It was an ordinary day for the occupants of the TARDIS. Well… As ordinary as any day in a time and space machine driven by a bow tie wearing alien could be. The time vortex whistled happy songs as they drifted through it, Amy and Rory still sound asleep in their bunk beds(Because bunk beds are cool, of course).
The Doctor was admiring the stars, pondering where to next take his companions when they awoke. He was getting a bit impatient by now. They had been asleep for nearly nine hours and shown no signs of getting up anytime soon. Stupid apes, sleeping their lives away he thought to himself, straightening his bow tie.
His enhanced time lord hearing senses picked up the sounds of movement in the TARDIS corridor nearby. It was about time! As quietly as he could(in case he was wrong about them being up like he had been the last four times) he shut the TARDIS door he had been stargazing out of and began to make his way to the kitchen. After hundreds of years of living with humans, he had learned the first thing they did after waking up was head to the kitchen to get a dose of caffeine before going about their day. That was fine and all except for the fact that Amy and Rory had banned him from caffeine claiming he was "hyper enough" as is. They signed a petition and everything, even going as far to get River's signature, making it pretty official.
Soon, the Doctor emerged into the kitchen to find Amy and Rory each with a cuppa, just as he predicted. "You're running low on tea Doctor," Rory remarked, sitting down at the clear glass kitchen table.
"Oh no !" The Doctor mocked. "You're British and running out of tea! The horror!"
"Yes, exactly. No way I can travel time and space without a morning cup of tea Doctor, especially after sleeping in a bunk bed! We told you to get rid of those!" Amy's voice rang out from behind him. The Doctor spun around to face her. Her ginger hair was pulled back loosely, droplets of water dripping from the tips to the TARDIS floor. A pink spotted bathrobe was draped around her, and the Doctor wondered just how enhanced his hearing actually was since he had not heard her get up to take a shower. He then realized that Rory's hair was wet as well, and decided quickly that he might not want to know.
"Hey, bunk beds are cool! And you're scottish Amy, can't you just fry up some tea or something!?" He defended.
"Tea doesn't work like that Doctor," Amy answered, rolling her eyes before taking a long swig of the heated beverage in her hand.
"Well, tea or no tea, you guys sleep way too much! Nine hours!? I barely slept a single hour! And I'm the one with the longer lifespan!"
"Nine hours, really? The bunk beds made it feel more like three. Hold on, Doctor, that's your special bow tie! Were out partying with my daughter again!?" Amy accused, raising her eyebrows.
"No! I just thought! I mean! We… Well our last date was ruined when we took the wrong fish! Pet stores can be so confusing!"
"Am I missing something?" Rory inquired, confused.
"The Doctor likes to sneak out in the middle of the night to party with our daughter," Amy explained, crossing her arms and giving the Doctor an amused yet superior look.
"I do not!" The Doctor defended, flustered. His arms waved up and down awkwardly.
"I got that part," Rory clarified, sipping his tea. "But in a pet store?"
"I'll have you know some of the wildest parties go on in pet stores Rory. There was a litter of puppies I came across the other night, their parents said they were grounded for throwing a huge bash with the litter of guinea pigs across the hall!"
"You can talk to puppies?" Amy wondered.
"I love puppies," Rory remarked. "I considered being a vet when I was younger. I've always loved medicine."
"You love puppies?" The Doctor grinned, a look that both excited but also terrified the two Ponds.
"Yes, puppies are cool," Rory mimicked, causing Amy to let out a hearty laugh and the Doctor to scowl.
"I know exactly where to go!" The Doctor exclaimed, deciding to ignore the remark. With that he ran off to the TARDIS console room, leaving Amy and Rory a bit bewildered in the kitchen (Not that they'll mind anyway, they'll probably just start snogging, the Doctor rationalized).
It wasn't long until Rory and Amy were dressed properly and the Doctor had successfully landed. Amy and Rory felt the nervous adrenaline that came with the anticipation. Where would they be!? When would they be!?
The Doctor pulled the ends of his bow tie, gripping the edge of the TARDIS door. "Here we are!" He exclaimed, yanking it open, a yellow glow of light filling their gaze. "Barcelona!"
"This doesn't look like Earth Doctor…" Rory stated, staring out at the colorful landscape. The sky was tinted a pinkish color and houses were lined up in rows with roofs made of a straw-like substance.
"No no! This is a planet called Barcelona! I'm surprised there seems to be no one in the village right now. It must be a holiday! This is the third most popular tourist attraction of it's galaxy! You'll see why in a moment!"
"Is it because of that?" Amy asked, her voice flat as she pointed up at the pink sky with a long black painted fingernail.
The Doctor tilted his head upwards, squinting a bit to get a clearer picture. He followed Amy's finger up to the very corner of sky in his line of vision. Unlike the pink and yellow color that adorned most of the air above them, this patch was a deep purple, like a bruise. Clouds of grey surrounded it, giving it a haunting look that sent shivers through the three friend's spines.
The Doctor felt his jaw drop, fear clouding his chest. This was bad… This was very very bad.
Amy noticed his discomfort immediately. "Doctor what is it!?" She demanded, worry overcoming her.
"It could be nothing… It could be… A strange firework or something right Doctor?" Rory offered, trying to be comforting, grabbing Amy by the waist and pulling her closer.
"No… No I..." The Doctor paused a few seconds to compose himself.
"Come on, Doctor!" Amy yelled as she began to walk towards- of course- the purple cloud in the sky. "Let's investigate!"
Rory began to follow his wife, then froze and began to back towards the TARDIS. "I think I'd better not." The Doctor followed Rory's gaze to see one of Barcelona's native species and tourist attractions: the noseless dog.
"I'm with Rory on this one," The Doctor said. "Not because of the dog, of course. I thought you liked puppies, Rory! Puppies are cool!"
"Doctor, why are we going?" Amy said, her hands on her hips.
The Doctor sighed, rubbing his chin as he opened the door to the TARDIS. "I just think that perhaps this is one of those situations where it would be best if we didn't investigate."
"But- Doctor!" Amy hadn't moved an inch. "Theres a big mysterious purple cloud in the middle of a noseless dog planet where all the other inhabitants have disappeared, and you don't want to investigate?"
"Exactly."
"But that is so unlike you!"
"People change."
Amy's face flushed and her knuckles grew white. "Someone could be dying, Doctor. Don't you want to help?"
The Doctor's head was pounding, his hearts fluttering uneasily. He didn't know what the cloud was, but he sure didn't like it. There was a certain glow about the cloud, something unnatural, something he hated. Something he hated that he also didn't know about. The Doctor didn't like not knowing things. We'll just head back to Earth so I can do a bit of safer research, he rationalized. We'll come back as soon as we have enough information.
Then, a moment later, he thought, I don't want to injure the Ponds.
"Come along, Ponds!" The Doctor said, faking cheerfulness. "Let us return to your home planet."
"But-" Amy faulted.
"There are plenty of adventures to be had on Earth. Right, Rory?"
Amy froze. "Where's Rory?"
"I'm here!" Rory stuck his head out of the TARDIS door. "I was... using the loo."
"Of course you were, stupid face," Amy said, punching Rory in the shoulder and then kissing it better as she followed him into the police box.
The doctor sighed and entered his TARDIS, glad to have Amy distracted. Something is weird about that cloud, he couldn't help but think. Like the crack in Amy's wall. Two things are coming together that should never have come together.
"Alright, to Earth we go!" He said, almost half heartedly, still madly curious, but nervous all the same. He flipped a few switches on the TARDIS and the console room began to shake uncontrollably, causing his hearts to flail back and forth in his chest.
"Doctor I know you're rubbish at driving but this outrageous!" Amy screeched grabbing on to Rory's arm protectively.
"I don't know what's happening! It isn't usually this bad! What ever that was is putting up a real fight to keep us here!" The Doctor gave a small smile as the shaking came to a stop. "Seems like we beat it though. Now come along, we should be in London, England, the 71st century!" The Doctor exclaimed, prying the police box door open and stepping outside. He felt his weight sink into the top layer of snow covering the ground. Flakes bouncing off his tweed jacket.
"Finally! Real snow!" A happy laugh filled with relief escaped him as he threw his hands up in the air, letting the flakes fall into his open mouth.
"What else would it be?" Rory asked, confused.
"Never mind that Rory!" He exclaimed, patting Rory's chest. "Come on! We've got exploring to do!"
"Umm… Doctor this doesn't look much like Earth," Amy stated, crossing her arms. The Doctor followed her gaze upwards to a cloud in the sky that seemed to be created the snow they were walking on.
An unpleasant sensation clouded the Doctor's chest as he stared right up into the dark purple clouds in the sky.
"We're still here," He realized. "But.. We can't be still here! It is physically impossible for us to still be here! We.. We can't be!"
"Well, we are," Rory countered pointedly.
"Doctor what is that?" Amy asked again, more worry dripping through her so-very-scottish voice.
"I don't know… But I can feel… I can feel that it's very very bad." He paused a bit for effect. "It's obviously creating massive amounts of energy! I can smell the burning of some sort of fuel from inside which means this… This isn't ever snow! It's ash!" The Doctor stamped his foot in frustration.
"It looks like snow," Amy said, shrugging.
"Well it's not!"
"Doctor, Amy what's this?" Rory asked. He had wandered off, which caused the Doctor to huff in annoyance and he hiked over to where Rory was now standing.
It was a large black box that emanated a loud buzzing sound and seemed to vibrate in sync with their breaths. It had a circular symbol in the middle of a circle halfway filled in. The Doctor immediately recognized the symbol, placing a hand on each of his companion's he pulled them backwards slowly.
"Doctor what is it!?" Rory wondered, obviously uncomfortable with the Doctor's choice of hand placement of his wife's chest. The Doctor was always awkward like that though, so he let it slide.
"It's the universal symbol for a gravity field. Something is trying to suck us in. Amy, Rory, whatever you do, don't touch it. It's one of the older models. It immediately deactivates the field once given a DNA sample. And I mean purposely touch it. It probably won't do anything if you just… I don't know, bump into it by accident. I wouldn't try it though, to be safe. I still have no idea what that thing is and for all we kno-"
"Doctor… Doctor!?" Rory's voice interrupted him, fear and annoyance clearly evident.
"Yeah?"
"Where's Amy?" Rory asked softly.
The two boys turned their heads around frantically, scanning the island.
Soon their eyes came to rest on the large black box. It was now glowing a deep red, two words and a string of numbers shining in pixelated dots on it's side.
AMELIA WILLIAMS
1989-2008