I know its been a while. three weeks maybe? LIfes been pretty busy, y'all know how it goes. Hopefully some of you still wanna see how this goes, how it all plays out. I watched "Amy's choice" for the second time today and i just got newley inspired (yay). I think this is a pretty good chap and heres hoping you agree! please tell me what you think: read review and enjoy!
Disclaimer:
Angel Bob: Doctor? Excuse me, hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir.
The Doctor: Ah, there you are, Angel Bob. How's life? Sorry, bad subject.
Angel Bob: The Angels are wondering what you hope to own.
The Doctor: Own? We're not owning anything. We're just hanging, it's nice in here: consoles; comfy chairs; a forest... how's things with you?
Chapter Nine: The Understanding of Prayer
"Stop the wedding!" Brother Marcus yelled for the second time.
Amy took a sharp intake of breath when she saw Brother Marcus standing across the room with determination on his face. She wondered if he knew what was going on, knew more than he let on. After all how could he have found that letter the Doctor wrote?
"What is the meaning of this?" Rory asked angrily turning to face Brother Marcus. He left Amy and started walking down the aisle. As if they were so called, Mr. and Mrs. Williams, along with Father Robert walked behind Rory towards Brother Marcus.
Amy expected that Brother Marcus would retreat, or run, or something.
He remained standing as the angered faces approached him.
Marcus took a very deep breath and waited until Rory was standing before him, with a menacing look.
"I—" began Marcus.
Father Robert suddenly shook his head.
The voice inside Father Robert said, Make this conversation take place in another room. Be polite about it, let no one here suspect a thing.
Father Robert smiled at Marcus. "Let us have this conversation in a private room." He turned to face the people sitting and Amy, still standing at the altar. "Please stay where you are, we shall be back shortly."
Amy started to walk down. "Are you sure that—"
Rory held up his hand. "No darling, we will only be a moment. Stay where you are please."
And then, like one giant force, Rory, Mr. Williams, Mrs. Williams, Father Robert, and Brother Marcus all left the sanctuary together.
When they were in a private room, and Mr. Williams shut the door, Brother Marcus started to laugh.
He laughed for fear, for the fear of being in a quiet room with unknown enemies and no way out. But the laughter gave him some hope. Because he could still smile, and he could still think for himself, and he could still be free.
No one could take that away from him, not even some alien.
"What is so funny?" Mrs. Williams asked.
"Everything," said Marcus simply.
"Marcus," said Robert kindly, "calm yourself."
Marcus smiled and shook his head. "They got to you too, didn't they? Well, you were always a bit weak Robert."
The Formian in Rory was displeased. And when the Formian was displeased bad things happened.
"What are you, priest?" Rory asked Marcus.
Marcus crossed his arms. "I should ask you the same question, boy." He looked into Rory's eyes suddenly, and gave young man a little grin. "Is there still some human left in you?"
The human inside of Rory suddenly felt very guilty at that moment. The human inside of Rory wished that he could confess everything to the priest that he did not understand. He wished he could tell the priest how sometimes his head seemed to stab him with pain. He wished he could tell the priest about the voice in his head that he knew was more than a voice. He wished he could tell the priest how sometimes he dazed off and seemed to watch his life in a trance.
Rory wished he could speak, but he was silent.
Soon, the Formian knew, all the humans would be silent.
"No," answered the Formian in Rory, "the boy is under my command. And what about you?"
"It is my business what I am," replied Marcus. He looked at Mr. Williams and Mrs. Williams. "The boy's parents as well?"
Rory shrugged. "Did you expect less? If they had been kept as they were, they would have started asking questions, wondering what the human boy was up to."
"Why not me?"
Rory sniffed. "My kind senses out the weaklings in a group before we are close to them. I could see the barriers in your mind all the way from the other side of the room. Besides, too much effort."
"Why waste your time on the girl?" Marcus asked.
"She has something that we want," Rory said, "and if you had any sense about you, creature, you would leave this planet as soon as possible. Find your own, or one far away from this one."
"Why is that?"
"We are going to be taking control of this galaxy for the rest of time."
"Oh," said Marcus calmly, "I see."
Now Marcus was trying to act very calmly, but inside he was terrified. He was completely human, despite what the Formian believed. Marcus knew what he knew, because he had been reading letters, like the Doctor's, for many years. He had a way of finding the secrets inside seemingly normal messages and occurrences.
He had a way of seeing the truth underneath the lies.
And, whether he knew it or not, he worried the Formian.
Well, the Formian wasn't worried so much as vexed that the wedding was delayed, again.
"So if you wouldn't mind," said Rory with the Formian's voice.
Marcus shook his head. "I can't let you do that. I won't let you do that. I don't know why that girl is necessary to your plans, but I know that your plans must never happen."
The Formian sighed and tried again to break into Marcus' mind. He found, for the second time, that it was locked. The Formian was either dealing with a very intelligent human, or a superior life form. He guessed that he was dealing with the second.
When the Formian was thinking, he switched off Rory so that the boy was, for a moment, with his own thoughts. The Formian had serious thinking to do, and he did not want the human's thoughts to disrupt him. He doubted that Marcus, whatever he was, would do anything drastic to the human boy. As he was trying to figure out what to do with Marcus, Marcus was trying to deal with the situation the only way he knew how.
"Sit for a minute," said Marcus to Rory.
Rory sat down on a chair and Marcus sat on one across from him.
Rory felt that he was suddenly waking from a dream.
"How are you?" Marcus asked.
Rory shrugged.
Marcus looked up at Rory's parents, who were standing by the door, with their backs to Marcus and Rory.
"How are you parents doing?"
Rory shrugged again. "They're fine." He paused. "Can I ask you something?"
"Anything."
"Why don't you want me to marry Amy?"
Marcus paused, realizing that he had a window of opportunity. He had, perhaps a moment, where Rory would be lucid and understand what was going on. He knew that, in that moment, he could tell Rory the truth. He could tell Rory about the creature inside of him and how it was infesting him. He could tell Rory what would happen if he married Amy, and how the world would never be the same again.
He could tell the boy everything.
But Marcus looked into Rory's eyes. And he saw that Rory was still a boy.
"I thought that you should…um," Marcus began, "have one last confession."
Rory blinked. "Confession?"
"Yeah," said Marcus, "why not?"
"Okay."
"Do you have anything to confess?" Marcus asked.
"Well," Rory began, "I suppose."
"Tell me then, anything you wish to say."
"I feel like I did something horrible," said Rory looking into Marcus' eyes. "I'm not sure what it was, or why I did it. But I know that it was something recent, and something very bad. Every time I try to remember…well…it's like my mind closes off that memory and I think of nothing. It is sort of the same feeling you get the morning of a hangover. You know?"
"I once did," said Marcus with a smile. "But I confess, I have not gotten drunk for some years."
"Oh," said Rory, turning red, "right, sorry."
Marcus shook his head. "Don't worry about it Rory, go on if you like. When did you realize that you did something wrong?"
Rory showed Marcus his fingernails. "Do you see that?"
Marcus stared at red stained fingernails. He looked at Rory. "The red?"
Rory nodded. "And my friend, John, is missing."
"Maybe he just left," suggested Marcus.
Rory sighed and looked down at his fingernails. He remembered that angry voice in his head, and his friend John's smiling face. And then, then, when he tried to remember what he did…
Rory groaned and covered his face with his blood-stained hands.
"Just try to remember," said Marcus gently.
And so Rory tried to remember. He tried to remember how the voice in his head had told him that John was bad…or maybe evil. John would have ruined the wedding; he would have ruined Rory's chance for happiness with Amy. And didn't he want to be happy? And didn't he need Amy?
Amy.
It had something to do with Amy. With needing to marry Amy, with needing Amy in general. And, as Rory tried to open his mind to the human memories that the Formian had tried to remove, he saw her in his mind's eye.
And then he saw John. He saw John's bright face turn in terror, as Mr. Williams approached him. But Rory saw himself approach John too. He saw teeth that were not his own suddenly dive at John and…and…
Rory felt hot tears in his eyes at that moment.
And the water awoke the Formian from his thoughts. The water in Rory's eyes pained him, but awoke him too. And he saw what was going on, he saw what had been going on. So he did what any Formian would do: he blocked Rory's thoughts and looked into Marcus' eyes.
"Fool," he spat.
Marcus saw the teeth first. He saw the giant teeth, that were almost like fangs, suddenly spring from Rory's mouth. And then he saw Mr. Williams fly to Rory's side, with eyes full of anger and malice.
It was then that Marcus fell to his knees and began to pray.
Amy's first instinct was to bolt at that moment.
But, as she looked into the crowd, she could not be sure how many were also under the control of a alien being. If she ran, how many would automatically jump from their seats to chase her? It seemed that even the priest had not had his own thoughts, who was safe then?
She was not safe, she knew that.
Amy was quite scared.
So, instead of filling her mind with fears and possibly dreadful endings, she thought of the Doctor.
She wondered what he was doing, right now, at this moment.
She wanted to believe that he had heard her message, and that he was on his way right now. And any minute, any second, any millisecond, the telephone box would appear at the aisle and the Doctor would come out. And he would be smiling his reassuring smile that she loved more than anything.
And he would destroy whatever evil alien was inside Rory and Mr. Williams.
And then…
What?
He'd take me in his arms and tell me that he loved me. That he needed me, that without me he'd have no reason to go on living.
But Amy Pond knew that she was not living in a world where such things happened. True, she was living in a world where aliens could take over the body of her fiancé, and magical men in phone boxes could show her the universe. There was a difference, and Amy knew it. There was a difference between the reality of fighting a Dalek, and the reality of falling in love with a mere human.
He would leave, Amy realized, he would right everything, and then he would leave.
Amy knew that it was best for the Doctor to have left her. It was the right thing to do. It was the expected thing to do. It was what the Doctor should have done.
He didn't want her. He clearly did not have the time for a human.
A man who seemed to have all the time in the world, for whom time, might as well have stood still, had no patience for a time bound girl.
As these thoughts and feelings muddled her already muddled mind, she saw Mrs. Williams walk back into the sanctuary.
Amy began walking towards her, until she saw Mrs. Williams hold up her hand to stop her.
Mrs. Williams continued walking to Amy in silence. When she stood in front of Amy, she gave her future daughter-in-law a big smile.
"Is everything alright?" Amy whispered.
Mrs. Williams nodded. Amy noted how automatic the nod was…
"What happened?" Amy asked in a hushed voice. "Do I need to go in there?"
Mrs. Williams looked up at Amy. She sighed. "Everything is fine dear, no need to worry."
Amy narrowed her eyes. There was always a reason to worry, and nothing was ever as fine as people said. The sort of people who said things were fine, were often the ones causing the worry. At least, that was the case for Amy.
All her life it seemed, she had accepted what others said.
She had accepted the crack in her wall, she had accepted the Doctor's arrival, then the Doctor's disappearance. She had accepted that psychiatrists said the Doctor was her imaginary friend. She had accepted the Doctor's reappearance, the universe he showed her, and his departure. And she had accepted Rory's ring.
Amy was through with accepting things.
"Tell me the truth," said Amy harshly.
The voice inside Mrs. Williams' head spoke to her, You are not dealing with the girl properly. Despite what you claim, she is growing suspicious. I hope that you can handle this.
"I am telling you the truth," replied Mrs. Williams with a hint of nervous laughter.
Amy sighed and shook her head. She looked at the guests in the crowd. "I hope you will all excuse me. I have something I need to see in the other room. Feel free to get out of your seats, stretch or something." Amy ran past Mrs. Williams gaping mouth, and out the double doors of the sanctuary.
Outside she could hear the hissing she had heard earlier before John had left.
She followed the hissing and whispered sounds until she reached a closed door.
Amy was surprised to find it unlocked.
She carefully opened it and peeked inside. She saw Rory, Mr. Williams, and Father Robert all standing over Brother Marcus, who was on his knees with his eyes closed.
No one turned to face her when she entered except for Brother Marcus. He gave her a pleading look and closed his eyes again.
"Rory?" Amy asked.
"Amelia," replied Rory without turning around. Though Rory had spoken the words, the voice was nothing like Rory's. It was a voice she had only heard a few times before come out of Rory, the last time was when he had been talking to his parents about John. "I was wondering when you would be arriving," Rory continued without looking her way, "it surprises me that it took you the time it did to see what we were up to."
Amy tried to put on the bravest face she could. She had to help Brother Marcus, and delay whatever horrible ending they had in mind for him. "You need to tell me the truth."
Rory smirked. "The truth?"
"As in the opposite of a lie," said Amy sarcastically.
Rory shook his head. "Humans, always wanting to know everything. All the things that they were never entitled to know. And you want the truth you say?"
"I just told you that didn't, I?" Amy asked bravely, though she was beginning to wonder why she had wandered into this room, instead of finding the nearest exit.
Rory turned around and showed the fangs that had made Brother Marcus gasp a little while ago.
Amy gulped.
"Poor little human girl," said Rory. He then burst into a fit of laughter as he approached the redheaded girl in the white wedding dress.
The timeless time traveler sat alone on the bed in his bedroom. The day had fallen into night's clutches and stars had begun to show their glowing faces. All the day it seemed, the Doctor had told the children and Amy stories of the past and present. Though little Andrew had begged for tales of the future, the Doctor would not speak of it.
He told them it was because he would not say what he saw, for then some things would come true and some things would not. But he did not speak of the future for other reasons, reasons he did not want to tell the humans about.
He was watching the future now: Amy's future.
And he would not let it happen, he would not let it keep on happening. Not if he could help it.
Perhaps this entire world was a figment of his worst imaginings. But he could get lost in a world like this, and never surface.
The Doctor knew a Greek man, of long ago, who had gotten lost at sea.
This man, an old warrior, had displeased his gods and had a cursed sea voyage. During this voyage he battled mythical creatures and monsters of all shapes and sizes. His skill, as well as his mind was tested over the course of the long years at sea.
Odysseus.
The Doctor remembered too, that the hero Odysseus also had to face down a witch named Calypso. She was a beautiful woman who lured Odysseus to stay on her island for years and years. Even though he had a wife waiting for him at home, Odysseus, under the spell of Calypso, remained a captive. Only with the help of the gods, was Odysseus finally released and allowed to start his journey back home.
The Doctor laughed.
I wonder what made me think of that.
This world, this reality, was Calypso's reality, taking him in and holding him captive forever and ever.
The Time Lord stood up and walked towards the window. Across the street he spied his abandoned TARDIS.
Eventually, even Odysseus found a way off the island.
And the Doctor would too. He would…he would…and he could…
For her.
Amy.
She must have been trapped in this world, there was no other way…no other option than that.
The Doctor climbed out of the window and grasped the tree outside of the window. Very slowly, very carefully, he began to climb down the tree using the branches as hand and foot holds. He reached the bottom, brushed himself off, and ran quietly across the darkened street to his TARDIS.
Despite his situation, despite being trapped as he was, he could not help beaming at his ship. He hated to be apart from it for long. Every time he returned to it from one of his adventures, he felt so safe on it, so secure. He might have been the last of his kind, but she, his TARDIS, was always there.
Always there waiting for him.
How many living beings could say the same? They always grew up and got wrinkles on their faces. They wanted to stop living in their imaginations with the time traveling Doctor, and live real lives.
And one day, thought the Doctor bitterly as he jumped into the TARDIS to start repairs, Amy will…
The Doctor shook his head. He would not let himself think that. No. Not ever.
It was at that moment, as he was arguing with himself, that he noticed the blinking red button. He raised a brow and pushed it, wondering who would have left him a message.
His mouth dropped when he heard a very familiar voice.
"Hello Doctor, it's me, Amy. Listen, there's something I need to tell you, something I've been too afraid to tell you. When you left last night I…I realized how very empty my existence was without you. And I know that you've seen all that you've seen, and you've done all that you've done, but that doesn't matter to me!"
The ancient Time Lord was surprised to feel a tear roll down his cheek.
"None of that matters to me, I don't mind getting blown into a million pieces, or smashed against some distance moon…as long as you're there, as long as you're the last thing I see before I go. Maybe I'm crazy, maybe I've hit my head against something and I don't know what I'm saying anymore. What I'm trying to say is that…that…I've sort of…sort of—"
The message ended.
"NO!" yelled the Doctor a bit too loudly.
But before he had any time to consider what he had just heard, another voice rang through his ears.
Hello Doctor, the voice began.
"No," the Doctor whispered shaking his head. "Please, no."
Hope you are having a lovely time in your reality. Is the weather nice? Oh, by the way, the time is approaching an end as it was always predicted to do. You know it, but didn't want to admit it to her. You didn't want her to be used for the purpose…or perhaps you do not know. She will soon be under our control and there is nothing you, or your little ship, or your little screwdriver can do about it. Ta-ta.
The message ended.
The Doctor held onto the controls of his crying TARDIS and lowered his head in a mixture of shame and defeat. "What have I done?"
He hit the TARDIS angrily.
Someone had pulled him into this world, someone who did not want him to fix things. And this someone, or something, knew about the silence. It knew about the silence and wanted it to happen, was trying to get Amy to cause it to happen.
And she'll get hurt, because of you. Because of your selfishness.
The Doctor started fixing the TARDIS with all full speed and diligence.
Time was running out. For the first time, for the Doctor, time seemed to be racing against him and winning. Soon the silence would fall, if he did not fix the TARDIS and bring Amy back…
He stopped his tweaking and turning of gears and sighed.
What if I am not supposed to bring her back with me?
The Doctor took a deep breath and slowly put everything out of his mind. He took out the broken TARDIS that needing fixing. He erased the image of Rory's dark looks, and Amy's dark scars. He tore out the smiles and hopeful eyes of Andrew and Lizzie.
He closed his eyes and saw her in his mind. She was so beautiful and graceful, like a perfect angel. She was wearing a white dress that shimmered and shone as she walked. For, in the Doctor's mind, she was walking. Amy was walking into a dark room, only lit by a few scare lights.
She stood before a group of people, one of whom the Doctor recognized as Rory, though Rory did not look like himself. His teeth were far too large for his head and…there was something else.
Something in Rory's eyes…
And now, the Doctor saw, Rory and the two other men, one a priest, stood around a kneeling man, also of the clergy, who looked in prayer.
Rory began to approach Amy, smiling those fangs of his…
The Doctor saw Amy's face turn into one of complete and utter horror.
You didn't want her to be used for the purpose…or perhaps you do not know. She will soon be under our control and there is nothing you, or your little ship, or your little screwdriver can do about it.
"Doctor?" asked a small voice.
The Doctor turned around and saw little Lizzie standing in her pajamas, standing across from him in the TARDIS.
He tried to smile.
He tried to smile but his heart was pounding. He tried to smile but his head was pounding. He tried to smile but the world was colliding. He tried to smile though the world was ending. He tried to smile though the pieces were muddled. He tried to smile while his heart was breaking.
"What are you doing here?" Lizzie asked.
The Doctor said nothing. He found that he couldn't really speak, he couldn't really move. If he took a breath, surely tears would follow. And he could not move, because he was weak, so weak, in the knee.
"Doctor?" Lizzie repeated, this time with more urgency and less concern.
The Doctor tried to take a step towards her, and fell to his knees. His position mimicked that of the clergyman he had seen in his mind. The Time Lord wondered about that man's fate…with those sort of beings…
His eyes locked onto Lizzie's. "What are you doing?"
"Nothing," replied Lizzie sweetly. She smiled at the Doctor.
"Are you trying to kill me?" he gasped. "You put me in this world, this reality, and then you show me another one?"
Lizzie cocked her head to the side. As she did so, her red hair fell over most over her face so that the Doctor could only see her eyes. They were bright green, and remained fixed on the Doctor.
"Poor old man," giggled Lizzie. "Spins around and around in a phone box. For his whole life, in one little phone box. He thinks he fixes things, broken things, and then he wipes his hands and goes back into the box."
Lizzie skipped towards the pained hero who did not move.
"The Doctor heals everyone and everything," continued the child. "Not himself. Never himself. For nine hundred and seven years he thinks of the rest of the galaxy before himself." Lizzie stopped for a minute, bent down on her knees in front of the Doctor so that they looked at each other eye to eye.
"And then one day, a little girl with shining red hair, and green eyes, crashed into his life. It is not the first time that he takes companions aboard his little box, but he hopes, though he does not breathe a word of it to anyone, that this companion shall be the last. He hopes that she will not leave his flying box of imagination and daydreams."
Lizzie started laughing then. It rang like a pendulum, in the Doctor's ears.
"You are trying to kill me," said the Doctor in pain.
Lizzie shook her head. She took the Doctor's hand. "Leave the broken box for a minute Time Lord, someone wants to talk to you."
The Doctor suddenly felt that he could breathe again when he touched the little girl's hand. He followed her out of the TARDIS and into the abandoned street. He gasped when he saw who stood before him.
"Amy?" the Doctor gasped.
Amy stood before him. She looked even worse and sicker than before. She had more bruises, and she looked even more pale and thinner than she had hours before. Her hair was a knotted mess of tangles.
Lizzie let go of the Doctor's hand and ran to stand beside her mother.
"Doctor," Amy whispered quietly. She sounded like a child, like a frightened child.
The Doctor took an intake of breath.
Everything was turning, and twisting, and confusing. He had seen a reality, and yet he lived in another. He had heard two messages, clearly taking place in another reality. It was in that reality that an Amy stood in a white dress, standing down the Doctor's dreaded enemy.
But in this reality Amy stood in a white bathrobe staring at him with all the love and longing he had ever wanted her to have. It was all that he ever wanted but so far beyond his reach.
So the Doctor fell to his knees in front of Amy and her daughter. He closed his eyes and he tried to take out the world from his thoughts. He tried again, to see a path that was not easily set out.
He closed his mind to everything until he saw a clear image.
Blood stained a white wedding dress.
Doctor! Doctor!
UH OH! what's gonna happen? Please review and tell me what you think!
