIS takes hours, but we spent all of that time making our way here."

"Oh, are you trying to tell me that it was all a bad idea?" Connor countered, raising his voice. He wasn't about to let himself get pushed around. "I personally enjoyed that long trip here. Thought you would have agreed with me on that, but apparently not."

Melody bit her lip, fighting back tears. There was too much being laid on her shoulders at once. Connor had practically just said he was going to leave, jump into a prison for the good of someone he hardly knew a thing about. Yes, Clara Oswald was the Doctor's good friend, but even the Time Lord himself was protesting the method of jumping in.

This relationship between Connor and Melody was going far too quickly-maybe it had something to do with the time travel being involved, but she just couldn't tell. Already the two of them were fighting like they had been together for a long time when in reality it had been about a day. 

It was true that their time together in the TARDIS and out on adventures had caused them to bond very quickly. Their adventures all seemed to blend into one another until time had just escaped them. It didn't matter, because they had been falling for one another from the very start.

The Doctor wasn't sure how he was supposed to be doing. Relationships beween his companions had always hit their rocky spots, and he had never known what to do. He hardly understood what was going on in his own romantic relationships, so he was at a complete loss for anyone else's problems. But he hated seeing his friends get upset, which meant he still felt compelled to get involved.

"Melody, Connor!" he yelled out. "We can think of something. We always think of something. I promise you, we will get out of this situation and we will all be okay."

"Don't give me promises that you can't keep," Melody said, gritting her teeth and still staring at Connor. She didn't even do so much as glance over at the Doctor. "I don't think of you as much of one for falsity."

"I don't understand why you're trying to get the Doctor involved in this," Connor complained. "If this is our fight, then it's our fight. There's no need for him to jump in."

"That's my point about you," Melody retorted. "There's no need for you to jump in."

"Jumping can be good," the Doctor added, attempting to get into the conversation and fix the conflict. He held his arms out, trying to draw more of the attention to himself rather than all of the problems that they were having. "Jumping can be fun, you know?"

"Not when you're jumping into a prison that won't spit you out without taking someone else in!" Melody hissed. 

"I don't know what's happened in the last several hours, but everything seems to be happening so quickly. It's like everything with you is changing, and I don't like it." Connor took several steps forwards, going straight towards Melody. She took the same amount of furious steps right to him. They were hunched over, using their hands to accent everything they were saying. 

"I'm sorry if I don't want you to go and possibly never return," Melody snapped in response. "I'm sorry if I care about you and wanting to have you here makes me a different person." She could not spare a moment to see Connor's point of view for a single moment. 

"Yes, yes, sorry," the Doctor interrupted. The he tried to let this untangle itself, the more messed up it got. Without stepping in, he knew this was going to go wildly out of control. In order to make sure that he had the situation in his hands, he physically stepped between them and tossed his arms around their shoulders. 

Both of them immediately put on a sour face. Connor stared moodily straight ahead as Melody turned her head around to the other side. Like petty children, they weren't planning on doing anything other than pouting and complaining. These were the sort of arguements that were always hardest to break up because no one would ever listen.

In the blink of an eye, Connor sprung into motion. He ran towards the circular structure, his running steps triggering the portal to begin to open. A spiral of blue light, the portal itself was just as beautiful as anything else in the building. The Doctor and Melody watched in horror as he jumped in without a single word.

By the time this processed in their minds, there was nothing to reach out for but empty air. "Connor, no! I...I love you!" Melody let out the words in a shriek as her world began to feel as if it were tilting on its side. 

Her mind began to spin like she had awake for three days straight and could hardly even stand up. She was reaching out wildly, screaming, unsure of what to do any more. But the Doctor knew what had happened, knew exactly what was going on.

"Melody, I'm sorry, but it's too late," he sighed. 

Melody looked to the side and saw that the number of occupants had changed to one. One person would go in, and one person would go out. It was a fair trade in the computer's mind. Connor had just sacrificed himself for Clara in a moment of impulse. Sure, he might have been thinking of it for a while, but she was sure that she had made it clear that it wouldn't work out the way he wanted it to.

Instead of continuing to keep her feelings with her, Melody began to lash out at the Doctor with her words. She felt drained from losing Connor, her knees threatening to buckle underneath her with every slight movement that rippled through her body.

"There could have been another way. That's why you brought us here! So that we could help you think of another way to get Clara out so that way no one would have to be sacrificed."

"I'm sorry," was all that the Doctor could say to her. He knew what it was like, losing someone that you loved and never being able to let them know how you felt. It was a subject that stayed close to him, still weighting down both of his hearts. "I am so sorry."

"Sorry won't bring him back," Melody said. "I know what will, though," she said, looking over to the display of numbers. She could make her way inside of the portal and get him out somehow. There had to be something that she could do.

"I can go in there with him. Or I can get him out. Either way is better than this."

"Melody, you can't!" the Doctor exclaimed, guilt filling his hearts as Melody's heartbroken face turned to him. After a moment of staring at him with a forced determination, she collapsed in a fit of tears. Before the Doctor could move to comfort her, he found that there was something to make him smile coming from behind him.

"Oh my goodness," a female voice cried out. "Am I dreaming? This can't be real. I haven't seen this place in ages..."

"Clara!" the Doctor yelled in response, opening his arms wide as he rushed towards her. Melody watched with teary eyed vision as they came together in an embrace, the Doctor picking her up and spinning her around. Their faces were filled with happiness, the tips of their lips stretching up into their cheeks. "Oh, Clara! Are you okay? Is everything good?"

"I'm fine," she replied. "I promise, I swear! I'm absolutely fantastic now that I'm back with you," she said, her voice sounding like a bird's chirping in its happiness. She couldn't any of it back. Clara was just simply too estastic over being released to keep it in. This continued until her eyes set on Melody's messy blonde hair and the sound of sobs from her direction.

"Who is she?" Clara said, tilting her head. "And who was that boy who came in?"

The Doctor's gaze fell to the floor as he realized he didn't know how to explain this. It seemed like everything that was going on seemed to be forcing him into uncomfortable situations where he was unable to fully get his meaning out. But this made him feel as if he might was well be honest. "Her name is Melody Birch. The boy was Connor Dale. They've been travelling with me in the TARDIS."

"You...you replaced me?" Clara said, furrowing her brows. She wasn't quite sure what this was supposed to mean. After all, he had come along and found a way to save her from the prison she had been stuck in.

"I found them so that we could find a way to get you out," explained the Doctor. "I think you would have rather liked Connor. I was planning on all of us going throughout the universe together, but now that doesn't seem to be the case."

"Wait," Clara said, her eyes widening. A few links had just chained together in her mind. "Did Connor take my place in the prison?"

The Doctor opened his mouth, considering denying this to spare Clara's feelings, but then he heard a wail coming from Melody's direction. His eyelids drooped shut in sadness as he nodded to Clara and then began to make his way to the blonde girl. 

Clara followed right behind him, curiosity and plain sympathy fueling her to go onwards. She had a feeling that her freedom was part of Melody's problem, and she wanted to make sure that there were no hard feelings between them.  But on her way over, she realized that something was off.

"Doctor," Clara said. "Weren't there aliens here when we came here the first time?"

"Yes, yes," the Doctor replied absentmindedly. Melody had curled herself up into a ball and cut everyone else out. He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder as he went to his knees in an attempt to comfort her. "The Dumarians."

"Well, why aren't there any here now?"

"I don't know," the Doctor said. "We were just trying to figure that out, but at the moment I think we have more important things to deal with." He gestured over to Melody's shaking figure, but Clara continued to be on edge.

Suddenly sirens began to blare through the building, the lighting turning from a dark blue to a burning red. 

"Enemies of Karus, stand down! We have you together now, and you shall not escape. You are a threat. Threats shall not be tolerated."

A/N Poor Melody just can't get a break. Ah, I feel so bad for her. But not that bad because things only get worse. Well, that's all I have to say for this chapter. Heh. I hope you enjoyed and if you ddi make sure to show your appreciation because I can't thank a silent reader!