Hey guys… So sorry I haven't updated this sooner. I seriously haven't had the time and when I have, I haven't had the motivation. Still, in my defense, I did warn everyone last time. That said here's the next chapter! No idea when the next update will be, but if I'm being honest, probably not soon. Still, I am going to try. Promise I will try.

Anyways, here's your chapter! Enjoy, and please leave a review!

"The hyperdrive would have split on impact. That whole ship's going to be flooded with drive burn radiation, cracked…" The Doctor's voice faded as he, Octavian, and River stepped out of the drop ship, leaving just Nyla and Amy.

"Ugh, it's a bit creepy," Amy admitted with a shiver.

Nyla nodded in agreement, "Just a bit, yeah."

"So," Amy started, spinning to turn to Nyla instead of the television. Nyla could just tell that this conversation wasn't going to be good. "You and the Doctor, huh?"

Nyla shook her head and looked away, praying that her face wouldn't grow pink. "We aren't anything Amy. Just friends like you and I."

"Rightttt," Amy drew the word out, "Because you two totally didn't get embarrassed by River's comment in the Tardis. You were obviously not jealous of River at all, especially when I pointed out how she looked like the Doctor's wife. And you definitely weren't leaning on his shoulder with his arm around you or anything."

At this point Nyla's face had, to her extreme annoyance, turned bright red. Sometimes she really wished she weren't so fair skinned.

"That's right," Amy continued on with a smirk, "Don't think I didn't notice that. So now my big question is- did you not want me going after him because you wanted him instead?"

Nyla's eyes widened, "No! No, that is definitely not the reason I told you to let him go. I was and still am defending Rory and your marriage!"

Amy grinned, "Okay. And thanks for that, seriously. But come on," Amy giggled, "you totally had ulterior motives."

Nyla rolled her eyes and glanced to the side, doing her best to avoid Amy's prying gaze. "I told you Amy- wait. Did that- did that angel move?"

Amy spun around to face the television. The angel that had once been covering its face with its hands was now staring straight at them, with its claws seeming to reach out of the TV. "Oh my god," Amy murmured.

Nyla poked her head out of the doorway to where River and the Doctor were talking, "Hey River? Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?"

River shook her head, "No, just the four seconds."

Nyla turned wide-eyed to stare at Amy, who seemed to be just as worried as Nyla was. While they were staring at each other, the door slammed shut and locked into place, and the angel that had once been clawing its way out of the screen was now featured in its own close up, complete with a showing of its sharp fangs.

Nyla kept watch of the Angel carefully, allowing Amy to work at the screen. Amy moved forward shakily, reaching under the monitor to unplug it. Impossibly, when she pulled the plug, the image flickered but remained on the screen. Nyla slowly moved towards the desk on the right side of the room, snatching the remote up while still keeping an eye on the angel.

"But it's just a recording," Amy protested weakly, "It can't move."

"Amy, I'm not sure how much of a recording it is anymore."

Amy took a deep breath in with a shudder before pulling back to stand by Nyla, who was rapidly pressing the power button on the remote. No matter how often she shut the monitor off however, the Angel would just reappear once more.

"Doctor?" Amy called worriedly. Nyla and Amy both turned to face the door, neither knowing the consequences of relinquishing their stares. A millisecond later, the Angel began to appear in the room. "Doctor!" Amy screamed.

When he didn't come to the door, Nyla put her head in her hands, trying to think.

"Doctor! It's in the room!" Amy screeched.

Suddenly there was a reply from the other side of the door, "Amy! Nyla!"

"Doctor!" Amy cried in relief.

"Are you alright?"

"It's coming out of the television," Nyla shouted to him.

"The Angel is here," Amy added.

On the opposite side of the door, the Doctor attempted to sonic it open, "Whatever you do, don't blink! Do not take your eyes off of that angel!"

"Amy," Nyla pointed, "Stare at the angel. I need to pace."

Amy nodded and turned to stare at the angel, allowing Nyla to pace.

Right, she thought. What do I know? Weeping Angel, don't blink, frozen but then moved to come out of the TV…. What else? Nyla felt like screaming. She was missing something. Something obvious that she should get right away.

"Amy! What did River say about the Angels?"

"Uh, she said they have the best defense mechanism, they turn from stone to… something. Oh! And she created a four second loop!" Amy restated, her eyes beginning to burn.

In the background Nyla could hear the Doctor and River arguing over deadlock seals, and had it been a different situation, Nyla would have laughed at the way the conversation was going. Still, while the Doctor and River had been bickering, she thought she might have found a solution.

"Amy, do you see the delay on the screen? How it turns black?"

Amy nodded and closed one eye slowly, then the other. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Well," Nyla explained, "we have the remote. If we can't turn it off we could always try to freeze it."

Amy's eyes widened and she whipped her head around to Nyla, who was thankfully watching the angel now. "If we freeze it on the black screen it can't go anywhere!"

Before Nyla could reply, the Doctor's voice broke through their epiphany. "Nyla, Amy, don't look at the eyes! Look at the Angel, but don't look at the eyes. 'The eyes are not the windows of the soul. They are the doors. Beware what may enter there,'" he read off from a journal.

Nyla cursed under her breath, and she could have sworn she heard Amy's breath hitch in a panic.

Nyla grinned nervously, "Don't look at the eyes, starting now. Amy this is a good idea, we just have to get it to work." Nyla passed the remote to Amy. "I'll watch the Angel now, you figure out the right time to pause it." Nyla studiously avoided her eyes and prayed that Amy could figure it out.

Amy nodded dutifully and faced the screen, her heart pounding away in her chest. She could do this. "Okay. One, two, three… four!" On four she paused the screen, just as the tape loop was about to return to the start. The image stayed paused in a static, and the Angel that had entered the room disappeared.

Amy and Nyla both breathed a sigh of relief, and Nyla, who had been leaning on the door towards the end, jumped back to allow River and the Doctor to burst into the room.

Amy smiled shakily, "I froze it. There was a sort of blip on the tape, and I froze it on the blip. It wasn't an angel any more. Nyla's idea. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good."

River beamed at them both, "That was amazing."

Nyla gave a weak grin and leaned against the desk, gasping as the Doctor went over and hugged her tightly, burying her head into his chest.

"River, hug Amy," he ordered.

"Why?" Amy wondered breathlessly.

"Because I'm busy," he replied, tightening his arms around Nyla before releasing her. He spun around to face the screen, pulling out his sonic to scan the monitor.

Over River's shoulder, Amy waggled her eyebrows, causing Nyla to beam even more than she already was. Any previous sleepiness Nyla had been feeling vanished, replaced by the adrenaline coursing through her system.

"So it was here? That was the Angel?" River questioned.

"That was a projection of the Angel," the Doctor corrected. "It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant."

The Doctor stood, grabbing Nyla's hand as he stalked out. River followed closely behind, who was then trailed by Amy.

"Doctor?" Octavian called over, "We're through."

The Doctor nodded, "Okay, it starts now."

Nyla allowed herself to be dragged along by the Doctor, biting her bottom lip to keep quiet. The pounding in her head was back, and it was back with a vengeance.

River glanced back at Amy, who was rubbing at her eye, "Yeah, coming. There's just something in my eye."

Slowly but surely, the group lowered itself down the ladder into a large cavernous area. It was too dark to make out anything other than the fact that it was large and filled with something.

"Do we have a gravity globe?" The Doctor asked Octavian.

"Grav globe," Octavian demands, making a cleric place the gravity globe into the Doctor's hands.

"Where are we?" Amy wondered. "What is this?"

"It's an Aplan Moratorium, sometimes called a Maze of the Dead," River answered, shining her flashlight to allow everyone to see the statues set up around them.

"What's that?"

"Well, if you happen to be a creature of stone, the perfect hiding place," the Doctor kicked the globe into the air, where it locked at the top and shed light on the entire moratorium.

"I suppose this makes it a bit trickier," Octavian decided.

Nyla squinted at him, "Only a bit."

Octavian sighed, "A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for."

"A needle in a haystack," River spoke in agreement.

"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle of death. A hay-alike need of death in a haystack of, er," The Doctor seemed to realize her looked like an idiot, but had to finish what he started. "Statues. No, yours was fine."

Nyla snorted and rolled her eyes, "You're ridiculous."

"Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection," he told his clerics. He turned to the Doctor, "One question. How do we fight it?"

The Doctor shrugged unhelpfully. "We find it, and hope."

The group began to move, Amy, Nyla, and the Doctor advancing forward together while the clerics spread out. Nyla was just about gnawing on her lip now, the pounding in her head getting worse. It wasn't too bad yet, just a small migraine, but Nyla could tell it would only get worse. She didn't say anything though and continued on with the Doctor. She would be fine, just as she was on Starship UK.

As the trio made their way up the terraces, Amy paused to rub her eye, causing stone dust to fall between her fingers. She stared at it, torn between confusion and fear.

River saw her pause and walked over to her. Touching her shoulder she spoke, "You alright?"

Amy jumped, not having heard her approach, and nods. "Yeah, I'm fine. So, what's a Maze of the Dead?"

"Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds," River reassured lightly, "It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls." At Amy's expression, River admitted, "Okay, that was fairly bad. Give me your arm. This won't hurt a bit," she promised. She injected Amy quickly, watching as Amy reflexively pulled back.

"Ow!" She protested.

"There you see, I lied. It's a viro-stabiliser. Stabilizes your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship," River said by way of explanation.

"So," Amy mused, "What's he like? In the future, I mean? Because you know him in the future, don't you?"

River smirked, "The Doctor? Well, the Doctor's the Doctor."

Amy rolled her eyes, "Oh well that's very helpful. Mind if I write that down?"

"Yes we are," River called up to Nyla and the Doctor.

Nyla turned around to walk backwards, the Doctor copying her and doing the same. "Sorry, what?" Nyla asked innocently.

"Talking about you," River specified.

The Doctor shrugged, still moving backwards, "Wasn't listening. I'm busy."

"Walking backwards?" Amy questioned skeptically.

He opened his mouth to reply, but his heel hit a rock in the ground, causing him to fall backwards onto his back. He could hear River and Amy cackling in the background, as well as Nyla laughing from a foot to the right of him. He groaned and opened his eyes, gripping Nyla's offered hand and allowing her to pull him up. "Right," he tugged on his bowtie before spinning around and pointing forwards. "This way." Nyla laughed and followed behind.

Am grinned and turned to River. "So, who's his wife, you or Nyla?"

River shook her head, "Oh, Amy, Amy, Amy. This is the Doctor we're talking about. Do you really think it could be anything that simple?"

"Yep."

River grinned at that. "You're good." With that, she leaned forward to whisper something vague into Amy's ear, causing Amy to emit a whoop of joy. "I knew it!" She cheered.

"Amy," River interrupted. "I didn't actually tell you who-"

Amy beamed, "You don't think you did, but you totally did. God, I am not letting this go."

River shook her head in amusement. "You can't tell him though. You know that right? He can't know his own future."

Amy chuckled, "Oh no. I plan to be much more subtle than that."

River sighed. "What did I just unleash?" she muttered, dragging the elated Amy behind her.

Up ahead, Nyla and the Doctor searched through the statues, gazing up and down the paths meticulously.

"Can you believe this? We're hunting statues." Nyla bit out between the throbbing in her head.

The Doctor chuckled. "Come on, it's gotta be a bit better than the Daleks."

Nyla glanced at him, "Everything is better than the Daleks."

"That's debatable," the Doctor responded lightly. "On Corilanius X, there are giant cat-like beings called Shangaka. They hunt people, but not to eat. They do it for fun. Ran into them a while ago. Oh! And there are mini-arachnids called Aiphers that are so tiny that you can barely see them. They burrow into flesh and-"

Nyla clamped her hand over his mouth, "Ew. Thank you Doctor, I get the point."

The Doctor gently pried her hand off his mouth and grinned.

Nyla grinned back- she couldn't not smile at him, it was infectious. "So I was thinking- could we visit a famous scientist next. Like Isaac Newton or something?"

The Doctor nodded and hummed, "Yeah why not? Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, Hubble, Einstein- actually maybe not Einstein. I may have electrocuted him."

Nyla chuckled, "Why does that not surprise me?"

Before the Doctor could express his indignation at that, a gunshot echoed through the catacombs. The Doctor and Nyla sprinted back to the main group, following River and Amy who had started running as well.

When they arrived, they found a young cleric- no more than 18- standing with a gun in his hand, shaking. "Sorry, sorry," he apologized to Octavian. "I thought- I thought it looked at me."

Octavian glared at the boy in annoyance. "We know what the Angel looks like. Is that statue the Angel?"

"N-No sir," he stuttered out.

"No sir, it is not," Octavian lectured. "According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good," Octavian continued, his voice rising, "it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of décor."

Nyla frowned at him; she found it rather ironic that he was telling them all to keep calm, but he had been on the verge of yelling. She really hated when people yelled, whether it be at her or at someone she hates, she couldn't stand it. Unless she was doing the yelling of course. Then it was alright.

The Doctor stepped forward and put his hand on the cleric's shoulder. "What's your name?"

"Bob sir," the cleric replied.

The Doctor gave him an easy smile, "Ah that's a great name. I love Bob."

"It's a Sacred Name," Octavian interjected. "We all have Sacred Names. They're given to us in the service of the Church."

"Sacred Bob. More like Scared Bob now, eh?" The Doctor joked. Had he been closer to Nyla, she would have whacked him on the arm.

"Yes sir."

"Ah, good. Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron," he directed this at Octavian. "Carry on."

"Are we there yet?" Amy complained.

River shook her head. "The maze is on six levels, representing the ascent of the soul. Only two levels left to go."

"Lovely species, the Aplans. We should visit them some time," the Doctor commented.

Amy tilted her head, "I thought they were all dead?"

"So is Virginia Woolf. I'm on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. Well, that's having two heads, of course. You're never short of a snog with an extra head," the Doctor rambled.

Nyla and River both rolled their eyes at his antics, Nyla choosing to add in a head shake as well.

"Doctor, there's something wrong," River declared. "I don't know what it is."

Nyla nodded in agreement. There was just something that didn't…. feel right. Then again, her entire head didn't feel right, although the pounding had relaxed slightly.

"Yeah, there's something wrong. Don't know what it is yet, either. Working on it. Of course, then they started having laws against self-marrying. I mean what was that about?" The Doctor continued. "But that's the Church for you." He glanced behind him at Octavian and seemed to remember who he speaking to. "Er, no offence, Bishop."

Father Octavian crossed his arms. "Quite a lot taken, if that's alright Doctor. Lowest point in the wreckage is only about fifty feet up from here. That way."

As the group started to continue their trek, Nyla froze. "No one move," she ordered. Everyone stopped to stare at her, confusion playing on their faces. Nyla spun in a circle, staring at her surrounds.

River looked around them in realization, horror playing on her face. "Oh."

The Doctor's eyes flickered between the two women, watching as they both backed away from the statues when it clicked. "Oh," he whispered. The collective penny had finally dropped.

"Yeah," Nyla squeaked. "Oh."

"What's wrong?" Amy inquired. If she didn't know any better she would say the three looked like a caged animal.

"How could we not have noticed that?" River cried.

"Low level perception filter, or maybe we're thick," the Doctor admitted.

"What's wrong, sir?" Octavian repeated for Amy.

"Just- don't move," Nyla gritted out. Once she had discovered the Angels' secret, the pounding in her head increased tenfold. When it started up she had almost collapsed under the pain. Nonetheless, a small whimper came out of her mouth.

River moved back to stand next to Nyla while the Doctor explained the danger they were in. "Your head?"

Nyla snapped her head up to stare at River in surprise. She had barely told the Doctor about that. How did she know?

"This must be before…" River cut herself off and instead placed her arm around Nyla's shoulders to help her remain standing. "Listen to me," she murmured into her ear, "you need to strengthen your shields. Imagine your mental shields like different types of walls. The one you have right now it a thin dry wall. Enough to keep something back but not enough to hold up for long." Nyla closed her eyes and sagged bit against River, her eyelids drooping. "No, no Nyla come on stay awake. You need to imagine your mind as a brick wall. Come on. Picture it." Nyla took a deep breath shakily and attempted to picture a large brick wall barricading her mind from the outside world. As she focused on the bricks the pain slowly melted away, until it became all but a gentle throbbing. With a gasp, Nyla opened her eyes and pulled herself out of Rivers grasp, glancing around her to see what was going on. Apparently the others had been oblivious to the events that had just occurred.

Nyla swallowed and turned back to River, "how did you know…?"

"I'm from your future," River reminded her once again. "And like I said, we're close. You told me how everything works."

Nyla's eyes lit up, "Then you mean I figure this all out?"

River could see the questions bubbling underneath Nyla's lips, but River shook her head to keep her from asking them. "Yep. Everything sorts itself out. Now come on, you seem to be forgetting where we are at the moment." River grabbed Nyla's arm and pulled her along to catch up to the others, who had begun to creep away from the statues. They seemed to finally understand the danger.

"But there was only one Angel on the ship, just one I swear," River insisted when she and Nyla had caught up to the Doctor.

"The Aplans," the Doctor stressed, ignoring River's statement entirely, "What happened? How did they die out?"

River shook her head, "Nobody knows."

"We know."

"They don't look like Angels," Father Octavian commented as the group continued to back away from the statues to the top of the moratorium.

"And they're not fast," Amy pointed out. "You said they were fast. They should've had us by now."

The Doctor shone his flashlight over the statues slowly, "Look at them. They're dying, losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving."

Nyla tilted her head as she stared at them. "Losing their image."

He nodded in agreement, "And their image is their power…Power! Oh, Power!" He exclaimed this, startling Amy.

"Doctor?" Amy asked cautiously.

"Don't you see? All that radiation spilling out the drive burn. The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission. We're in the middle of an army, and it's waking up."

Nyla spun around to stare at the statues that had slowly crept up behind them, "We need to get out of here."

"And fast," River added in agreement.

Octavian glanced at the members of the group and nodded, pulling the communicator up to his mouth. "Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in please. Any of you, come in."

Bob responded first. "It's Bob sir. Sorry, sir."

"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat: all the statues are active."

There was static for a moment, and then Bob's voice came through. "I know sir. Angelo and Christian are dead sir. The statues killed them sir."

Amy gasped while Nyla squeezed her eyes shut. Any elation Nyla had previously felt at knowing that her brain would be sorted out was dampened by the deaths of the two men.

The Doctor pulled the communicator out of Octavian's hands, ignoring the protest. "Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor."

"I'm talking to," Octavian interrupted in protest, but was once again cut off by the Doctor.

"Where are you now, Bob?"

"I'm talking to my-" Octavian tried again.

Nyla smacked Octavian on the arm, although not very hard. It was mostly just to get his attention, "Listen, shut up? He's doing something important and you aren't helping." At Octavian's chastised expression, Nyla nodded. "Thanks."

"Your friends, Bob? What did the angel do to them?" the Doctor questioned.

"Snapped their necks sir."

The Doctor stared at the remote in disbelief. Bob didn't even sound upset. He didn't comment on this observation out loud however. "That's odd. That's not how the Angels kill you. They displace you in time. Unless… they need the bodies for something," he realized.

Octavian ripped the communicator back out of the Doctor's hands. "Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan."

River rolled her eyes while the Doctor snatched the communicator back. "Don't be an idiot," River snapped, "Their necks were snapped. No one survives that."

"And even if they were alive, it would be a death wish to try and rescue them with this many angels around," Nyla butted in.

The Doctor agreed, "Bob, keep running. But tell me, how did you escape?" Something about this didn't feel right.

"I didn't escape, sir. The angel killed me too."

Nyla grabbed at the communicator this time, "What do you mean, the angel killed you? You're alive and kicking! We're speaking to you right now."

"You're not speaking to me, ma'am. The angel has no voice, so it stripped by cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion, ma'am."

Nyla gripped the communicator tightly at this, but eventually allowed the Doctor to gently pry her fingers off the communicator.

"Can we leave the communicating with one person?" The Doctor quipped. He put the communicator next to his mouth again, "So when you say you're on your way up to us…"

"It's the angel that's coming, sir. No way out."

River glanced up at the path before them. "We have to get out through the wreckage. Everyone go! Go, get out of here! Everyone run," River urged, herding the group up the path. The entire group left except for Amy and Nyla, who were watching as the Doctor still stood staring at the communicator in his hand.

Amy glanced at Nyla nervously. "Um, Nyla?"

Nyla flicked her eyes over to her friend. "Yeah?"

"I uh… I can't move my hand."

Nyla turned to stare down at Amy's hand. It was completely normal looking, just sitting on the stone railing. In confusion, Nyla turned back to Amy. "What do you mean?"

Amy looked down at her hand and then back up at Nyla. "Can't you see my hand? It's stone!"

"No… it's not."

"Yes it is! Look at it!"

"Amy, it's not stone."

The Doctor called over his shoulder, "Are you two leaving or not? You don't need to wait for me."

Nyla rolled her eyes, "We aren't waiting for you… or well we were- or I was anyway." Nyla shook her head to clear her thoughts. "Amy says she can't move her arm," she called back to him, although he didn't seem to hear, still speaking to Bob.

"Amy, your hand is not stone! You can move it. It is a perfectly normal piece of arm," Nyla maintained.

"Then why can't I move it?" Amy panicked.

Before Nyla could admit that she didn't actually know, because she should be able to move her hand, the Doctor sprinted past them both to catch up to the group. After a moment however, he seemed to realize that the two girls were still back at the railing.

"What are you two doing? We need to run!"

"Really Doctor? I hadn't noticed," Nyla retorted sarcastically. "Amy says her hand is stone and that she can't move it."

The Doctor stared at Amy and then groaned. "You looked into the eyes of the angel, didn't you?"

Amy looked away guiltily, "I couldn't stop myself. Then by the time you had said something it was too late."

"Listen to me. It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone."

"Yes, it is! Just look at it!"

"It's in your mind, I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go."

"I can't okay?" Amy yelled, on the verge of frustrated tears. "I've tried and I can't. It's stone."

"Concentrate, Amy. Please, just move your hand."

"I can't! How many times do I have to say that I can't?"

Nyla peeked over her shoulder and gasped at the angels that had moved forward as the lights had started to flicker. "Then we're all going to die Amy."

Amy glared at them. "Then go. You've both got to, you know you have. You've got all that stuff with River and its all got to happen. You guys can't die here!"

The Doctor shrugged in pretend disregard. "Time can be rewritten."

The lights flickered once more, and Nyla whipped around to stare at the angels that had just arrived.

"Keep your eyes on it. Don't blink," the Doctor reminded Amy and Nyla.

"Guys, run! Just go!"

The Doctor shook his head, "I'm not going, and I bet Nyla isn't either. We're not leaving you here."

"I don't need you to die for me Doctor. Either of you," Amy gave a pointed look at Nyla's back, which she missed. "Do I look that clingy?"

"Amy, you can move your hand." Nyla reminded her.

Amy sighed. "You've both got to go. Those people up there will die without you. If you stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them."

The Doctor reached for Amy's forehead and gave her a quick kiss. "Amy Pond, you are magnificent, and I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I understand. You've got to leave me."

Nyla spun around and smacked him on the back of the head, "Doctor we are not leaving her!"

"Ow! I never said we were leaving her. The pair of you! Amy, I'm not leaving you. Never. I meant I'm sorry about this." Without further ado, he leaned down and bit her hard on her 'stone' hand.

Amy yanked her hand back and Nyla cheered. "OW!"

"See," the Doctor quipped with a grin. "Not stone. Now run." He grabbed Amy's arm and Nyla's hand and pulled them along, bickering with Amy while Nyla laughed at both of them.

Although Nyla was laughing, something was eating at her. She had looked into the angel's eyes too…