Thank you all so much for the support you've given this story! I'm so sorry for how slow this update has been, life got in the way. I hope you're all doing alright in these weird times and I hope you enjoy!

As the whispers subsided, Jefferson opened fire on the approaching Ood. Once they were all dead (to which she gently opened her walls long enough to let out a small hum before shutting them tightly again), Rose ran toward the comms device on the ground and started speaking into it.

"Doctor?" There was static. "Doctor, can you hear me? Doctor? Ida? Are you there?"

As Susan frowned at the odd lack of name and the familiar pang of loss, the door opened behind them and Danny ran through.

"It's me! But they're coming. It's the Ood. They've gone mad."

Susan shook her head. "They haven't gone mad, they're being manipulated by something. Something powerful."

"How many of them?"

"All of them!" Danny was frantic. "All fifty!"

Jefferson made his way towards the door. "Danny, out of the way." When Danny didn't move, he had to practically move him. "Out of the way!"

"But they're armed! They're da-" Jefferson ignored him and started to open the door. "It's the interface device. I don't know how, but they're using it as a weapon."

Susan frowned and bent down to the dead Ood near them. She picked up one of the interface devices and disconnected it from the corpse. Pulling a small sonic device from her back pocket, she flips open the panel on the interface sphere while Jefferson unloads on the incoming Ood.

She fiddled as Zach's voice came on the comms. "Jefferson, what's happening there?"

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

A moment of quiet movement, then, "All I've got is a bolt gun. With, uh… 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."

She felt hope swell up, which came to blossom as Zach agreed.

"Right, we need to get everyone together. Rose? What about Ida and the Doctor? Any word?"

'The Doctor?' She mouthed silently to herself. They couldn't possibly be talking about the Doctor.

Could they?

She was about to ask when his voice came over the comms. "No! Sorry, I'm fine. Still here."

Rose was visibly relieved. "You could've said, you stupid b-"

The comms screeched, censoring her angry tirade.

"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 inquired.

"Can't tell. It looks like it goes on forever."

"'The Pit is open. I am free.'" Susan repeated the words that had come from the Ood, from the psychic energy in the very air, with a quiet, cautious voice.

"Yeah," Rose agreed. "That's what the voice said.

"But there's nothing?" Zach asked. "I mean… There's… nothing coming out?"

"No, no. No sign of 'the Beast'." Mockery was prevalent in his tone.

"It said 'Satan'," Rose said, looking frightened.

"Come on, Rose. Keep it together."

"Is there no such thing?" There was silence. "Doctor?" Again, nothing. "Doctor, tell me there's no such thing."

Susan walked over to Rose and put her hand in the girl's. "Every major religion has a boogie man. A devil. I don't know about you, but I've never actually seen hide nor hair of one, have you?" The girl shook her head. "If you ask me, this is just a big, psychic thing with a superiority complex."

The girl seemed to lighten a bit, but the atmosphere was certainly heavier in the room, especially once Zach gave the orders to come back.

"But, we've come all this way!"

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

"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 arguing-" There was static coming from Ida and the new man (who couldn't possibly be the Doctor). "Ida? Ida?"

There was a bit of panic before the comms came back and the man said, "Rose, we're coming back."

Rose smiled. "Best news I've heard all day."

To the side, Jefferson - who had been eyeing Toby all this time - released the safety on his gun and pointed it at the other anthropologist.

"What are you doing?" Rose asked, shocked.

Susan wanted to argue against Jefferson's actions, too, but at the same time… She knew how psychic possession worked.

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

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

"If necessary."

"Qwll them, you'll have to shoot me 'if necessary', so what's it gonna be?" Rose kneeled next to him, which put Susan on high alert. "Look at his face. Whatever it was, it's gone. It passed into the Ood. You saw it happen. He's clean."

Jefferson thinks for a moment, then puts his gun down. "Any sign of trouble, I'll shoot him."

As Jefferson moved away, Susan took his place closer to Rose and Toby. She eyed the boy with suspicion as she sealed her mental walls up tight.

Rose looked to the almost crying boy. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah… I…" He shook his head. "Dunno."

"Can you remember anything?"

"Just… it was so angry. It was… fury and rage… death…"

Susan frowned and looked up from her technological fiddling. That… That wasn't right. It may have preached anger and death and the sensations of rage and fury may have been there (not that she thought he would be able to feel those anyway what with his low psychic ability), but it was charismatic and calm. It truly was the Fallen Angel many of the stories tell of.

Toby was lying.

They all stood on the exploration deck, wracked in nervous energy (though some much more than others) and waiting for their two explorers to return.

"Okay, we're in. Bring us up."

Those on the deck grinned with anticipation for their missing allies. Jefferson nodded. "Ascension in… three… two… one."

As he said the final number, Susan heard the familiar sound of mechanisms failing just as the lights blinked out. They only stood in the darkness for a moment before a deep, gravelly voice proclaimed, "This is the Darkness. This is my domain."

The screen changed to show a collection of Ood, acting as a vessel of some sort for the thing's psychic energy. She could even hear a bit of echo through her own mind. Whatever this thing was - she refused to call it what it claimed to be - it was certainly powerful.

"You little things that live in the light… clinging to your feeble Suns… which die in the-"

The comms crackled to life as Zach commented, "That's not the Ood. Something's talking through them."

Susan had to resist the urge to roll her eyes. As much as she loved humans, she forgot how long it took them to catch up to her Time Lord brain. She slowly edged towards the front of the group. She had an idea, but if it ended badly, she didn't want to risk others getting injured because of her. She could take it, them not so much.

"Only the Darkness remains."

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

"You know my name."

'The dramatics of this thing!'

"What do you want?" Zach pressed.

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

"Yeah, that's great and all," she took the final step to stand in front of her group and broke into the thing's monologue, "but could you please shut up?!"

"Susan," her comm flared to life with Zach's voice, "what are you doing? Are you mental?"

"So I've been told. Sorry, Captain, thought I'd give it the old college try myself." She could have sworn she heard him mutter something akin to "Of course! How could I forget Susan's death wish?" and had to steel herself from laughing. She stared straight at the group of Ood as she spoke.

"No offense, of course. It's just that you're trying for this whole 'scary' act and it's just not that impressive. First of all, I'm hardly afraid of a coward who speaks through others. Quite impressive psychic abilities, though. You've been giving me a migraine all day! But other than that, you're just manipulating low level psychic waves. Not that impressive. I could do that as a child. This is child's play. Literally. If you were really who you claimed to be - which I doubt on every level - you would be able to be so much more impressive."

"And if you are the beast," the new man added from within the elevator, "then answer me this: which one? Hmm? 'Cos the universe has been busy since you've been gone. There's more religions than there are planets in the sky. The Archivits… Pordonity… Christianity…"

Seeing where he was going, Susan added on, "The Church, too! And the Faction Paradox… The Church of the Outsiders… Shinto… Sikhism… The Church of the Foundation!"

He seemed even more excited as he continued, "Pash-Pash, New Judaism… Sanclar… Church of the Tin Vagabond, which devil are you?"

"All of them."

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

"This one knows me, as I know him. The killer of his own kind."

She had to frown at that. He looked human, then again, that didn't rule out plenty of races other than human. A title like that, though… she couldn't help but raise her guard.

"How did you end up on this rock?"

"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?'" Susan asked, rejoining the conversation.

"Before time."

"But what does 'before time' mean?" The man asked.

"Before light and time and space and matter. Before the cataclysm. Before the universe was created."

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

"Is that your religion?"

"It's a belief."

"There are theories out there," Susan offered. "Ideas of existence before creation. But they're just nonsense!"

"You know nothing. All of you. So small. The Captain, so scared of command." Although she couldn't see him, she could feel his anxiety at the description.

"The Soldier, haunted by the eyes of his wife." Jefferson's sorrow wafted off of him.

"The Scientist, still running from daddy." Ida's nerves were sensible even outside the base.

"The Little Boy who lied." Danny, too, grew uncomfortable.

"The Virgin." A low blow from such a great being, but she watched Toby inch closer to the edge.

"The Survivor, doomed to lose everyone she's ever loved while she festers on." The dig hurt, but she made no noticeable reaction. Unlike the others, this was hardly the first time that fact had been used against her by an entity that should have no right knowing such things.

"And the Lost Girl, so far away from home. The Valiant Child who will die in battle so very soon."

At Rose's questioning, "Doctor, what does it mean?" Susan couldn't help but frown. A break in the pattern. All the other titles were clear attacks against the people, but Rose's… She acted like she didn't know what it was referring to. It said it like it hadn't happened yet.

Curious…

"Rose, don't listen."

"What does it mean?"

Susan shifted back and placed a hand on Rose's shoulder - she looked so young, she couldn't be older than 20 - as the "Beast" snarled, "You will die… and I will live."

The screen flashed to show some sort of creature, horned and roaring, causing those she could see - and likely those she couldn't - to stumble back in shock and fear. She, however, having stared down a Dalek eyestalk, unblinking, was rather unimpressed.

Danny sounded horribly uncomfortable as he asked, "What the hell was that?"

Then, noise erupts. They're all talking at once. Toby and Rose - both the youngest of the group and those who had probably been through the biggest scare - were reasonably frightened and rambling on as best they could. Danny was looking to Jefferson for the next step, and Jefferson, the Captain. Even Ida was trying to get a read on the situation. But the burst of noise made it impossible for anyone to get anything. All the while, the new man was trying to be heard.

"Stop… Everyone just stop…"

With a sigh, Susan brought her comm to her face and let out a shrill whistle into it. She could hear a few cringes from those in the room with her, but it got everyone to shut up.

"You had something to say, Doctor…?"

The question was ignored, but he offered her a quiet thanks before continuing, "If 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 shot back.

"Or a good psychologist."

"But…" Ida sounded nervous. "How did it know about my father?"

"This would be my cue, if you don't mind, Doctor." She spoke into the comm with an unnaturally cheerful tone, matching the new guy's. "This thing, whatever it is, is psychic. And powerfully so. It wouldn't be that hard to take a peek into your head and see what frightens you, especially when you're already so worked up. Like the good doctor said: Psychology."

"Exactly! And what makes his version of the truth any better than mine? Hmm? Cos 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 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 elder, his genius, his friends. All with one advantage. The Beast is alone. We are not. If we can use that to fight against him…"

As Susan frowned at his use of humans in a way that implied he was something else - not that she could speak, but it was certainly interesting - there was a loud bang as the cable snapped. Dust blew into the room with them as Rose cried frantically into the comm.

"Doctor! We lost the cable! Doctor, are you all right?" When she got no reply, she tried again. "Doctor?"

"Comms are down," Zach reported. "I've still got life signs, but… we've lost the capsule."

Rose continued to plead into the comm.

"There's no way out. ...they're stuck down there."

Other than Susan, they all went to the shaft and peered down it. She knew the math off the top of her head. They wouldn't be able to bring them back up. If they were lucky, it would be a quick death.

Then there was a pound at the door.

"Captain?" Jefferson asked into his comm. "Situation report."

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

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

Rose, looking even more frantic, leaned over to Susan and asked, "How long's it gonna take?"

"Well, it's only a basic frame, so I'd say about 10 minutes." There was another sound. "On second thought, make that eight."

Zach added, "I've got a security frame, so it might last a bit longer. Still, that doesn't help you."

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

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

"You heard the Doctor." That name was still throwing Susan for a loop. "Why do you think that thing cut him off? Cos he was making sense. He was telling you to think your way out of this. Come on! For a start, we need some lights. There's gotta be some sort of power somewhere."

"There's nothing I can do," Zach added, bitterly. "Some captain, stuck in here, pressing buttons."

"No offense, but it's clear you haven't been captain long, Zach. That's kinda the whole point. The thing is, you need to press the right buttons."

"Exactly!" Rose cheered, grinning at Susan, which she returned.

"They've gutted the generators!" He paused in thought. "But the rocket's got an independant supply. If I could reroute that… Mr. Jefferson? Open the bypass conduits. Override the safety…"

Jefferson went to work pressing buttons. "Opening bypass conduits, sir."

"Channeling rocket feed. In three… two… one… Power."

The lights powered on and Rose clapped. "There we go."

Danny's little "Let there be light!" made her chuckle slightly.

"What about that Strategy Nine thing?" Rose asked.

"Not enough power." Jefferson shook his head. "It needs a hundred percent."

"All right, we need a way out. Zach, Mr. Jefferson, you start working on that." She made her way towards Susan and Toby. "Susan, Toby, what about you?"

Susan frowned, her head tilted to the side while Toby stuttered out, "I'm not a soldier. I can't do anything."

"No, but you're archaeologists. What do you two know about the pit?"

Susan frowned. "Not a lot. We've barely started translating. The language is difficult as it is. We know it's old."

As Rose turned to move on, Toby spoke, "H-Hold on. Maybe…"

"What is it?"

"Since that thing was inside my head, it's like the letters made more sense."

"Well… get to work. Anything you can translate, just… anything." She moved on to Danny, but Susan had stopped paying attention. Toby apparently had lingering memories of the language from his psychic possession. It made… some sense. It didn't mean he wasn't lying, but if he could help figure out the language, she might kiss him, possessed by some 'Beast' or no.

As they discussed linguistics quietly to themselves, the others worked frantically around them. Her newly altered Ood communication device weighed down her pocket. She would prefer to avoid using it for as long as she could - it could be incredibly useful when used, but it was a one hit wonder, and an untested one hit wonder at that -but she had a feeling that the time was growing nearer.

There was a bang at the door, sending sparks flying. The others grew frantic, though Toby - while faking it really well - stayed rather calm, just like her. The others talked about escaping through the maintenance tunnels while she and Toby discussed past participle.

They were corralled over, eventually, by Jefferson. Soon, they were all standing at the maintenance tunnel, ready to go. Well, all except Danny.

"Danny!" Rose shouted, beckoning him over.

"Hold on! Just conforming…"

"Dan, you've gotta go now," Jefferson commanded as another bang rang out. "Come on!"

The computer beeped and he pulled the chip out, racing over to them. "Put that in the monitor… and it's a bad time to be an Ood!"

"We're coming back. Have you got that? We;re coming back to this room and we're getting the Doctor out."

Jefferson seemed to ignore her as he started commanding the group, ever the soldier. "Okay, Danny, you go first, the Susan, then you Miss Tyler, then Toby, I'll go last in defense position. Now come on! Quick as you can!"

They all started into the tunnel in Jefferson's positions.

As they follow Zach's instructions, down the cramped tunnels, they tried their best not to focus on the fact that they were running for their lives down a path never meant for them to go through. They were defying fate and Susan had never felt more at home.

"I've got to oxygenate the next section. Now, keep calm… or it's gonna feel worse."

They were all very on edge as they waited for permission to move on, but it was made even worse by the loud noise on the other end of the tunnel.

"What was that?" Danny asked.

"Mr. Jefferson, what was that?" Rose asked, calling to the back of the group.

Toby sounded nervous, too. "What's that noise?"

Jefferson leaned into his comm, inquiring, "Captain… what was that?"

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

"Well, open the gate!" Danny urged.

"I've gotta get the air in!"

"Just open it! ...sir."

Rose was trying to look over her shoulder. "Where are they? Are they close?"

"Don't know, I can't tell - I can't see them… the computer doesn't register Ood as proper life forms."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Once again, Human prejudice dooms us all. That's just fucking great, isn't it?"

Danny, shaking, roared into his comm, "Enough about that. Just open the gate!"

When the gate opens, they all race through, Zach guiding them as they went. The Ood were approaching and fast. People were getting frantic. At one point, Jefferson stopped, sitting down on the ground. "I'll maintain defensive position!"

"You can't stop!" Rose cried.

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

Toby looked at Rose, adding, "You heard what he said, now shift."

Before they turned the corner, Susan pulled the sphere from her pocket and tossed it to Jefferson. At his confused expression, she elaborated, "I don't have the time to explain what that is, but just trust me. Press the button and throw it at the Ood. It should slow them down." She put a hand on his shoulder. "I'll be pissed if you don't make it back to us."

He offered her a salute. "I'll be back, Susan. You take care of them."

She gave one back before sprinting after the group.

"Eight point two. Open eight point two. Zach!"

"I've gotta aerate it!"

"Open it now!"

"I'm trying."

"Danny," Susan snapped from where she had taken position in the back, "I know you're scared, but for god's sake, chill the fuck out! Zach's doing his best and you're not helping by snapping at him."

That seemed to shut him up. As Zach demanded Jefferson move, she heard her device activate and the sound of footsteps. She grinned as she watched Jefferson turn the corner and make it back to them in time to make it through the gate. She grinned and clapped him on the back. "Welcome back, soldier!"

"Your thing was amazing! How did you do that?"

She shrugged as they kept running. "Oh, I just based it off of that weird electrical charge they had done. I realized that just as it could work internally, it could also expel. So, I worked a little magic to have it target Ood systems and sent a giant shockwave through their tech. They aren't dead, but they'll certainly need a bit of help getting back up."

Rose glanced back at her with a look of confusion and awe, but Zach's next direction reminded her of the circumstances and she continued on.

As nine point two opens, they watch as Ood file in, as if waiting for them.

"Lower nine point two." Rose looked terrified. "Zach, lower it!"

Danny was double timing it backwards. "Back! Back! Back!"

"We can't go back! The gang point's sealed off, we're stuck!"

Rose seemed to have the thought at the same time as Susan, who had been looking around for a possible weapon or escape. Rose pushed the grilling out of the way, yelling, "Come on!"

They crawled out, Toby somehow ending up at the end. Rose yelled down for him. "Come on! Toby, come on!"

Susan sighed, growling, "Toby, get your ass out of there!"

"Help me! Oh, my God, help me!"

She sighed and reached down, grabbing his arms and pulling him out. She turned just in time to see Ood approaching down the hall. She couldn't help but grin as they started running again. This is what she had missed since she had settled down. As adrenalin pimped through her veins, they raced towards the door to Ood habitation. They sped towards the main console in the room and Danny was quick to get the chip in and begin transmitting.

Susan winced as the signal went out. She was no Ood, but it was still rather annoying. The Ood around them clutch their heads and stumble, eventually all dropping to the ground.

It was silent, until Rose, grinning, shouted, "You did it! We did it!"

Danny, possibly even happier than Rose, laughed. "Yes!"

The small group of humans takes turns hugging, too busy in their excitement to notice that Susan had stepped away from the group to look at some of the Ood on the ground. Well, all except Jefferson, who saw the remorseful look on her face, gave her a nod, and turned back to the others.

Rose leaned into the comm. "Zach, we did it. The Ood are down. Now we've gotta find the Doctor."

"I'm on my way."

They made it back to the exploration deck and Zach gave her a small smile and a questioning look, motioning towards the computer. As Rose raced for the comm, Susan joined Zach at the computer and started helping him patch the comms back through the central desk to boost the signal.

"Doctor? Are you there? Doctor, Ida? Can you hear me? Are you there, Doctor?"

Finally, a familiar voice comes through. "He's gone."

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

"He fell. Into the pit. And I don't know how deep it is, miles and miles and miles."

Rose looked broken and her voice imitated that. "But… what do you mean 'he fell'?"

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

As Zach pulled the comm away from Rose, Susan put an arm around the young girl's shoulders and pulled her, trembling, into a tight embrace. "I'm sorry, Rose. I'm so sorry."

She began to shake with silent tears. Susan just rubbed her back - as her grandfather had done for her after she heard the news of Gallifrey's fate, her family's fate - and hummed an old lullaby her mother used to sing to her as a child, a habit that her grandfather had picked up when she was inconsolable.

As she did, she listened in on Ida and Zach's conversation.

"No cable, no back-up… you're ten miles down…" He takes a shaky breath. "We can't get there."

"You should see this place, Zach. It's beautiful. Well, I wanted to discover things… And here I am." She sounded on the verge of tears.

"We've got to abandon the base. 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?"

"I think that's for the best," Susan offered quietly over Rose's shoulder.

Zach nodded.

"Yeah."

"Officer Scott…"

"It's all right. Just go. Good luck."

"Thank you." As Zach went to start giving orders, Susan pulled away from Rose with a smile and picked up the comm.

"Ida?"

"Susan?" She sounded confused.

"Yeah, it's me. I just… I wanted to say that it was an honor to serve with you. And that I'm sorry."

"Why would you be sorry? You didn't do anything."

She gave a hollow chuckle. "That's exactly why I'm sorry." A pause. "Goodbye, Ida Scott."

"Goodbye…"

The comm is replaced just in time to watch Zach sedate Rose. She sighed, returning to the group with a clear, almost motherly, 'What is going on?' expression.

"I have lost too many people. I am not leaving you behind." He turned to the others. "Let's get her on board."

"We're leaving, then?" Susan inquired.

"Yeah. Don't tell me you're going to cause a fuss, too."

She laughed. "No, no… Just kinda… Just tired. I'll head to the rocket."

Zach nodded and went around making final preparations.

"Dislocating B-Clamp, C-Clamp, raising blue nitrates to maximum. Toby, how's the negapact feed line?"

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

Susan heard a noise to the side, then Danny commented, "Captain… I think we're gonna have a problem passenger…"

The young Time Lord sighed and opened her eyes from her near meditative state. Normally, she wouldn't choose to enter such a state during a time like this, however, she had something she needed confirmed. And it was.

They were not alone.

With her eyes now open, they followed Toby closely. Sure enough, the closer they got to leaving, the less he seemed like Toby.

"Keep an eye on her."

"Wait… I'm not…"

"It's all right, Rose, you're safe."

She started tugging at her seatbelt, frantically. "I'm not going anywhere! Get me out of this thing! Get me out!"

"And… lift-off!"

It was then that Susan was reminded how much humans could surprise her. Rose grabbed the nearby bolt gun and pointed it at Zach. "Take me back to the planet."

Zach didn't look back at her or even respond. Susan in a quiet voice, pleaded, "Rose…"

"Take me back!"

"Or I'll shoot."

"The Doctor wouldn't want that," Susan insisted.

To be honest, she had no idea. However, she knew that her Doctor - her grandfather - would never want that, so she sat and hoped that fate aligned to make the two men somewhat alike.

Rose met her eyes and held her ancient, tired gaze for a few moments before lowering the gun and looking away. Jefferson dropped his gun, which had come up as soon as hers had.

"Sorry," Zach offered, "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?"

Rose glanced out of the window and watched as they sped away from the black hole. She redid her seatbelt as Toby laughed.

"What's the joke?" Danny snapped.

"Just… we made it. We escaped. We actually did it."

No one on the ship looked any happier.

"Not all of us," Rose said, grimly.

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

Susan felt very unsettled by his smirk as he replied, "Gravity funnel holding, sir. Always holding. Stats at fifty three, funnel status at sixty six point five. Hull pressure constant. Smooth as we can, sir. All the way back home. Coordinates set for Planet Earth."

Susan fell back into a semi conscious state as Rose began to speak. "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 dunno, burnt us, or anything, But it let us go. Why? Unless it wanted us to escape…"

"Hey, Rose," Toby commented, "do us a favor… Shut up."

"I think she has a point," Susan replied, eyes still closed. "Don't you, Toby?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

She couldn't help but smirk. "Of course you don't."

"Almost there," he continued, ignoring her. "We'll be beyond reach of the black hole in fourty… thirty nine…"

Then the rocket started to shake aggressively.

"What's happened? What was that?!" Danny was panicking.

'Toby', meanwhile, was snarling. "What's he doing? What is he doing?"

Susan couldn't help her laugh and additional, "Clever man!"

"We've lost the funnel! Gravity collapse!"

"What does that mean?" Rose asked.

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

The rocket spun and started towards the black hole at alarming speeds.

Rose stared out the window. "It's the planet. The planet's moving. It's falling."

Susan opened her eyes to watch Toby start reeling, his eyes glowing red once more and symbols covering his skin. She grinned. "Welcome back, old pal."

"I am the rage… I am the Prince and the Fall and the Darkness…"

As the others debated what to do, she glanced back at Jefferson, who shared a glance with her and shot 'Toby' dead blank. He slumped back into his seat. Susan put a hand on the corpse's shoulder, and watched as the others calmed down slightly. Her mind open, offering a telepathic liturgy for the poor boy, she didn't pay attention to the other's panic over the black hole.

But then they stopped falling. Then they were turning. Susan's private funeral stopped, eyebrows furrowed. This was impossible, and that was coming from a Time Lord. There was only thing that could stand up to a black hole like this and it was-

She turned Rose, frantic, eyes wide. "That Doctor of yours. What was his name?"

She looked confused. "Just… just the Doctor. Why?"

Susan ignored her question as shocked laughter bubbled up from within her. It really was him. He looked so young, even younger than his eighth regeneration. But of course it was him. When else would she meet a being that claimed to be the Devil unless he was around. He was never known for his good luck.

The the comm burst to life and the cheerful voice of the Doctor called, "Sorry about the hijack, Captain. This is the good ship TARDIS. Now, first thing's first, have you got a Rose Tyler on board?"

"I'm here! It's me! Oh, my god!" She looked alive in a way Susan had never seen before, even when he had been there. "Where are you?"

"I'm just towing you home. Gravity-schmavity. My people practically invented black holes. 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, I'll give you Ida Scott? How about that?"

"She's alive!" Zach cheered.

Danny cried, :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." There was the sound of a computer. "Ah! Entering clear space, end of the line, mission closed."

Susan moved over to stand with Zach as they prepared for the trade. He glanced up at her with a smile.

"Are you all right after all of that?" He asked.

She nodded. "Yeah, I just… I've been thinking."

"Bout what?"

"I… I might be parting ways with you guys."

"What?" He furrowed his brows. "Why?"

"You know my granddad who I told you about?" He nodded. "That guy back there, the Doctor… That's him."

"How…?"

"It's complicated. I don't think you'd understand even if I explained it."

He nodded, accepting it. Zach was always really good at that, accepting her weird comments and the like. He asked, "Then why didn't he recognize you?"

At her face, he sighed, answering himself with, "Let me guess, it's 'complicated'?"

"Yeah…" She rubbed the back of her neck as she bounced on the balls of her feet. This regeneration was much more prone to nervous energy, and she was nothing right now if not nervous. "I have no idea if he'll take me, or even believe me, but I have to try, y'know?"

He nodded. "If anyone deserves to be with their family, it's you, Susan Campbell."

She gave him a salute. "So long, Captain Zachary Cross Flane."

He gave her one back as she moved over towards where Rose had flown into the TARDIS as soon as it landed. She had gone to knock on the door, only to find the door swinging open. She watched as the Doctor lifted Rose up into his arms, clearly both happy to be reunited. She cleared her throat and knocked on the door frame. "Knock knock."

They glanced back, looking like children who had been caught doing something they shouldn't have. The Doctor pulled himself forward with a customer service smile. "Yes? Susan, was it?"

"Yeah… Yeah, Susan." She stepped forward into the TARDIS and couldn't help the quiet gasp that escaped her. It, of course, was the same TARDIS. It felt like the same TARDIS, but god was it different than last time she saw it. It had much more personality than the standard white it had been when she traveled in the ship.

The Doctor smirked, a knowing gleam in his eyes. "Go ahead, you can say it."

Her voice came out so quietly, it was barely audible to the human ears in the room. "She's changed so much…"

He stared at her. Whatever he had expected her to say, that wasn't it. "What was your name again?"

She gave him a smile. "Susan. Susan Campbell. But… You might remember me better as Susan Foreman."

Rose watched, confusion bleeding onto her face, as the Doctor walked slowly towards Susan, shock the only expression visible to the human. To the younger Time Lord, however, she could see so much more. It was a different face, yes, but it was still the same if you looked at it right. It was still her grandfather's face. She could see the pain and sorrow, she could see the disbelief, and she could see the love rolling off of him in waves.

"Susan…" His voice was soft and cracking. "It's really you…?"

"No," she joked, laughing softly, "It's a Dalek. Of course it's me."

"What are you doing here?"

She shrugged. "Exploring, I suppose."

"But- But why? What about your family? What about David? And Alex? Barbara and Ian and David Jr?"

Her expression darkened. "Have you really forgotten? How long has it been for you?" It seemed to be a rhetorical question, because she continued. "David and Alex are dead. And Barbara and Ian and DJ were human. So, completely human… They're dead now…"

"Oh, Susan…"

She pulled away from the gentle arms around her. "It's fine… Really, it is. I've come to terms with it."

"Uhm," Rose spoke up for the first time since Susan came into the TARDIS, "I'm sorry to interrupt, but can someone tell me what's going on?"

"Right!" The Doctor pulled back and went to stand between Susan and Rose. He motioned towards Susan. "Rose, meet Susan… My granddaughter."

Susan waved to Rose. "Nice to be properly introduced."

Rose frowned. "But if you knew it was him, why didn't you-"

"Say anything?" She finished with a laugh. "Well, to be honest, I didn't realize it was him. Time Lord regenerations and all. I might have been able to tell it was him, but with that thing yelling in my head and far too long without any practice, I wasn't gonna be able to."

The Doctor smiled. "And Susan, this is my companion, Rose Tyler."

"That's right, you've been taking companions. Quite the development from Mr. 'I'm not taking Humans in the TARDIS', eh?"

He flushed. "That was a long time ago."

She laughed, which Rose joined this time.

The Doctor, clearly done with being picked on, went over to the TARDIS console and started speaking through the comm. "Zach? We'll be off, now. Have a good trip home." Rose stepped up beside him at the console. "And the next time you get curious about something… oh… what's the point? You'll just go blundering in. The human race…"

Susan laughed and joined them, standing on the other side of the Doctor. "But that's what we love about them, right? Their unprecedented and unstoppable curiosity."

"Doctor," Ida asked, "what did you find down there That creature, what was it?"

"I don't know!" He responded, waving the question off. "Never did decipher that writing. But that's good! Day I know everything? Might as well stop."

"What do you think it was?" Rose asked, away from the comm. "Really?"

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

Rose grew uneasy. "It said I was gonna die in battle."

"Then it lied," the Doctor replied, quietly and confidently.

Rose smiled and that was all the Doctor needed to turn back to the comm. "Right, onwards, upwards, Ida, see you again, maybe!"

"I hope so."

"And thanks, boys!" Rose offered.

"Yes, thank you for keeping an eye on Rose and thank you for keeping an eye on Susan for so long."

Susan grinned, elbowing the older Time Lord before taking the comm. "Thank you guys. I'll miss you all so much. Have the best lives you can!"

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

"Oh," he glanced at the two of them. "The stuff of legend."

He pulled a lever and the TARDIS began her flight into the unknown. Susan grinned.

"Next stop: anywhere."