Disclaimer: I don't own the TARDIS

Blind
(S.5 Ep.5 Prt. II)

Sometimes you have to close your eyes to see clear.

-o0O0o-

"It's a forest."
Amy couldn't believe it. There was a Forest in this spaceship. On the other hand, why not. The Doctor had a swimming pool in his library (she didn't find neither of it , yet) so why not some trees on a spaceship. But this was a whole forest!
Dr. Song nodded."Yeah, it's a forest. It's an oxygen factory."
"And if we're lucky, an escape route." the Doctor added.
The archeologist raised an eyebrow. "What did you say?"
Amy needed a second before realizing she talked to her."Me? Nothing"
She barely registered the Doctor talking to Octavian, ignoring the two. A forest. "Bishop, is there another exit? Scan the architecture, we don't have time to get lost in there."
"On it. Stay where you are until I've checked the Rad levels."
The sight of the Solider really climbing into this, proving it was not a joke or illusion, woke her out of her surprised trance. "But trees! On a spaceship!"
"Oh, more than trees." the Doctor grinned and stepped into the forest, starting to dig at the bark of one.
"Way better than trees. Told you, you're going to love this! Treeborgs. Trees plus technology. Branches become cables become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight, breathing out air. It even rains. There's a whole mini-climate. This vault is an ecopod running right through the heart of the ship. A forest in a bottle on a space ship in a maze. Have I impressed you yet, Amy Pond?"
From as second to the next his face darkened and he bounced back to her. "Nine?"

Amy gulped but tried to smile. What did he do? "Out of ten?. No, definitely a ten. Or have you something more impressive in store?"
He gazed her with a strange, suspicious gaze. "Perhaps."
"Found one exit. As the Lady said, primary deck." disrupted the Pater.

The Time Lord twirled around and clapped his hands. "Perfect. That's where we go!"
"Already plotting the safest path."
"Great," smiled Amy and shrank back as everybody focused on her. "What?
"Eight?" asked the Doctor and stepped closer, now definitely inspecting her.
"I'm sorry?"
"You're counting. Down.", explained Dr. Song with a strange edge in her voice.
"I'm not."

The Doctor turned sharply. "Tella?"
The Time Lady standing obediently by the console came over, examined her with a quick glance and explained: "The Angel does. You need to close your eyes."
"The Angel in my head is counting down?"
"Yeah," mumbled the Doctor absentminded, still staring into her eyes.
She gulped. "To what?"
"Your death," answered Tella straight forward. "That is why you have to close your eyes."

This woman was just… "Sure. So it can kill me even faster!"
She hated the panic in her voice. NO. She hated that calm, reasonable voice more.
"No it will not. It is the same as you did, back in the drop ship. Your view is just a image, produced in your brain out of the information of the light falling on your retina. Closing your eyes is the blip, remember? The one you used to stop the video. No light in your eye, no Image of the Angel. Now close your eyes, Amelia, please."

She gulped. "No. Please, I don't… She wants to kill me, Doctor!"
The Doctor placed his hand on her cheek. "I don't know if she s after you or not, but she is right with this. You have to close your eyes. Turn the light and the image off."
"NO. I don't want to!"
"Amy. Amy look at me. It's the Angel, not you! It's afraid. Do it. Close your eyes. Now."
She squeezed her eyes shut and from one second to the next that freezing panic was gone. She took a deep breath. "It's gone…"

"For the moment," Tella said. " You have to keep your eyes closed from now on. I am not trying to kill you, Amelia. I did this to you and it is my responsibility to keep you alive. Do you understand?"
She nodded.
The Doctor moved. "Bishop, this path you're plotting, can we take it blind?"
"We need a few more minutes for making the adjustments. I think…"

"Doctor? Excuse me? Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir."
This was exactly what they needed, now. This guys had the worse Timing ever.

"Ah. There you are, Angel Bob. How's life? Sorry, bad subject."

"The Angels are impressed by your attempts of staying alive. They started to enjoy your futile struggles."
"Glad to contribute to your entertainment. Must have been ages since you had a good laugh, surely feel like a lifetime ago. Oh sorry again."

"You know how ridiculous this is yourself. Keeping the eyes of your friend closed won't help her. She can't keep her eyes closed all her live. She will open them, maybe accidently, but then we shall take her. As we shall take all of you here. We shall have dominion over all time and space.
"Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again. There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much."
"With respect, sir, there's more power on this ship than you yet understand."
And then there was this sound, like fingernails on a chalkboard or metal screeching against metal, raising the hair in your neck and role up your toenails. Amy flinched and covered her ears.
Dr. Song's voice had an edge of fear: "What's that? Dear God, what is it!"
The dead voice out of the Walike-talkie crackled. "It's hard to put in your terms, Dr. Song, but as best I understand it, the Angels are laughing."
Laughing? They were able to laugh?

"Laughing?" the Doctor asked, too.
"Because you haven't noticed yet, sir. The Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed."
"That was too close. They are outside the ship." mumbled Tella.
"Of course they are."
"On the hull, up here." She deadpanned.
"Doctor, we need…" pressed the Bishop with an urgent voice.
"No. Wait." The Doctor interrupted him, "There's something I've… missed…."
The ground started to shake. She stumbled and opened her eyes to catch herself on a console and looked up. A crack.

The Crack.
"That's.. that's.. that's like the crack from my bedroom wall from when I was a little girl!" she spluttered.
"Amelia, close your eyes immediately!" commanded Tella with an untypical strict, loud voice.
She didn't care, this was impossible.

"Yes." The Doctor whispered, while snatching a box to climb up. "Two parts of space and time that should never have touched."

The shaking intensified and the Bishop turned. "Okay, enough. We're moving out!"
Dr. Song nodded: "Agreed. Doctor?"
"Yeah, fine." What was he doing up there.

Tella ran to the box which served him as a podest. "Doctor, what are you doing? Get down there, this thing is dangerous!"
He grinned and pulled out his sonic. "Exactly!"
"Foolish Timetodd! Come on. They will breach in every second!"
He scanned the crack. "Go! I'm right behind! And Amy, close your eyes!"

"We're not leaving without you!" declared Dr. Song.
He didn't even looked away. "Oh yes, you are. Bishop?"
The clerics were already between the first trees. "Miss Pond, Dr. Song, Milady Storyteller, now! "
No. She won't leave him behind. Why was he allowed to be left behind, but no one other? "Doctor!"
Dr. Song griped her arm and pulled her out into the forest. "Come on!"

But …"Doctor!"
"Go." The Storyteller stepped to the controls "Don't worry, we'll follow you right away."
Was this a Time Lord thing, being allowed to be left behind?

Klonk.
Loud, dull sounds, and the screeching of bent metal sounded behind the door leading into the corridor out to the hatch. Then complete silence.
"They're in the Ship", whispered Dr. Song.

"Go!" roared Tella. "Do not worry. I have an Idea how to buy time and get him away from this rift. I promise you, River! Now go. And close your eyes, Amelia, for time's sake!"
Dr. Song gulped. "You promise?"
"Yes! Go!"
The Doctor turned. "Oh, no. No, no, no! You'll go with them!"
"You told me to use my brain helpfully so, try me," challenged Tella and started tipping on the panel.
And Dr. Song pulled Amy away.

-o0O0o-

"You can't leave him with that mad woman! The last time she performed a stunt which costed her a leg in a former regeneration!"
River stopped and turned to her mother. "Listen Amy. There are things I thought I knew about the Storyteller which turned out to be wrong. At least now. But there is one thing I knew is right and that's she never promises anything. If she does, she keeps it. It's the only reason I haven't shoot her straight into her head yet." She took a deep breath and continued in a calmer voice. "We need to find Octavian and the others."
"Seven." Amy reluctantly agreed.
River flinched. "You need to close your eyes. Take my hand, I'll guide you. You started counting again."
"I kind of get a headache, too." She mumbled and closed her eyes.
Slowly they made it through the forest, always homing on the clerics communicator.

"So… you know Lady Storyteller? From the future, I mean?"
River shouldn't talk about this. But maybe it helped Amy to trust the Time Lady again. Or herself. "No. Not personal. The Doctor and you talked about her, sometimes."
"So I'm there in the future?"
"Spoilers."
Amy chuckled dry. "Yeah. Got that. But you said she would change." Thank God, she still could laugh.
"And I'm happy she did. Or will. Hopefully. Time can be rewritten after all."
"So she.. gets nice?"

Lady Tella, the Celestrial Storyteller and nice? River laughed but before being able to answer, the Doctor screamed their names behind them. River turned and there they were.
She kept her promise. Of course she did. The two Time Lords stopped before them, heavily breathing, him with a wide grin, her with an empty expresion as always. "There you are. Bought some time, Tella had the idea to seal the wall again. Won't keep them away a long time, but it will help. Seriously, this woman makes me crazier than you!"
Tella nodded at River but ignored the Doctors outburst. "Where are the others?"

"Over here!" With perfect timing Octavian appeared on a hillside to the left.
Tella nodded and reached out to Amy's shoulder. "Very well. This is a hill, so we need to…"
"Don't touch me," Amy screamed and flinched back as soon as the glove-clad hand reached her.
"What did I said about Amy", snarled the Doctor simultaneously.

Tella recoiled immediately. Oh yes, if her Sweety was angry something simple as saving his life or helping him to save others didn't calm him down one bit.
Not until you have rightened your wrongdoings.
"May I at least go ahead." There was a trace of bitterness in the Storytellers surprisingly obedient voice.
"You may."
Tella nodded, gathered up her skirt and started climbing, the three of them following her in a slight distance.
Then Amy tripped over that damn root and crashed down the hill.

-o0O0o-

"Everything all right?" Tella seemed completely calm, but played annexious with her necklace.
"I'm five. I mean five. FINE."
River checked the scans one last time. "Ignoring the Angel, she is. You can close your eyes now."
"I don't want to."
"Amy, close your eyes. The vital check already cost you two numbers." The Doctor paced up and down the little clearing they currently stayed in, because of the rock where Amy could sit down.

River stood up. "She needs rest, she can't move on."
"We will not leave her behind!"
"May I suggest, using the teleporters?" Tella carefully inquired. "Pater Octavian, River and the Doctor will go ahead to the primary deck. Amy will stay here with the rest to protect her, and you will teleport us out of here."
"No! Don't leave me alone with her, Doctor."

"Amelia, this is getting ridiculous!" Tella exploded. She took a deep breath and pulled on that mask again, but it somehow had cracked a tiny bit.
"You do not need to be scared of me. I did anything to keep you from further harm. I apologize for not telling you, but one day you will understand why I had to act like I did. I do not expect you to trust me right now, I understand why you cannot. I understand why you are angry, and you have the right to be. I was not fair. But please accept me as I do you. Because it is hard, it is really hard to ignore everything you knew and learned all your lives, and that is exactly what I am doing right now. I do not apologize for what I did, because it is necessary. But I apologize for the way I treated you. I am sorry, Amy Pond, I am really sorry. I tried to help. I messed up. I trying to correct this. So please let me."

It was completely silent as everybody stared baffled at the Time Lady.
Her ears turned red, as she fell back in her favorite pose, standing straight, hands placed over each other before her stomach. "Well?"

"It's the fastest solution." Octavian agreed awkwardly and started to give orders.

"Wow. Okay That was unexpected?" The Doctor wasn't quite sure how to react."You…"
"Yes." insisted Tella.
He scratched his head. "Okay. Alright. But this doesn't mean I'm not still angry with you!"
"What did I just say, Doctor?"
"Yeah. Right. Ehm." The Doctor placed his hand on Amy's shoulder. "Everything is gonna be all right. She wants to fix her mistakes, I'm sure she won't hurt you."
"I know but… "Amy sighted helplessly.
"Amelia." Tella locked her gaze with mothers and somehow something in it made Amy nod "Very well. Now please close your eyes."
And Amy did as told.

"Okay," the Doctor clapped his hands. "What are we waiting for, clock is ticking." With this he pulled out his screwdriver and ran up the hill. On the top he turned. " Come one! Good luck, everyone. Behave. Do not let that girl open her eyes. And keep watching the forest. Stop those Angels advancing. Amy, later. River, going to need your computer so hurry up! And Tella! I try to trust you with this. Take care of her, understood!"
The Time Lord bowed. "Yes, Lord Regent Doctor."
"Tella, I'm serious!"
"So am I, I assure you."

"Good." He turned and disappeared, leaving the whirring of his sonic as only trace. Octavian followed swiftly and River wanted too, but Tella blocked her way and pulled her near. "I trust you to handle this Teleporter, Melody. It's damaged in enough timelines."

And then, there was a slight mental touch. River threw up her mental shields immeiatly, just like she was tought from her childhood, but the expected attack never came. It just had been a slight mental bumb.
A greeting from one Time Lord to another, no, an acnowledgement; the mental sniff they used to identlify each other even cross regenations.

She had figured it out.
And unlike the Doctor, she fully acepted her as one of her own.

River stopped surprised. Tella must have glimpsed her timeline at some point. She nodded, of course she would take care of that teleporter. Their lives depended on it. Her Birthname was all it took to make this even worse, but on the same time it showed her that Tella was sincere in her willingness to help now. A promise to really taking care of Amy, because Tella knew who Amy was. But there was still that question. "Why do you suddenly treat humans as equals?"
"The Doctor told me so."
A shiver ran down Rivers neck. "When did you meet him."

"A few days ago. Is this of importance?"
"So It's still active?"
Tella froze. "How do you…"
"Spoilers." She smiled a reasoning smile. A gleam of hope appeared in Tella's eyes. "Oh."
River nodded and changed the topic. "I need to go or I'll never catch…" The words got stuck in her throat as she glimpsed over Tella's shoulder back to Amy. And everything made so much sense now.
"So it has begun," whispered the Storyteller relieved.

-o0O0o-

"Yeah. Later. " mumbled Amy. She wasn't particularly happy to sit around blind in a forest full of weeping angels, even if they luckily haven't met one yet.
Soldiers were fine but she felt more save with the Doctor. Why couldn't the Storyteller go instead him, surely she also was able to do whatever he had to do.
Amy did not trust her.
And still, the Storyteller had surprised her, yet again. And proofed, what Amy has suspected ever since London. The Storyteller was cold and calculating. But there still was some concience, some... humanity, for the lack of a better word. She wasn't human.

And the Storyteller was sorry, truly sorry not those half hearted apologies she always mumbled. It was strange seeing someone always looking down on people suddenly being on the same level. Even as she hadn't knew how low the Storyteller saw others until this adventure.
But Dr. Song said Tella will change, that both Amy and the Doctor were going to trust her. And maybe it was true.
Amy had seen the real person behind the emotionless mask, just for an instance. These age-old eyes, but not empty and cold as she saw and expected them before, but full of feelings, of loss but also great happiness, anger, sadness, a little speck of love , hope and surprisingly a great deal of old, deep fear. And it was this fear which let her give the Storyteller a second change. Amy would never forget, but maybe she could forgive her in a while. She was going to treat her as a equal after all. Whatever this meant.

And then some warm hands clasped hers. The Doctor. "Amy, you need to start trusting me. It's never been more important. "
"It's just .. her. I'm not sure what to do. And you, you don't always tell me the truth, either. Just when you need to."
"If I always told you the truth, I wouldn't need you to trust me."
"But what if something like this happens again! But with…"
"Shh, sh shhh." He placed a finger on her mouth.
"Neither me, nor her will ever let something like that happen to you again. We're even now. She was angry at me and I'm angry at her. But that's ok. Tella is a good person. She just needs some time to fit in. You will like her."
"Can I forgive her?"
"She forgave me. She didn't forget. It's the same with you two, than it's ok."
Amy nodded slowly.
"Fine. Now, listen. Remember what I told you when you were seven?"
"What did you tell me? "
He kissed her on her hair and pressed her forehead on his. "No. No, that's not the point. You have to remember." He sounded.. desperate?
"Remember what?" But he was gone. "Doctor? Doctor!"
"Just ask," he whispered somewhere in the distance. "Ask what! Doctor! Doctor?"

"He's gone to the primary flight deck." The Storytellers voice sounded a few feet next to her. Amy flinched. "Didn't hear you coming."
"You were too deep in conversation. May I sit down?"
Surprised she nodded. "Y-yes. Sure."

Next to her some clothes rustled. "How are you feeling."
"Like sitting blind in a forest full of killers."

She chuckled, actually chuckled and stayed silent for a few moments. Then: "You have a question."
"I'm sorry?"
"Your thoughts. I hear them buzzing around in your head. You want to know something. And it has nothing to do with getting rid of the Angel in your eye."
The Doctor did this once, too. Apparently one of these Time Lord- things. Wait. Did he mean this with his last sentence? Just Ask. "You said, you ignore everything you learned all your life?"
"The Academy teaches Time Lords are a superior race, and there are just a few reaching our level. And all my few experiences on that topic proved this true, but superior is apparently a matter of definition."
"I have no Idea what you're talking about."
"I've been taught to see lower races as barbarians. To respect them but not take them serious. Humans are a lower race. But the Doctor says they're not. Or at least I not shall treat them like ones. Because they're more advanced in other things, which we not deem necessary."
"Oh", said Amy, not sure what to think. One of the four soldiers snorted but stay silent.
"But now you want to treat me like a TimeLady?"
" Yes. Well not like a Time Lord, you are none but… hach why are terrestrial languages so unspecified? "
"Like your own people?"
"No. It's difficult to…"

"Ma'am. The Trees," a solider interrupted.
Tella stood up. "The Angels. They're here. Scan the surroundings!"
After a second another answered. "The Angels are still grouping. But they are near, mere 30 feet, coming closer. Phillip, Are you getting this too?
"The trees? Yeah".
Amy gulped. "What's wrong with the trees?"

Tella's voice was calm as ever. "The Trees are going out. They are taking out the lights.
"Here too, ma'am. They're ripping the Treeborgs apart."
"Keep your positions", commanded Tella. "They are coming."

There were some sounds of wood breaking, then one solider screamed.
"Angels advancing, sir."
"Over here again."
"Weapons primed. Combat distance five feet. Wait for it" .
Amy gripped her hands. "What's happening, are they here? Tella!"
"Not yet. Keep your eyes closed, Amelia. I will keep you inf…. Black Guardian! Not that thing again."

"What thing, what's happening!"
"The ship's not on fire. is it?" asked a Solider.
"No", Tella declined. "That is no fire."

"Marco, the Angels have gone. Where'd they go?"A solider noticed.
"This side's clear too, sir. "
"The Angels have gone, " asked Amy surprised.
"Apparently yes," the Storyteller confirmed.
"There's still movement out there, but away from us now. It's like they're running, " declared the guy with the scanner.
"Running from what," demanded Amy to know. This was important. A weakness.
"From the crack," mumbled the Storyteller. "They are time-sensitive, they know what it is."
"Then, what is it! Tell me!"

"The Doctor and I have the theory of a crack in the shells of the universe," the Storyteller reluctantly explained. "This golden glow, you surely remember it –don't look- is possibly pure Time energy, bleeding out of the ripped vortex. It lured the angles, for them it seemed like a feast, but now they realized how dangerous it is and they flee. The same thing we should do. No one goes near that crack, understood? This will rip your timelines apart and delete you like you never existed. I need a communicator. Now."

There was some rustling before she spoke again.
"Doctor. Doctor, this is the Storyteller. Answer please!"
A few seconds nothing, then finally his voice. "Tella? Everything all right?"
"We need a teleport here, now."
"We need a few seconds here, do you think they can keep the Angels at bay?"
"It is not the Angels, but that crack. A really big one this time. I am pretty sure now, your theory with that time-energy is correct. The Angels are running. We do not have much Time left, I can already feel the ripples."
"Working on it. Keep everybody away from it."
"I will try, but it is approaching very fast!"
"We do our very best."
"Doctor!"
Somewhere in the background Amy could hear Dr. Song. "Got it!"

Then the Rock disappeared under her and she fell , and got caught in time by glove clad hands. The Storytellers voice was directly next to her ear, but strangely enough the panic didn't came again. More an strange feeling of comfort.
"Easy, I have caught you. We got teleported. Keep your eyes closed. We are on the Primary deck."
"Told you I could get it working." Amy could hear the satisfied grin in Dr. Song's Voice.
"River Song, I could bloody kiss you." The Doctor declared joyfully.
"Ah well, maybe when you're older."
Then an alarm blared through the deck.

"What's that?"
The Doctor stepped around the consoles before the wall. "The Angels are draining the last of the ship's power, which means the shield's going to release. Here they come."
And this exact moment Amy heard the walls slide up and the Storyteller pressed her protectively at her chest. "Do not worry, we figure something out," she whispered.
And they did.
With pure luck and perfect timing, they were able to send those Angels into the rift and close it, while they held dear to their life for not becoming a victim of the failing gravity themselves like one of the clerics who couldn't get a hold fast enough. They told her to look straight into the rift, so the Angel in her eye would disappear, too and she did. It was an awesome but really frightening sight, hanging above such an abyss with the maw of time on the ground. Then it was gone. And Amy and the three surviving clerics weren't the only ones laughing in relief.

-o0O0o-

"Bruised everywhere!" whined Amy as the Storyteller wrapped a warm, soft blanked around her.
"Me too!"
She snorted. "You didn't have to climb out with your eyes shut. Doctor."
"Neither did you. We all kept saying. The Angels all fell into the Time Field. The Angel in your memory never existed. It can't harm you now." He tipped her nose.
"Then why do I remember it at all? If it never existed, why do I knew about it?"
"You're a time traveler now. Amy. It changes the way you see the universe, forever. Good, isn't it?"
"I'm not sure."
"You will get used to it," smiled Tella."Still, this went better than expected. We are still alive and I was able to at least save three persons who otherwise without my intervention had died. And secured that fixpoint."
Amy nodded and gulped. "Did you do it as revenge?"

The Time Lady blinked. "I'm sorry?"
"The Doctor said, you're even now, for what he did in London."
"Of course not! This regeneration of me is notvengeful, I assure you. There was this fixpoint, nothing more. And I promise, I will warn you all if something like this happens again."
"So it will happen again?"

"No. Never. Not like today. The Doctor told me so."
"And you'll do like he told you?
"I must."

"You must," repeated the Doctor.
"It's something for another Time. We need to…"
He gripped her Arm. "Storyteller. Tell me, why you need do what I told you. Because of this Lord Regent thing? You know I never really wanted to be the President."

"It is not that. I… I am a seer."
"That's obvious," commented Amy. "What? She could tell the future. Well, see."

The Doctor shook his head. "It's not like that. Every Time Lord is able to see someone's Timeline, all the Timelines, yes, me too if I want to. A seer is able to recognize not only important decisions leading the string in one or another direction, but every decision ever made and all the different outcomes. Do you know how many decisions you make every day , every second, completely unconsciously? If you move your hand, you decide to do it in a special speed and stop it in a special angle. But you also could decide to do that in a different angle, a different speed. This simple movement alone leaves thousands of possibilities, not necessarily changing the Timeline, but there. And a seer is able to see them. But they were all sacrificed to the matrix in the war, so it could calculate the outcome more precisely!"

"They were not able to. I am not suitable."
"You are not suitable. To the Matrix. Every Time Lord is suitable to be uploded into the matrix!"

She took a breath. "I caused... lets say a little trouble. They could not get rid of me, so they forced me to regenerate and used the chameleon arch to hide me in the colony. And because they feared me so much, they placed a chip inside my head so I have to listen to the Time Lord appointed as my warden and all the people he or she tells me to. So a Kapoaka was the perfect disguise. Kelliox was my last one and he appointed you as my new, Doctor."

"What?" screamed the Doctor stunned.
"Stop. You've got a mind-controlling chip inside your head? Like some of this psycho-sifi stuff turning you into a willingness Zombie?" Amy stared at her. This was unbelievable. So this wasn't Tella at all, just some robot? What?

She chuckled. "No. We arere talking about the Time Lords, dearie. I am still myself, with my own decisions and mind. It is.. I am sorry I never was this good at mechanics, as I understand, it stimulates the mesolimbic system whenever it registers the presence of the Time Lord and a command from him or her. I basically get a good feeling from everything he says, and want to do it myself."
"Time Lords detached themselves from feelings."
"That is the reason I am not following you around like a xaxonan puppy."
The Doctor was speechless.
"That's terrible," whispered Amy.
"It is not like I am able to differ between the fake and real feeling. I am just happy enough the Doctor does not use it for his own advantage as others did before." She grinned a little."It is terrible."

The Doctor pulled out his sonic, "Not if I can change that."
"I appreciate that, but Dr. Song is leaving in a few seconds. And I can see you burning up to talk with her."
"Tella…"
"I will not run away. Besides, you wanted to abandon me on some timeforsaken planet, so why should it not be this one?"
"Not yet."
"I beg your pardon?"
He hestiated then sighted. "You have one more chance. What you did to help Amy and said back then... One second chance. Only one. And I don't give them, normaly. So use it."
And with that he turened around and jogged up to Dr. Song.

Amy hestiated. "So, you'll stay with us a little longer."
"That has yet to be seen. Perhabs." But there was something that could be content in the Storytellers eyes.
They both stared silently ahead, untill Amy couln't take the silence anymore and asked the question nagging her for the last few minutes.
"Did you...cried so much about Kelliox, because he was your… Master?
"He was my husband."
Amy froze. "Your… Oh god! Tella, I'm so sorry."
"I did not remember it back then, so it was not that hard."
She gasped for air. "You are impossible!"
"I am standing right next to you… oh that was a figure of speech."

The Storyteller allowed herself a shight. "I am sorry. I just have to learn to fit in, it is hard to find peace again so suddenly."
"Let the Doctor help you. I'm sure he can fix you, he fixes the hole universe. That crack is gone, too."
The Time Lords mouth twitched sadly. "For the moment. But the explosion that caused it is still happening. Somewhere out there, somewhere in time."
"You said you always are in a good mood! So please stop glooming around."

-o0O0o-

It took three scans with the screwdriver and two with the TARDIS to locate the little device in Tella's head, and one more for the Doctor to admit, he wasn't able to get rid of it. But at least he could deactivate it, even if it send Tella unconscious. She was currently resting in her room, while the Doctor worked on the consoles and Amy sat there studying him, coming to a decision. "I want to go home."
He froze, then nodded. "Okay."

Oh. He completely understood it wrong. On the other hand, it could be expected after what she had gone though. "No, not like that. I just, I just want to show you something. You're running from River. I'm running too."


AN: Hi,
I have the feeling, these things get longer every time.
Wow, here it is, the finale of my rewritten Byzantium-arc. I had to reduce it to Amy's point of view, as the group split, otherwise it would have become waaay too long. And there just happened the same things as on screen, anyway, so it would become very boring. So yes, Octavian is dead. The only thing I kind of regret not being able to show is the silent interaction beetween Tella and the future Doctor from the pandorica. That's why River knows what's going on and what that last sentence he says realy means. Tella should simply ask, not Amy. But then again, that chapter already has exactly 6 000 Words.
And we get a glimpse of Tella's back-story. There is more to that, but the Doctor only gets the full thing in his Twelfth Regeneration, so please be patient, it will probably one of the last stories I'll post here. The countdown to the grand finale so to speak ;-)

I thought long and hard about her meeting him in his tenth regeneration, but in the beginning she gives the Doctor the full guilt trip of burning Gallifrey and the tenth is already hating himself so much for it, it would completely destroy him. I love the tenth Doctor and especially his constellation with Donna as best buddies, but it would be too much for him. Eleven choose to left all that stuff behind and so he is more resistant against her naggering.
It is also important that Tella and the Doctor differ completely. The Doctor uses his Brain, he is very intelligent and has the experience of many lifetimes of traveling the whole universe.
Tella is very intelligent, too and also born before him (what not necessarily makes her older, he is a time-traveler after all), but she never left Gallifrey until the time war and so all her knowledge comes from Books, legends and the (sometimes cliché-based) teachings of the Academy. She lacks actual practice. If you look like that, the Doctor is the stronger person. But Tella isn't a completely normal Time Lady, as we learned and as I said before, we'll get to that. And the thing making her so cold and dangerous is not only the teaching of the academy but the time war itself. Remember how bitter nine was in the beginning? That's Tella for you right now.

Thanks to for following this little collection, and of course zoey :-)

As always read and review.

Greetings
alkatie