Trapped in a base full of possessed Ood, the Beast attempts to get into Willow's head by showing her the memories of the girl she once was.

***

"Open fire!" Jefferson yelled as he and the female security guard began killing the three Ood in the room.

The shaking ceased as Zach came on the line again. "We're stabilising. We've got orbit."

Once they were dead, Willow spoke into the microphone again. "Doctor? Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor, Ida, are you there?"

"Open door 25." The computer said, alerting the crew.

They were prepared to shoot until it was revealed that it was just a disturbed Danny. "It's me! But they're coming." He shut the door behind him. "It's the Ood. They've gone mad."

"How many of them?" questioned Jefferson.

He slowly gained his breath back from running down the corridors to escape them. "All of them! All fifty!"

"Danny, out of the way. Out of the way!" He ordered.

"But they're armed! It's the interface device. I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon." explained Danny.

Jefferson ignored him, opening the door anyway. "Open door 25."

On the other side were several red-eyed Ood, the leading one placed its translator ball onto the female guard who screamed in terror as she was electrocuted. Jefferson once again began shooting the Ood, killing them before they slammed the door shut. "Seal door 24. Seal door 23."

"Jefferson, what's happening there?" Zach asked.

"I've got very little ammunition, sir. How about you?" Jefferson asked.

"All I've got is a bolt gun. With all of one bolt. I could take out a grand total of one Ood. Fat lot of good that is."

"Given the emergency, I recommend strategy nine." He urged. 

"Strategy Nine." He repeated. "Agreed. Right, we need to get everyone together. Willow? What about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?"

She shook her head. "I can't get a reply. Just nothing. I keep trying, but it's..."

There was nothing but static until the Doctor's voice returned. "No, sorry, I'm fine. Still here."

Willow smiled, relieved. However, Rose took the microphone from her hand. "You could've said, you stupid-"

Her shout caused feedback in the comm system, alarming them. "Whoa. Careful! Anyway, it's both of us. Me and Ida. Hello. But the seal opened up. It's gone. All we've got left is this chasm."

"How deep is it?" Zach questioned.

"Can't tell." He answered truthfully. "It looks like it goes down forever."

She recalled what the Beast had said earlier. "The pit is open. That's what the voice said."

"But there's nothing. I mean there's nothing coming out?" queried a nervous Zach.

"No, no. No sign of the Beast."

Rose seemed a little on edge, remembering what it had told them. "It said Satan."

"Come on, Rose. Keep it together." The Doctor told her through the comms.

"Is there no such thing? Doctor." He didn't reply, scaring her even more than she already was. "Doctor, tell me there's no such thing."

There was still no response as if the Doctor was truly stumped. Zach's voice came back onto the comms. "Ida? I recommend that you withdraw immediately."

"But, we've come all this way." She replied.

"Okay, that was an order. Withdraw," commanded Zach. "When that thing opened, the whole planet's shifted. One more inch and we fall into the black hole. So this thing stops right now."

Ida protested. "But it's not much better up there with the Ood."

"I'm initiating strategy nine, so I need the two of you back up top immediately, no ar-" They heard Ida switch the Doctor's and her comms off. "Ida. Ida!"

There was silence for a while. Nobody knew what to say or do. The crew realised that Toby was slowly waking up, frightening them a little. Abruptly, the comms came back on and the Doctor's voice spoke again. "Willow, we're coming back."

She grinned, relieved. "Best news I've heard all day."

Once Toby had awakened, Jefferson threw his gun in his face, ready to kill him. "What're you doing?" Rose asked.

"He's infected. He brought that thing on board. You saw it." Jefferson answered.

"Are you going to start shooting your own people now, Is that what you're going to do? Is it?"

"If necessary."

"Well then, you'll have to shoot me if necessary, so what's it going to be? Look at his face. Whatever it was, is gone. It passed into the Ood. You saw it happen. He's clean." She approached Toby who was clearly traumatised.

He sighed, finally putting his gun down. "Any sign of trouble, I'll shoot him." Jefferson promised.

"Are you all right?" She asked Toby.

He gulped, remembering the thing that possessed him. "Yeah. I don't know."

"Can you remember anything?"

"Just, it was so angry. It was fury and rage and death. It was him. It was the devil." ranted Toby, scared out of his wits.

"Come on." Willow smiled as she watched Rose and Toby comfort each other. She was happy that, since they started travelling with the Doctor, she's really matured as a person.

The comms came back online. "Okay, we're in. Bring us up."

Jefferson went over to the controls, ready to pull them back up. "Ascension in three, two, one." 

After the countdown was over, the power shorted out and they were left in the dark. "This is the darkness. This is my domain." A voice said. The monitor flickered on, showing one of the corridors with a bunch of red-eyed Oods. "You little things that live in the light, clinging to your feeble suns which die in the..."

"That's not the Ood. Something's talking through them." Zach talked over the voice.

"Only the darkness remains." The voice continued.

"This is Captain Zachary Cross Flane of Sanctuary Base Six, representing the Torchwood archive. You will identify yourself."

"You know my name." It stated.

"What do you want?"

"You will die here. All of you. This planet is your grave."

Toby shrouded away from the screen, terrified. "It's him. It's him. It's him."

"If you are the Beast, then answer me this. Which one, hmm?" The Doctor interrogated through the comms. "Because the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Archiphets, Orkology, Christianity, Pash Pash, New Judaism, San Klah, Church of the Tin Vagabond. Which devil are you?"

"All of them." It replied.

"What, then you're the truth behind the myth?"

The voice perked up. "This one knows me as I know him. The killer of his own kind." Willow's eyes widened, there was no way this thing could know about the Doctor's past.

"How did you end up on this rock?" He asked.

It explained. "The Disciples of the Light rose up against me and chained me in the pit for all eternity." 

"When was this?"

"Before time."

"What does that mean?"

"Before time." It repeated.

"What does before time mean?"

"Before light and time and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before this universe was created." The Beast expanded.

The Doctor disagreed. "That's impossible. No life could have existed back then."

"Is that your religion?" It asked.

"It's a belief." He stated.

"You know nothing. All of you, so small. The Captain, so scared of command." The voice said, referring to Zach. "The soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife." The crew recalled what the possessed Toby said to Jefferson earlier. "The scientist, still running from Daddy. The little boy who lied. The virgin." Willow glanced over to Toby, noticing him shudder. That's why the Beast wanted to possess him. "The lost girl, so far away from home. The valiant child who will die in battle so very soon."

Willow clenched onto Rose's hand, angry at the voice. "Leave her alone."

"And the girl who's too stupid to realise that her whole life has been a lie." It added.

Her eyes widened, surprised by its insinuation. "What do you mean?"

"Willow, don't listen to it!" The Doctor pleaded on the other line.

"The dreams you've been having," The Beast started. "Those images in your head of fire and burning cities."

There was no way that it could know about her dreams, nevertheless, he knew about everyone else's past. "How the hell do you know about that?"

"Willow-"

"I see inside your mind, the truth behind your dreams." It told her. "But they were never dreams, they were always memories of your past. On this day, your human life will cease to be."

"What does that mean?" She asked.

"You will die and I will live." Suddenly, the image of the Ood was replaced by a roaring horned beast in red.

The crew jumped back from the screen as it switched off. "What the hell was that?" Danny demanded fearfully.

"I had that thing inside my head." Toby affirmed.

"Doctor, what did it mean?" Rose spoke into the microphone as her cousin stood frozen in place, unaware of what the Beast meant. It said her dreams were memories, and that she was going to die today.

"What do we do? Jefferson?" questioned Danny.

Jefferson ignored him, talking to Zach through his wrist comm. "Captain? What's the situation on strategy nine?"

"Zach, what do we do?"

Toby continued to ramble on like an over-religious person. "The planet, the orbit, the black hole. Everything's true."

"Captain, report." He tried again.

"We've lost pictures, Mister Jefferson." Zach replied.

Everyone around Willow was in a frenzy, panicking over what they had just witnessed. She was too distracted to notice until the Doctor sent feedback through the comms to silence the crew. "You want voices in the dark then listen to mine. That thing is playing on very basic fears. Darkness, childhood nightmares, all that stuff. 

"But that's how the devil works." Danny argued.

"Or a good psychologist."

"Yeah, but how did it know about my father?" Ida queried.

He sighed, knowing she was right. "Okay, but what makes his version of the truth any better than mine, hmm? Because I'll tell you what I can see. Humans. Brilliant humans. Humans who travel all the way across space, flying in a tiny little rocket right into the orbit of a black hole, just for the sake of discovery. That's amazing! Do you hear me? Amazing, all of you. The Captain, his Officer, his elders, his juniors, his friends. All with one advantage. The Beast is alone. We are not. If we can use that to fight against him-"

Behind them, the cable connected to the capsule snapped during his motivational speech. There was no response from the others as it fell into the planet's core, leaving the Doctor and Ida stranded. "Comms are down."

Willow picked up the microphone, holding it to her mouth again. "Doctor, we lost the cable! Doctor, are you all right? Doctor!"

He didn't reply, neither did Ida, worrying her. "I've still got life signs, but we've lost the capsule." Zach informed.

"Say something. Are you there?"

"There's no way out. They're stuck down there." He told her.

"Well, we've got to find a way to bring them back!" She cried.

"They're ten miles down. We haven't got another ten miles of cable." Jefferson described just as banging was heard on the other side of Door 25. "Captain? Situation report."

"It's the Ood." He responded. "They're cutting through the door bolts. They're breaking in."

"Yeah, it's the same on door 25."

From the sound of the banging, it appeared that it wouldn't take too long to break through their door. "How long's it going to take?"

"Well, it's only a basic frame, it should take ten minutes." Another bolt in the door was cut. "Eight."

Zach spoke again. "I've got a security frame. It might last a bit longer, but that doesn't help you."

"Right. So we need to stop them, or get out, or both."

Danny agreed. "I'll take both, yeah? But how?"

"You heard the Doctor. Why do you think that thing cut him off? Because he was making sense. He was telling you to think your way out of this. Come on!" Willow attempted to motivate them like the Doctor, taking charge of the group. "For starters, we need some lights. There's got to be some sort of power somewhere."

"There's nothing I can do. Some Captain, stuck in here, pressing buttons." 

She shook her head, disagreeing. "That's what the Doctor meant. Press the right buttons."

"They've gutted the generators." He said, pausing. "But the rocket's got an independent supply. If I could reroute that. Mister Jefferson? Open the bypass conduits. Override the safety."

He obeyed, beginning to work on the console. "Opening bypass conduits, sir."

"Channelling rocket feed in three, two, one. Power." The lights flashed and the power was turned back on. 

Rose smiled. "There we go."

"Let there be light!" exclaimed Danny.

"What about that strategy nine thing? What's that all about?" queried Willow.

"Not enough power. It needs a hundred per cent." Jefferson replied but it didn't answer her question.

"All right, we need a way out. Zach, Mister Jefferson, you start working on that. Toby, what about you?"

He shook his head. "I'm not a soldier. I can't do anything."

"No, you're the archaeologist." She stated. "What do you know about the pit?"

"Well, nothing. We can't even translate the language."

Willow sighed. "Right."

"Hold on. Maybe." Toby hesitated.

"Well, get to work." She encouraged. "Anything you can translate, just anything. As for you, Danny boy. You're in charge of the Ood. Any way of stopping them?"

"Well, I don't know."

"Then find out. The sooner we get control of the Base, the sooner we can get the Doctor out. Shift. Rose and I will try to help you guys as much as we can." She turned to the hole they drill down, leading right down to where the Doctor and Ida were. Willow sighed. "I'm going to get you back."

***

"Open junctions five, six, seven. Reroute filters sixteen to twenty-four. Go." Jefferson said, working hard to save their skin.

"There's all sorts of viruses that could stop the Ood. Trouble is, we haven't got them on board." asserted Danny, who was trying to find a way to disrupt their telepathic field.

Rose rolled her eyes. "Well, that's handy, listing all the things we haven't got. We haven't got a swimming pool either. Or a Tesco's."

Soon enough, the screen said affirmative. "Oh, my God. It says yes. I can do it. Hypothetically, if you flip the monitor, broadcast a flare, it can disrupt the telepathy. Brainstorm!"

Willow wandered over to them. "What happens to the Ood?"

"It'll tank them, spark out."

"There we are, then. Do it!"

He frowned. "No, but I'd have to transmit from the central monitor. We need to go to Ood Habitation."

Even though it meant certain death, Willow knew they had to something to defend themselves. "That's what we'll do, then. Mister Jefferson, sir. Any way out?"

"Just about. There's a network of maintenance tunnels running underneath the base. We should be able to gain access from here." He answered, directing them to vents underneath.

"You mean ventilation shafts?" 

He shrugged. "Yeah, I appreciate the reference, but there's no ventilation. No air, in fact, at all. They were designed for machines, not life forms."

"But I can manipulate the oxygen field from here. Create discrete pockets of atmosphere. If I control it manually, I can follow you through the network." Zach stated through the comms.

She took heed of his words. "Right, so we go down, and you make the air follow us by hand."

"You wanted me pressing buttons."

"Not only that but you're also directing a crew like a real captain." She told him with a grin. "Okay, we need to get to Ood Habitation. Work out a route."

***

A few minutes passed as the group prepared to leave their confinement so they won't be killed by the Ood. Danny was busy finishing up the download to incapacitate the Ood. However, they were nearly through the door, meaning they had little time left.

The others took a piece of plating from the floor, lifting it up to reveal the vent. "Danny!"

"Hold on! Just conforming." He responded, finishing up on the download.

"Dan, we got to go now! Come on!" Jefferson yelled.

"Yeah!" As the download completed, Danny grabbed an orange computer chip from the machine before sprinting over to join the others in escaping. "Put that in the monitor and it's a bad time to be an Ood."

Her head bobbed, acknowledging his statement. "We're coming back. Have you got that? We're coming back to this room and we're getting the Doctor out."

"Okay. Danny, you go first, then you, Miss Tyler, then Miss Hughes, then Toby. I'll go last in defensive position. Now, come on, quick as you can!" He pushed them each into the ventilation shaft which was dank and smelly.

"God, it stinks." Rose blurted. "You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm laughing." He sarcastically commented. "Which way do we go?" 

"Just go straight ahead. Keep going till I say so." Zach commanded through the comms.

The group obeyed, starting to travel down the shaft. Jefferson shut the entrance behind him, rifle still in hand, as the Ood above broke in. Willow crawled behind Danny which wasn't exactly attractive. "Not your best angle, Danny."

"Oi, stop it."

"I don't know, it could be worse." Toby remarked while crawling behind Rose.

"Oi!" shouted Rose.

"Straight on until you find junction seven point one. Keep breathing. I'm feeding you air. I've got you." Zach informed them as they reached the doorway.

"We're at seven point one, sir." Danny affirmed through his wrist comm.

"Okay, I've got you. I'm just aerating the next section." 

For a moment, Danny was calm but irritation slowly crept up on him. "Getting kind of cramped, sir. Can't you hurry up?"

"I'm working on half power, here."

"Stop complaining." Jefferson acknowledged an impatient Danny from the back.

"Mister Jefferson says stop complaining." Rose told Danny, passing on his message.

"I heard."

"He heard."

"But the air's getting a bit thin." grunted Toby.

"He's complaining now."

"I heard." Jefferson noted.

Willow huffed as she sniffed the air. She grimaced at the smell. "Danny, is that you?"

"I'm not exactly happy." He bluntly replied.

Zach came back on the comms. "I'm just moving the air. I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm or it's going to feel worse."

There was a sudden bang from further down the shaft. Jefferson instinctively grabbed his gun, pointing it down the shaft. "What was that?" asked Danny.

"Mister Jefferson, what was that?" Rose questioned.

There was a faint pattering of hands coming from further down, getting closer. "What's that noise?"

"The junction in Habitation Five's been opened. It must be the Ood. They're in the tunnels!" Zach exclaimed, panicking.

"Well, open the gate." Danny perceived, impatiently.

"I've got to get the air in!" He argued.

"Just open it, sir."

"Where are they? Are they close?" Willow asked.

"I don't know. I can't tell. I can't see them. The computer doesn't register Ood as proper life forms."

Rose rolled her eyes, sighing. "Whose idea was that?"

"Open the gate!" Danny yelled. 

Finally, the gate slid up, allowing to escape hurriedly through before the Ood could reach them. "Danny, turn left. Immediate left." He obeyed, the others following in his wake.

"The Ood, sir. can't you trap them? Cut off the air?" Jefferson queried through his wrist comm.

"Not without cutting off yours." He quickly stated before returning to guiding the crew. "Danny, turn right. Go right! Go fast, Dan. They're going to catch up."

"I'll maintain defensive position." asserted Jefferson, stopping.

"You can't stop!" Rose shouted.

"Miss Tyler, that's my job. You've got your task, now see to it."

Toby tried to budge her down. "You heard what he said, now shift."

They proceeded on, eventually reaching the next gate. "Eight point two. Open eight point two. Zach! Open eight point two!" 

"I've got to aerate it." Zach answered.

"Open it now!"

"I'm trying."

He slammed his hand onto the gate, terrified and infuriated. "Danny, stop it. That's not helping."

"Zach, get it open!" begged Toby.

"Jefferson, I've got to open eight point two by closing eight point one. You've got to get past the junction. Now move. That's an order, now move!" They heard him tell Jefferson as he continued to pelt bullets into the skulls of the Ood. "I'm going to lose oxygen, Jefferson, I can't stop for your dramatics!"

Zach opened their gate, allowing them to pass through. "That's it! Come on."

"Danny, turn left and head for nine point two. That's the last one. Jefferson" He ordered as they crawled down the vent. "You've got to move faster. John, move!"

Once they reached the next gate, the group turned back and spotted Jefferson frantically crawling down the shaft, morally supported by them. "Mister Jefferson!"

Eight point one had begun closing exceedingly fast. "Keep going!"

For a moment, Willow's eyes glowed golden, attempting to keep it up unknowingly. The gate struggled against her might. Then, her head burned like fire and the gold from her eyes faded as the gate began to lower once more.

It was too late for him to go under so the gate slammed shut in Jefferson's face, trapping him on the other side. "Regret to inform, sir I was a bit slow. Not so fast, these days." They heard his voice over the comms.

"I can't open eight point one, John. Not without losing air for the others." Zach solemnly reported, using Jefferson's first name for once.

"And quite right too, sir. I think I bought them a little time." Willow closed up her legs, feeling guilty for leaving him behind.

"There's nothing I can do, John. I'm sorry."

"You've done enough, sir. Made a very good captain under the circumstances. May I ask, if you can't add oxygen to this section, can you speed up the process of its removal?" He requested.

Zach paused. "I don't understand. What do you mean?"

"Well, if I might choose the manner of my departure, sir, lack of air seems more natural than, well, let's say death by Ood. I'd appreciate it, sir!" pleaded Jefferson.

"God speed, Mister Jefferson."

"Thank you, sir." And that was the last time they heard his voice, John Jefferson was gone but, in turn, had saved their lives.

Zach was silent as he selected the necessary buttons. "Report Officer John Maynard Jefferson PKD deceased with honours. 43 K two point one."

Danny put the wrist comm up to his face, murmuring. "Zach, we're at the final junction, nine point two. And er, if my respects could be on record. He saved our lives."

"Noted. Opening nine point two." The gate beside them opened but behind it was a lifeless Ood.

It suddenly awoke just as the group jumped into action. "Lower nine point two! Hurry, Zach!" Willow screamed.

"Back! Back! Back!" Danny edged away as the gate quickly went down again, nevertheless, the Ood caught it, attempting to push it back up.

Toby didn't move. "We can't go back! The gang point's sealed off. We're stuck."

Rose gazed above them, noticing the grating they had walked on earlier. She pushed it up as the Ood struggled with the gate. "Come on! Up!" She climbed up first, followed by Willow and Danny. Toby was left with the Ood below. "Come on! Toby, come on!"

There was no movement from him for a moment, before he turned to look up at them in fright. "Toby, get out of there!"

"Help me! Oh, my God. Help me!" He screamed, being yanked out by the others. 

Once they were all out, Ood unexpectedly erupted from the other side of the corridor. "Come on."

"It's this way." Danny sprinted down the corridor, leading the others.

"Hurry it up!" Zach shouted through the comms as they made it into Ood Habitation.

They reached the computer, ready to plug in the download. Below was several Ood who noticed their appearance and started to march up to them. "Get it in!"

"Danny, get down."

"Transmit!"

Their yells didn't help a panicked Danny who was searching his pockets for the computer chip. "I'm trying, I'm trying! I'm getting at it."

Willow watched as they started climbing the stairs. "Danny, get that thing transmitting!"

Ultimately, Danny retrieved the chip and plugged it into the computer system. The Ood started to jerk, holding their heads in anguish before they collapsed. The screen now read 'Basic 0', rejoicing the group.

"You did it! We did it!" screeched Rose.

"Yes!"

Willow grabbed the microphone by the computer, talking into it. "Zach, we did it. The Ood are down. Now we've got to get the Doctor."

"I'm on my way." He responded.

***

Meanwhile, in the core of the planet, the Doctor was abseiling into the pit, descending into the darkness. "You get representations of the Horned Beast right across the universe, in the myths and legends of a million worlds. Earth, Draconia, Velconsadine, Daemos. The Kaled god of war. It's the same image, over and over again. Maybe that idea came from somewhere, bleeding through. The thought at the back of every sentient mind."

"Emanating from here?" asked Ida.

"Could be."

"But if this is the original, does that make it real? Does that make it the actual devil, though?"

"Well, if that's what you want to believe. Maybe that's what the devil is, in the end. An idea." He answered just as the cable ran out and the Doctor was hanging in mid-air.

Ida lamented. "That's it. That's all we've got. You getting any sort of readout?"

The Doctor wasn't getting any information that was useful to them, deeming the Pit almost useless. "Nothing. Could be miles to go, yet. Or could be thirty feet. No way of telling. I could survive thirty feet."

"Oh no, you don't. I'm pulling you back up." She started to reverse the drum but he used a button on his spacesuit to stop it. "What're you doing?"

"You bring me back, then we're just going to sit there and run out of air. I've got to go down." He explained.

"But you can't. Doctor, you can't." protested Ida.

"Call it an act of faith."

"But I don't want to die on my own."

"I know." He muttered whilst undoing the carabiners that held the cable around him.

***

The crew all met up and raced into the drilling area to try and bring the Doctor and Ida back up. Willow grabbed the microphone, speaking into it. "Doctor, are you there? Doctor, Ida, can you hear me?"

"The comms. are still down. I can patch them through the central desk and boost the signal. Just give me a minute." Zach said, working on the controls.

***

"I didn't ask. Have you got any sort of faith?" He queried.

"Not really." She sat down on the edge of the Pit. "I was brought up Neo Classic Congregational, because of my mum. She was. My old mum. But no, I never believed."

"Neo Classics, have they got a devil?"

"No, not as such. Just er, the things that men do." Ida hesitated.

He shrugged. "Same thing in the end."

"What about you?"

He continued to release himself from the cable. "I believe, I believe I haven't seen everything, I don't know. It's funny, isn't it? The things you make up. The rules. If that thing had said it came from beyond the universe, I'd believe it, but before the universe? Impossible. Doesn't fit my rule. Still, that's why I keep travelling. To be proved wrong. Thank you, Ida."

"Don't go!" She yelled, standing up again.

"If they get back in touch, if you talk to Willow, just tell her. Tell her." He sighed, realising he'd never see her beautiful face ever again. "I love her, but she already knows." He released the last carabiner, allowing him to fall in the darkness below.

In the midst of his descent, he heard Willow's voice once last time through the comms. "Are you there, Doctor?"

"He's gone." Ida muttered.

There was a soft pause. "What do you mean, he's gone?"

"He fell into the pit. And I don't know how deep it is. Miles and miles and miles." She described.

"But what do you mean, he fell?"

"I couldn't stop him," Ida replied. "He said your name." 

***

Willow was left dumbfounded, unable to speak. Zach snatched the microphone out of her hands and spoke into it. "I'm sorry. Ida? There's no way of reaching you. No cable. No back up. You're ten miles down. We can't get there."

"You should see this place, Zach. It's beautiful. Well, I wanted to discover things, and here I am."

"We've got to abandon the base." He proceeded. "I'm declaring this mission unsafe. All we can do is make sure no one ever comes here again."

"But we'll never find out what it was."

"Well, maybe that's best."

"Yeah."

He lamented. "Officer Scott-"

"It's all right. Just go. Good luck." She told them.

"And you." With a solemn heart, he put the microphone down, deserting Ida. "Danny, Toby, close down the feed links. Get the retro tropes online, then get to the rocket and strap yourselves in. We're leaving."

Willow admitted. "I'm not going."

"Neither am I." stated Rose.

"Girls, there's space for you." He tried to persuade her.

Close to tears, Willow shook her head. "No, we're going to wait for the Doctor. Just like he waited for us."

"I'm sorry, but he's dead-"

"You don't know him!" She shouted. "He's not, I'm telling you that. And even if he was, how could I leave him all on his own, all the way down there? No, I'm going to stay."

Rose put an arm around her, comforting her. "I'm not going to leave her."

Zach huffed. "Then I apologise for this. Danny, Toby? Make them secure."

Danny grabbed Rose while Toby held Willow. "No! Get off me! I'm not leaving him!"

As Rose struggled, Zach injected her with something that sent her to sleep. Then he wandered over to Willow, apologising again before injecting her too. Willow's breathing grew slower as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

"I have lost too many people. I am not leaving you two behind. Let's get them on board." The group left the drilling area and headed to the rocket with the girls lifeless on their backs.

***

In the Pit, the Doctor lied face down on the ground, the faceplate in his helmet shattered into broken glass. He agonisingly awoke, realising where he was. His hand shot up to helmet before realising his could still breathe. "I'm breathing. Air cushion to support the fall. You can breathe down here, Ida. Can you hear me, Ida?"

***

Everyone in the rocket was strapped in, including a sleeping Willow and Rose. "Dislocating B clamp. C Clamp. Raising blu-nitro to maximum. Toby, how's the Negapact feed line?"

"Clear. Ready to go, sir." Toby said. "For God's sakes, get us out of here!"

Willow's eyes fluttered a little, starting to awaken. "Captain, I think we're going to have problem passengers." Danny admitted.

"Keep an eye on them." He told them.

Her eyes opened to find herself in the inside of the rocket, confused. She glanced over at Rose who was still sleeping. "Rose? Rose?" She shook her arm, groggily waking her up.

"Wait. We're not-"

"It's all right, girls. You're safe." Danny said.

"I'm not going anywhere! Get me out of this thing! Get me out!" Willow screamed just as the hydraulics for the rocket powered up.

The rocket began to leave the planet, launching off into space. "And liftoff! Whoo!" The crew celebrated in the back while the girls were not very gleeful at their success.

***

The Doctor looked up to the top of the Pit, hearing the sound of rocket engines. "The rocket." He frowned. "Oh, Willow."

***

By the time they were a certain distance away from the planet, Rose spotted the bolt gun and grabbed it, pointing it at Zach. "Take us back to the planet. Take us back!"

"Or what?"

"Or I'll shoot."

He turned back, staring down the barrel of the gun. "Would you, though? Would you really? Is that what your Doctor would want?"

"Rose..." She placed a hand on the gun, slowly forcing her to put it down.

"Sorry, but it's too late anyway. Take a look outside. We can't turn back. This is what the Doctor would have wanted. Isn't that right?"

***

The Doctor used his torch to observe several cave-like paintings on the wall. "The history of some big battle. Man against Beast. I don't know if you're getting this, Ida. Hope so. Anyway, they defeated the Beast and imprisoned it."

Suddenly, he noticed two bronze urns on pedestals, similar to the ones shown on the wall. "Or maybe that's the key." He touched one of the urns and they both lit up like candles, illuminating the area. "Or the gate, or the bars."

In front of him, an impossibly big horned creature awakened and glared at him. It was chained to the wall by its horns and limbs, smiling evilly at the Doctor. The man who travelled the stars was now face to face with the Devil himself.

***

Toby started to grin, chuckling to himself as Rose and Willow properly strapped themselves in. "What's the joke?"

"Just, we made it. We escaped. We actually did it." He answered.

"Not all of us." Willow muttered.

"We're not out of it yet. We're still the first people in history to fly away from a black hole. Toby read me the stats."

"Gravity funnel holding, sir. Always holding."

***

"I accept that you exist. I don't have to accept what you are, but you're physical existence, I'll give you that. I don't understand. I was expected down here. I was given a safe landing and air. You need me for something. What for? Have I got to, I don't know, beg an audience? Or is there a ritual? Some sort of incantation or summons or spell? All these things I don't believe in, are they real? Speak to me! Tell me! You won't talk. Or you can't talk. Oh, hold on, wait a minute, just let me. Oh! No. Yes! No. Think it through. You spoke before. I heard your voice. An intelligent voice. No, more than that. Brilliant. But, looking at you now, all I can see is Beast. The animal. Just the body. You're just the body, the physical form. What's happened to your mind, hmm? Where's it gone? Where's that intelligence?" The Doctor gazed upwards realising too late what he had done. "Oh, no."

***

"Stats at fifty-three. Funnel stable at sixty-six point five. Hull pressure constant. Smooth as we can, sir, all the way back home. Coordinates set for planet Earth." stated Toby, grinning away.

***

"You're imprisoned, long time ago. Before the universe, after, sideways, in between, doesn't matter. The prison is perfect. It's absolute, it's eternal. Oh, yes! Open the prison, the gravity field collapses. This planet falls into the black hole! You escape, you die. Brilliant! But that's just the body. The body is trapped, that's all. The devil is an idea. In all those civilisations, just an idea. But an idea is hard to kill. An idea could escape. The mind. The mind of the great Beast. The mind can escape! Oh, but that's it! You didn't give me air, your jailers did. They set this up all those years ago! They need me alive, because if you're escaping, then I've got to stop you. If I destroy your prison, your body is destroyed. Your mind with it." The Doctor raised a rock above an urn to smash it, then he froze. He couldn't do it.

"But then you're clever enough to use this whole system against me. If I destroy this planet, I destroy the gravity field. The rocket. The rocket loses protection and falls into the black hole. I have to sacrifice Rose... and Willow."

***

"It doesn't make sense. We escaped, but there's a thousand ways it could've killed us. It could've ripped out the air or, I don't know, burnt us, or anything. But it let us go. Why? Unless it wanted us to escape?" described Rose.

"Hey, Rose, do us a favour. Shut up." He whispered to her, harshly. "Almost there. We'll be beyond the reach of the black hole in forty, thirty-nine..."

***

"So, that's the trap. Or the test, or the final judgment, I don't know. But if I kill you, I kill them. I kill her. Except that implies in this big grand scheme of Gods and Devils that she's just a victim. But I've seen a lot of this universe. I've seen fake gods and bad gods and demi-gods and would-be gods, and out of all that, out of that whole pantheon, if I believe in one thing, just one thing, I believe in her." He used to rock to finally smash the urn, releasing the Beast to die in the black hole.

***

"What happened? What was that?" Danny asked as the group fell a sudden pull.

"What's he doing? What is he doing?" Toby exclaimed, catching Willow's attention.

She straightened up. "What did you just say?"

"We've lost the funnel. Gravity collapse!" Zach yelled.

Rose asked. "What does that mean?"

"We can't escape. We're headed straight for the black hole!" 

Willow looked out of the window, watching the grey planet fall into the black hole. "It's the planet. The planet's moving. It's falling." She turned her head to see Toby with all of the symbols written over his body again, startling her.

"I am the rage!"

"It's Toby. Zach, do something!"

"And the bile and the ferocity!"

"Just do something!"

"I am the Prince and the Fall and the enemy. I am the sin and the fear and the darkness."

"It's him! It's him! It's him!" Danny exclaimed.

"Stay where you are. The ship's not stable!" shouted Zach as he breathed out fire like a fearsome dragon. "What is he?? What the hell is he?"

"I shall never die. The thought of me is forever. In the bleeding hearts of men, in their vanity and obsession and lust..." Willow's eyes stared at the bolt gun, snatching it and pointing at the window. "Nothing shall ever destroy me. Nothing!"

"Go to hell." She shot the front screen before unfastening Toby's seatbelt, allowing him to be sucked into space, roaring.

"Emergency shield!" A metal shutter sealed the hole, but the rocket was still falling. "We've still lost the gravity funnel. We can't escape the black hole."

"But we stopped him. That's what the Doctor would've done."

"Some victory. We're going in." Zach huffed.

"The planet's lost orbit. It's falling!" They watched as it was being pulled into the black hole, destroying any evidence that it had existed in the first place. Ida was gone, the Doctor was gone, the base was gone and the Ood were gone. Forever. "The planet's gone. I'm sorry."

"Accelerate." The pull of the black hole was too strong, forcing the rocket to turn around and be yanked into the black hole. "I did my best. But hey! The first human beings to fall inside a black hole. How about that? History."

The crew closed their eyes, ready to die. Rose slid her arm around Willow, lying on her shoulder in fear, eyes completely shut. Then all the shaking ceased but they weren't dead. In fact, it felt like they were being pulled by something else. "What happened?" queried Rose.

Zach checked the schematics on the console. "We're turning. We're turning around. We're turning away!"

"Sorry about the hijack, Captain." A recognisable voice said apologised on the tannoy. "This is the good ship TARDIS." Willow grinned, holding onto her cousin's hand in joy. "Now, first thing's first. Have you got a Willow Hughes and a Rose Tyler on board?"

"We're here! It's me!" yelled Willow, guffawing upon realising she was right about the Doctor still being alive.

Rose put a hand on her forehead, giggling. "Oh, my God. Where are you?" 

"I'm just towing you home. Gravity schmavity. My people practically invented black holes." Willow rolled her eyes, comprehending that he was bragging. "Well, in fact, they did. In a couple of minutes, we'll be nice and safe. Oh, and Captain? Can we do a swap? Say, if you give me Rose Tyler and Willow Hughes, I'll give you Ida Scott? How about that?"

Zach's eyes lit up in amazement. "She's alive!"

Danny put his hands together like a prayer, blessed. "Yes. Thank God."

"Yeah! Bit of oxygen starvation, but she should be all right. I couldn't save the Ood. I only had time for one trip. They went down with the planet." He informed. "Ah! Entering clear space. End of the line. Mission closed."

***

Once they were out of range of the black hole, the Doctor boarded the rocket, letting Ida leave and allow Willow and Rose aboard. The moment they walked through the doors, he beamed at them. Willow couldn't help but sprint over to him and jump onto his body for a hug. "I thought I had lost you."

"You never will, and that's a promise." He went in for a passionate kiss before releasing her so he could hug Rose next.

***

The Doctor had changed out of his orange spacesuit, storing it in his wardrobe for further use in the future. He continued to communicate with the rocket. "Zach? We'll be off, now. Have a good trip home. And the next time you get curious about something-" The Doctor stopped himself, knowing humans too well. "Oh, what's the point. You'll just go blundering in. The human race."

"But Doctor, what did you find down there? That creature, what was it?" Ida queried.

"I don't know." He answered. "Never did decipher that writing. But that's good, Day I know everything? Might as well stop."

"What do you think it was, really?" asked Willow.

"I think we beat it. That's good enough for me." He replied.

Ros frowned, still a little shaken. "It said I was going to die in battle."

"Then it lied." The Doctor stated. "Right, onwards, upwards. Ida? See you again, maybe."

"I hope so." She replied.

 "And thanks, boys!" complimented Rose.

"Hang on though, Doctor. You never really said. You two, who are you?" Ida questioned.

"Oh, the stuff of legend." responded the Doctor, sharing a smile with the girls before pulling a lever, taking them away from the inevitable black hole and the crew.

Willow continued to smile until remembering what the Beast had told her earlier. 

I see inside your mind, the truth behind your dreams. But they were never dreams, they were always memories of your past. On this day, your human life will cease to be.

"What did it mean when it said my dreams were memories?" She questioned, catching the Doctor's attention.

He sighed. "Willow, I-"

"Why did it say that I would die today?" Abruptly, her head was pierced with unbearable pain. She screamed, collapsing to ground, hyperventilating.

The Doctor sprung into action, catching her as she fell. "Doctor, what's going on?" Rose asked, concerned for her cousin.

He had no choice, he had to tell her or she would die.

***

The inevitable has begun. This is it, everyone! We're stepping into the next ten parts of this book, aka the FINAL CHAPTERS!

I hope you enjoyed this, sorry that it was posted at an awkward time. Earlier I had met up with one of my close friends that I've known since I was five, so I came home a bit late.

Also, fun fact: Freya Ridings, who is the face claim for Willow, is the daughter of the voice actor for Daddy Pig in Peppa Pig. Isn't that surprising?

 - Alice ❤