"What?!" Panic surrounded Kit's brain in an instant, like the realisation finally came over him like a heavy iron shutter.
"Trust me, when I say your name you blink, when I say my name I'll blink. That way one of us is always looking at it." She couldn't tell if Kit was truly listening to her as she couldn't turn her head or look at him just one bit. But she hoped he was, God she'd kill him herself if he wasn't.
"Why do we have to look at it?" Kit asked as he took a tiny step back, just so he wasn't as close to the stone as he had currently been.
"Cause as long as someone's watching it, it can't move." Her words didn't sound plausible. He could believe Dalek's and Cybermen and...spaceships flying through the sky even but this... If he hadn't have seen it appearing and disappearing himself he would have accused her of being funny with him. She was going to start laughing in a minute and tease him again. But then more seconds passed and he knew she was serious "It's frozen in stone." Sky stepped back a little so she was directly side by side with Kit and finally let go of the hand she forgot she was holding. "Now, you ready?" As Sky asked this, her chest raised before falling dramatically as she took in a breath.
"Yeah." Nodding, Kit resisted the building urge to close his eyes and focused wholly on this...angel.
"Good. Now. Kit..." She didn't know if he had followed her instruction and couldn't tell so after a few moments she repeated herself. "Blink Kit."
"I have! I did!" He shouted at her, gesturing towards the statue with a violent shake of his hand.
"Okay, I'm blinking..." As she did, Sky was surprised to feel the fear rush through her while her visions turned to darkness. But when she opened her eyes after a couple of very relieving seconds, they were still there and the Weeping Angel hadn't moved an inch. This would work. Ha! She knew she would get them out of there. "You're blinking...I'm blinking...ready to walk?" She got both of them used to the patter and rhythm a couple of times and then took Kits hand again to help guide them backwards.
"Yeah." Kit breathed the words out slowly and squeezed Sky's hand.
"We're going to step back okay? You're blinking...I'm blinking...you're blinking...I'm-" they must have only been on there third step when there was a crash behind them and a silent breeze brushed past both of their necks. Sky visibly stiffened and her face squinted up in tension.
"What was that?" Kit said straight, the only emotion showing in his voice being...well there wasn't any. He just sounded as cringey as Sky looked. Neither of them wanted to look just like neither of them wanted to know but Sky knew that if she didn't, it would soon be too late.
"I don't know." The squeak of her voice was long and dragged out as the fear really showed from her for the first time. For Sky, the outcome wasn't really that scary, it was the idea of not being able to see something which was there. Like as a child when you think a monster might be under your bed, you know there's most likely nothing there but get hearing the courage to look is too much. "Don't take you're eyes off that. I'm going to turn and look." She had to take a deep breath first but then spun on her heels quickly in order to not waste another minute. What her eyes met however, wasn't what she hoped...it was however what she had expected. "Oh."
"What was it?" Her reaction hadn't exactly filled him with hope.
"Errrrrr..." It was a hard decision. Deciding whether or not to tell him about the second angel which had made itself visible to them, now half blocking the door they had walked through at the top of the stairs. This one was more pleasant to look at though at least, with its hands raised to cover its eyes from view. But that was normal when there were more than one together, seeing as they couldn't look at each other. The loneliest wanderers of the universe, unable to look at even their own kind for if they did these be frozen in their stone case forever. "Nothing, nothing it's fine." There was no need to panic the boy more, besides she guess he already knew since Sky didn't turn back around. He wasn't thick. Which was why he wasn't taken her answer of 'nothing' seriously.
"Sky?"
"Just try not to look away and we're going to walk okay, I'll direct you." Moving slowly and carefully so that Sky's back pressed against Kit's, she squeezed his hand again but it did nothing to comfort him.
"Sky?" He didn't get an answer. Just a sharp tug on his hand as she took the first step forward and he didn't exactly follow straight away.
Together they started to take small steps towards the statue Sky was being forced to walk towards. She was weary at first, they both were, but the more time that past and the fiercer the sting came in their eyes, the quicker their steps became. They each focused so hard that there were times they could swear a part of the Angels had moved. An arm, a hand, a wing. But that truly was their mind playing tricks. For Kit, he had Sky's word they wouldn't move if he kept his eyes on them, and he believed her. When Sky was finally close enough to keep the second angel in view, she turned to face the same way as Kit again but he sighed when he saw what Sky had been focusing on.
"How many more of them are there?" They could still see the front of the first Angel quite clearly as it was still only a few feet away, teeth still frightening from that angle. But now only the back of the second was shown to them and, honestly, it was a bit of a relief. They were one step closer to getting out of there.
"I don't know." Sky shook her head slowly. "But are you ready to run?" She might not enjoy running, but it would feel good to run away from these...these erg she struggled to call them the Weeping Angels. That made them see venerable and heavenly, but they were hunters...kind hunters in some form but hunters none the less.
"Yes please." Kit nodded enthusiastically and they let go of each other to be able to turn and run as possible. Sky knew the risks but she wasn't going to let Kit know them, they should be able to outrun them...probably...hopefully...luckily.
"Okay...one the count of three." Kit found himself smiling involuntarily at the thought of running away from the stone creepers. Something about them was unnerving. The way they could move, the way they hid. When Sky finally yelled out to move, they were both grinning. "Run!"
Jumping down all of the steps in one big leap, they didn't have time to stutter on the stone, and in only a couple of seconds, they reached the corner they had turned down. As soon as they rounded the dark, sharp twist in the hallway they would have a free and straight run back onto the crowded corridor littered with tourists and everything would be fine. But they hadn't even fully got around the corner and Sky instantly realised something was blocking there path only one meter away. There stood another angel, just as tall and grey as the other two. Only this one kept its eyes uncovered, peeping over the tops of its fingertips at them.
"Ah!" Sky was the first to scream as both of them skid to a stop. "Oh I don't like it!" She flashed a look behind them but the other two angels hadn't moved. There were three of them and they were all playing games with herself and Kit. "Kit make then stop." She moaned out, carrying on staring at the other two while Kit watched the one ahead of them.
"Well actually, I was hoping you could do that." He tried to be funny, but it didn't really have the desired affect given the current position they were in. However, his small chuckle caught Sky off guard, and regrettably, she looked at him sharply with a mock glare. And by the time she realised what she had done and looked back, the other two angels had jumped in front of her, blocking them into a small two feet square in the hallway.
"They've blocked us in." Sky whispered. But she'd had enough, and now they were stuck. The hallway they were in which led back to the main tourist tunnel was narrow, and the Angels were too wide and stood so there was no way to duck under or slide past any part of them. There wasn't even a secret passageway to run down at the two angels Sky was watching had blocked the fork in the road. It was just a waiting game now,cantilever one of them stumbled and blinked. "Right! That's it!" She was sick...and when she lost her patience and got cornered she tended to...panic. "I will have you know that I am...very busy!" She pointed a finger up at the first angel watching her with blank eyes. "That's right..." Very shortly, she seemed to realise this was having no affect as she sighed, lowered her finger and leant back against Kit.
"Wow...that really eh...told them." He struggled to hold in a chuckle and had in not been for the impending doom they were in, he would have full out laughed at her. The amusement past quick however and Kit ran his eyes over the stone statue slowly. "What do we do?"
"I don't know." Sky searched around them desperately looking for a way out...a way to anything. Always keeping the Weeping Angels in the corner of her eyes, she searched high, low, to the left and to the right. But nothing. Nothing. There was only one thing left that they could do to get out of there, as much as Sky hated to admit it. "Close your eyes."
"What!?" He was right to cry out the way he did, especially after what she said about them ending up dead should he do such a thing.
"Close your eyes, it'll be fine trust me." As Sky tried to reason with him, her eyes started to water and sting, but she tried to focus on that tiny hum always ringing away at the back of her mind.
"But you said-"
"I know, and it's true sort of...but you won't open your eyes dead...I promise." Not dead just...somewhere in the past. Well, he said he wanted to travel in time. "Close your eyes." When he didn't fight back this time, Sky knew he had done as she said. Kit stood there blind to the Angels still stood around them but Sky took a few seconds before she did the same, to cling onto the Doctors connection and send out a whisper.
'Theta?' She didn't need to wait long for the hum to get louder as he focused on her in return.
'Lelia? Are you alright?' His reply was hurried like she expected to be, which was good. It meant he wasn't running around and getting into much trouble just yet.
'I'm going to need a lift.' Sky felt Theta's mood change through the connection and she wanted to cringe as the worry took over.
'A lift? A lift wher-' She didn't waste another moment for she knew Theta would just ask more and more questions and, after a deep breath, she blinked.
There was nothing to describe about the trip...of you could call it a trip? The next second it seemed, Sky had been thrown to the ground. But it was soft. And the air was suddenly clear and most crisp...warmer?
It wasn't until she heard the disillusioned moan to her left that Sky actually opened her eyes, being met with a bright blue sky above. The pain, like a bee string, ringing through her head made her want to hiss out loud but before she could, a voice interrupted.
"What was that?" Ah good, the moan was only coming from Kit. At least they're been transported to the same time. Had they not have, well, they're have been pretty stuck. "Where are we?"
"Please. One question at a time. Head...Spinning." With a gasp of pain, Sky pushed herself up to sit straight. Kit was still on the ground next to her but held his head up with an elbow resting on the sand beneath them. Hang on, sand?
"We're on a beach." They were on a beach...at least the Angels hadn't massed Kit's head up. Sky scanned the area around them, all the way out to the horizon straight ahead of her as the sea reached out as far as the eye could see. But apart from that there was nothing to see, just sand and a few dunes blocking the view behind her.
"The Weeping Angels..." Now there was no threat she could take the time to fully explain things to Kit. "They kill you...sort of. By sending you back to a time before you were born. Then they feed on all the years you should have lived in the future. You still get to live just...in the past."
"Great." She didn't know what sort of reaction she was expecting from him but that wasn't it. "So where are we?"
"I don't know." Sky was quick to answer. "But...hey at least we're not dead?" She grinned and finally turned to meet the boys eyes, grinning. He didn't seem impressed though as Kit let himself fall back down flat on the ground.
"Just stuck God knows where instead."
"Hey! We're not stuck!" She exclaimed, looking down at him. "As if I'd ever let us get stuck!"
"Then how are we going to get back?" Kit squinted up at the forever growing odder woman and shielded the sun from his eyes with a raised hand.
"You'll see, first we just need to find out where...and when we are." Scrambling up from the ground, Sky dusted the dirty yellow sand from her clothes and hair as best she could and then looked around again with her new found height. But apart from the sun reflecting on the deep sapphire waters there was nothing much new to look at it.
"And how do we do that?"
"You get up and we go for a walk. Come on, get up!" It took a few moments, but she finally managed to get Kit onto his feet. Then they didn't have much choice on where to head, there was nothing down the beach to either side, and they weren't going to swim so...
After a long and tedious climb up a sand dune and another ten minutes emptying the annoying sand grains out of each of her shoes, Sky led Kit over to what looked like a little shop down by a little sea side village. It was cute. There was a church and a couple of cottages, a post office..sweet. But old, at first glance they were maybe in the...1920's? 1910's? Mostly based on the horse and carts littering the streets.
They both entered little shop, Kit looking a little taken back as the woman in the shop stood behind a tidy bench with a bright smile and a bonnet. A bonnet! Sky loved bonnets, there wasn't really a reason behind it, they were just cute.
"Good morning Sir, Miss? Can I help you with anything?" Kit's eyebrows raised considerably at being addressed as Sir and the small hint of a smile came over his lips as he eyed the young girl behind the counter. Oh god, he better not have been one of those. She hadn't really spent a lot of time with him outside peril or problems, even through that month they watched the ghosts. And even then they weren't around others much...and the last thing she needed was to be dragging a womaniser around time and space.
"Yes actually thank you." Sky jumped in before he got to, whether he was going to or not. "You don't happen to have the date do you miss?" She was used to this, the change in style, clothing, technology, language. But Kit...he stood in awe behind Sky as she began talking to the young girl. The sight of a bonnet seemed to have amused Him as well, although not necessarily for the same reason.
"It's the 2nd of April miss...1907." The young girl smiled with a small nod of her head and a laugh. Much like the reaction she'd got from Kit when they'd first met.
"Right...lovely year." Sky smiled and started to browse the shop shelves, all the while Kit stood in the door, just listening. "And where are we? Sorry, I know it seems like a strange question,but we're wanders see. Right?" She turned to Kit with a smile
"Right."
"Right..." The young girl laughed shyly. "Of course Sir, you are in Grimsby. The little village of Longthistle this is. Just one road in and one road out."
"Longthistle? Lovely." Suddenly, a loud humming buzzed in Sky's ears. It was like something was screaming for her, yelling for her...oh. "Excuse me one moment." Managing to mutter the words quietly to both Kit and the shop girl, Sky ran out into the street and leant against the brick wall of the small building.
'Lelia?' The travelling caused by the Angels must have messed her head up, as for a second she couldn't connect to him to answer, but then the link between then built up more become less like a buzz and more like white noise as Theta screamed out to her again. 'Lelia!?' Uh oh. He sounded mad.
'...hello...' Her voice was small and weak as she reached out, unknowing to the reaction she would receive as a reply.
'What happened to you? I couldn't reach you! I-' Theta's voice was quick but she could feel the worry. He stuttered at the last thing he was going to say and for a second the hum dulled before coming back at full force. 'You didn't answer.'
'I'm fine! I'm fine, I promise.'
'Don't do that! You said you needed a lift and then you disappeared.' She did feel bad, for leaving him hanging like that. And it had been purposeful, which was worse. But she really was fine, she just hadn't expected to be unreachable like that.
'Yeah, me and Kit sort of ran into a problem...'
'What sort of problem? Are you hurt?' The worry in his voice made her cringe, Sky closed her eyes to concentrate on his voice more as she let out a deep breath.
'No! Just calm down.' He always worried too much. 'Like I said I just need a lift...I just got stuck, away from the TARDIS...' Sky paused upon telling him the next detail. But there was no hiding it from him. 'See there were these Weeping Angels.'
'Lelia...' His groan slash sigh interrupted her before she could explain any more.
'It wasn't my fault! I didn't go looking for them, they just...happened.' It was true! It wasn't if she'd said come on Kit, let's go find some creepy stone freaks to send us back to the 1900's so we have to get rescued by the Doctor!
'...where are you?' Theta was annoyed. She could tell even without seeing his face.
'Its wasn't...' She wanted to try again, to get him to understand it was an accident. But even if he believed her Sky doubted it would change his attitude. With a sigh, making sure she hid her embarrassment and guilt from Theta, she opened her eyes and looked around the village as she responded.'Longthistle village in Grimsby, 1907...near the little shop.'
'Give me five minutes.' After that, the humming faded back into an almost inaudible shiver of brain waves.
She felt stupid. She'd lasted what? Four days? Three of which were spent in the TARDIS, stationary in Kit's back garden, not doing anything. It hadn't even been a full day, they had been in Edinburgh one hour before getting into trouble. Maybe she wasn't cut out for this...travelling alone.
Between the end of the war and turning herself into a human she had regenerated twice in such a short time. Unable to keep herself out of deaths path even on the simplest of planets. And even then she drove herself into situations which ended in dead ends and splinters and scratches. Nothing had ended in too much of a disaster, she was still here after all but she couldn't hack it. That was the who,e reason she'd turned human in the first place. And now she was responsible for the life of another and Kit couldn't just regenerate...
Even when she'd travelled with the Doctor when they were just kids still, he had always been the one to navigate them and plan things for them to do. He was the one that looked after her...she was useless by herself. Maybe that's why she had decided to stay at home while he continued to travel with those humans. Those humans were a lot more capable than her. She didn't need to be told. Even Rose, she fought Daleks and...killed the Emperor! Fought Cybermen and God knows what else. Probably without the Doctors help too, whereas Sky was just a lost Time Lord housewife with no home to go back to. She enjoyed all the travelling and the excitement and she was smart enough for it, she knew the facts...she just couldn't... She just couldn't do it.
Sky went to turn back into the shop and wait the five minutes, but she'd obviously been standing there longer than she thought, or maybe he was just a little early? As the sound of TARDIS engines surrounded her and a strong breeze out of no where, pushed the hair back from her face. But for the first time, she wasn't smiling as the TARDIS started to appear in front of her. Instead her forehead was creasing with a frown and her hands were wrapped around herself tightly. It didn't last obviously, the nervousness of see Theta did, but as soon as those doors opened she was running to him. The force of her body almost knocked his back into the TARDIS and onto the floor but he managed to catch her, placing a hand on the back of her head and another round her waist.
"What's wrong? Lelia?" The Doctor tried to push her back just a little to look down at her face and to try and see what was wrong, but she buried her face into his coat so deeply and clung onto too him for him to remove her grip.
"I can't do this." Her small muffled voice came out scrambled, the Doctor only managing to just here as he concentrate solely on her.
"What?" Couldn't do what? The 1900's? She had sounded find through there link but now she looked to be holding back sons, holding onto him like she never wanted to let go. But then, Sky slowly lifter her head so her eyes finally met his and her glossy eyes shimmer with sadness and an abundance of feeling were released in her out of no where. She didn't even know where they had come from, maybe it came with the realisation that she wasn't made for this. She was made for looking after family and walking through gardens and keeping up appearances...back on Gallifrey. As the Doctor looked down at her, a hand stroking through her long brown hair, his hearts broke at what she said next.
"I want to go home."
"...Lelia." He hadn't been expecting that. Maybe for her to laugh and make fun of herself after he got over his worry and saw she was fine. Maybe even for her to be angry at the Weeping Angels...but he never thought she'd be crying in his arms wishing to go home. Something was going on inside her head. "What's happened?" Before she could answer, there were footsteps behind them and Kit appeared from around the shop door.
His presence seemed to have a light switch effect on Sky however, as she leapt up from the Doctors shoulder, wiped her eyes in a split second and spun on the spot.
"Lifts here!" It was like a different woman was stood in front of the Doctor then, but even Kit saw through it as he frowned with a smile and raised an eyebrow. "Told you I had a plan, get in." She'd always been good at that, hiding fear. Back home, after months and months of Theta being away she even hid her own worry and convinced everyone else he was fine. Being half way through her regeneration and still trying to convince him that it was 'just a stubbed toe'. She might not have been a strong adventurer yet, but she had the strongest mind out of anyone Theta had ever known.
"Call for help? That was the plan you wouldn't tell me?" He was laughing but even Sky saw the look in his eyes, silently asking what was wrong. But she shook it off and laughed along with him, shrugging her shoulders.
"Well...it's a plan that works." Sky smirked at Kit before turning to walk into the TARDIS. "Fine, stay here." And she disappeared into the wooden police box. It actually took the Doctor nodding for Kit to get in for Kit to walk forward to catch his lift back to Edinburgh.
"How long was she in charge?" The Doctor asked, jokingly of course while Sky was out of earshot.
"About an hour." The human laughed lightheartedly, faintly seeing Sky's silhouette amongst the darkness inside.
"Ah well..she's getting better." But the Doctor made sure to keep his voice low. It had been a subtle and easier way of finding out some details from the boy, relating to what she had said about not be able to do this. So she'd been on her own an hour? Or at the most a day if the boy was just exaggerating for a laugh. It didn't take a genius to clock on to what Sky was feeling but he smiled as an idea formed in his head.
"Come on." Both men entered the TARDIS to find Sky already sat on the navigators seat, swinging her legs back and forth. "So..where too?" The Doctor asked as he joined her side and started pressing random buttons to get them on their way.
"Edinburgh please...May...18th? 2007." Sky's eyes rolled up to the top of her head as she though, but then she smiled wide at the Doctor and hopped down from the chair to help with the controls. "You haven't found anyone yet?" She asked as she flicked a switch down before he could get to it and Kit grabbed a hold of the railings for support as the floor began to shake.
"No." The Doctor was quick to shake his head and ran around the console to roll, what looked like, a marble ball. But he had to keep in a smile as his idea was easier to put in place than he first imagined. "It's funny, I was just on my way to go check something out...these plasma coil things."
"Really?" Sky quirked a brow in interest.
"Yeah, nothing major but if neither of you are busy..." It took less than a second for Sky to look at him in a way that let him know she knew the true meaning behind his words. He didn't have to say anymore. But before she could take the nonchalant route to accepting the unspoken request, Kit answered.
"Nope."
"Err..." Sky swung her head around to Kit, sending him a wide eyed glare, before looking back to the Doctor who was smirking. "I guess we could spare some time, if you really needed our help." Watching the simple shrug of her shoulders, The Doctor chuckled lightly and shook his head.
"I never said I needed..." But he trailed off, over the year spent together he learnt it was easier to just tell her what she wanted to hear. "Okay...I need your help."
"Okay. Where were these coils?" As Sky asked this, the Doctor moved around the console to enter their new destination.
"Middle of London, that's why it's so strange. They're all around the main hospital."
