After the trip to the palace, the three of them headed back to the TARDIS. Sherlock was much more talkative as they crossed the bridge. He walked next to Amy, wondering how she wasn't so phased by all of this.
Ah, but of course, she is used to this.
"When you said you were a traveler, this is what you meant?"
She chuckled. "I never said I was a traveler. You worked that out, remember?"
"Of course."
"But yeah, this is what I did before I came to London. I traveled through time and space. I've seen so many amazing things, done some amazing things, met some great people. I've been to other planets, I've been to spaceships. I've been to the future and I've been to the past. This is what the Doctor does. He travels and saves planets and people, explores the universe. He's an alien, too. You can kind of tell. Look how he walks." She giggled.
"It was all true. Everything you had said that night after you had seen the police box outside the museum. Everything you told me about it being a magical box, and about Harvey Alexander being a shapeshifter, it was all true."
"You thought I was joking." There was silence. "I didn't expect you to believe me. No-one else does."
"But I knew," he suddenly interjected, some realisation on his face. "I knew there was something about you, Amy, something that made you stand out from everyone else. I knew you were no ordinary girl."
"You just didn't expect it to be this."
"Not exactly. I was more hoping that you would be involved in a criminal organization, something that I can relate to."
"Sorry to disappoint you." She gave him a kind smile. "You'll get used to it."
Back at the TARDIS, the Doctor raced off into one of the many corridors in the ship, leaving Amy and Sherlock in the console room to talk. Or for Amy to explain everything more like. But she didn't need to, not really. Sherlock understood.
"This shouldn't exist," he said as he examined the console. Despite the odd ridiculous fitting here and there the console was intricate in design. He wanted to touch everything, experiment, play.
"So you keep saying," sighed Amy as she leaned against the console, her arms folded. Her pale features glowed underneath the green light of the central column and the hot white lights above.
When the Doctor returned he was carrying a box. It contained the diamond. He gently placed it down on the jump seat.
"Can I see?" Amy fluttered her lashes until he gave in.
"Go on then. But be careful!"
She squealed in excitement and opened the box. The diamond was really small. "Is that it?" She frowned and glanced sideways at Sherlock who was looking too.
"That's it," said the Doctor, skidding around the console like he always did as he set the coordinates for the next destination.
"It's not much, is it?" commented Sherlock, a tad disbelieving that a diamond as small as that could be as destructive as the Doctor said it was.
"It's an energy source - an extremely dangerous energy source- encased inside a diamond - its protective shell. Don't be fooled by it's appearance. Surely you know that, Mr Holmes. What do you think of the TARDIS, by the way? Isn't she wonderful?"
"He keeps saying it shouldn't exist," laughed Amy, skipping back over to the console, raising her eyebrows as she directed her gaze at Sherlock.
The Doctor looked offended. "Shouldn't exist?! Well...she shouldn't if I'm honest. If I hadn't have stolen her then she wouldn't. But she does."
"Science like this is not possible," stated the detective calmly.
"Not possible? Come on, Mr Holmes, you know that it is. Remember all of those physics lessons at school? I do. I think I even taught you once. I wouldn't have looked like this, though... No, it's not possible yet. Yet. One day... Actually, time travel has been around for ages. Right now, out there, there are planets with technology far more advanced than Earth's."
"To time travel you would have to bend someone's ti-"
"Oh, I know all that. Now shut up, Sherlock. Don't spoil it," said the Doctor.
Amy laughed just as the TARDIS landed.
"Kadia, here I come!" the Time Lord exclaimed. He picked up the box and made for the doors.
"A word of advice," Amy whispered, reaching Sherlock. "Don't argue with the Doctor over science and time travel because, despite how brilliant your mind is, so is the Doctor's and you won't win. Trust me." With that, she grabbed his hand and pulled him out through the doors.
Kadia was stunning! On the bridge they had seen it as the blue planet. Now they were on it they could see that it was actually mostly white. It was covered in ice and snow. Red trees lined up alongside the icy path that they stood on, dusted lightly with glistening snow like the icing on a cake. The sky was grey but Amy was sure she could see a green hue peaking out underneath the clouds. She shivered, her hands clutching at her arms to keep warm. "Bit nippy."
"You should have brought a coat," teased Sherlock.
"Don't start."
At that he smirked.
They started walking, catching up with the Doctor. Although she tried to walk fast at first Amy had to slow down after she had almost slipped on the ice. "Where does the diamond belong?" she asked her alien friend.
"In the sacred temple. And don't worry, it will be easy to find because it is the only one on this planet." The Doctor knew exactly where he was going (for once) and so he walked ahead of the others.
The temple wasn't what Amy had expected. It was a crumbling skyscraper. She had pictured something like the Roman temples. The temple was black and it looked really out of place in the wintry landscape. Clearly it had been abandoned for some time. The windows were shattered (and still shattering, for Sherlock noticed the glass that fell to the ground from a good few meters above) and there were orange vines climbing up the structure, strangling it like a boa constrictor. It was as if someone had taken one of the tallest skyscrapers from New York and transported it all the way to this exact spot, damaging it on the journey.
"Woah..." Amy breathed, composing herself. Despite being used to surreal sights such as this, they still always managed to knock her for six. "It's beautiful."
"That it is," said the Time Lord, still walking. "You two, stay here."
Amy's brows knitted together and she stopped. "What? Why?"
"Humans are not allowed inside the temple. I would go ahead and explain it but then we would be here for a million years and I don't think we will live that long. You certainly wont. Let's just say the temple is human proof."
"What happens if we go inside?"
"You will meet a very slow and painful death. So stay put. I wont be too long. Also, stay away from the lake."
Sherlock had been observing their surroundings closely and he saw no lake. "Lake?"
"Yes. You'll meet a very slow and painful death there as well."
The Doctor disappeared off into the temple and Amy sighed. "It seems as if we're standing on a giant death trap."
"I know, isn't it fun?" Sherlock cracked a smile. Danger. Ha. He was used to that. He got his kicks from it.
"You know what? It kind of is," giggled Amy. "Shall we?" Arching a brow she looked at the detective suggestively and before they knew it they were rushing off to explore, heading into the towering red trees.
"How are you feeling?"
Sherlock slipped his head around in her direction, frowning.
"Travelling with the Doctor can make you feel a bit... strange."
"Oh, right. No. I'm fine." He sounded fine as well. Amy was surprised that he was coping so well. She had seen great people fall victim to the mindfucking of time travel. She had once seen Albert Einstein 'lose his cool' when the Doctor let him enter the TARDIS. And he was a scientist who had believed that time travel could be possible!
"You're not even a tiny bit confused? A tiny bit unsure about whether you are dreaming or not?" The first time she had entered the TARDIS she had been pinching herself over and over until the area on her arm she had been pinching had gone totally numb.
"I am quite capable of differentiating between real and fantasy," he began, his back straight. "All of my senses are working. Nothing is distorted, there are no vague images."
"But you're on another planet. You could be dreaming."
"I don't dream all that much. Even if I did, I doubt very much that my subconscious would form images such as this one in my head."
"Ah, right, yes," she said, nodding, "because there 'isn't any room for it' in your mind palace."
"It hasn't had much of an importance to me in my line work."
"I can't believe you didn't know the Earth goes around the Sun," she gasped before laughing.
He sighed. Not this again. He will never forgive John for adding that little unimportant fact to his blog.
"You're secretly interested," stated Amy carrying a smirk. "You're secretly freaking out."
The forest cleared and it appeared as if they were now behind the temple. They could still see it fingering the sky, but the entrance had gone and this side of the building looked even more decayed. They pushed through the red ferns, stepping into some deep, chilly snow. The white canvas before them stretched out for miles. Silver light pooled on the ice and it sparkled like clear glass. On the other side of the ice there was another forest, the trees taller and darker in colour than the one they had passed through.
"Who is that?" Sherlock spotted a figure lying on the icy plain. Their position seemed rather uncomfortable. Something was wrong.
Just as Amy squinted to get a better look, Sherlock was off across the ice in long strides, his coat flapping about behind him making him look the ever heroic figure. "Sherlock!" Amy called after him. When she stepped onto the ice she was slow, arms held outwards as if she was balancing on a wire. She was okay once she found the courage to move forwards in bigger steps. Every now and then she would look down to make sure she didn't step on anything that would put her in even more danger.
Sherlock was already examining the figure that had turned out to be the body of a young female. He suddenly halted, however, when he noticed that something about her wasn't right. Definitely not something he had expected.
"Is that?" Amy's mouth fell open when she peered down at the female from where she was stood at Sherlock's side. The top half of the female was naked, her hair silver and ending elegantly just below her breasts. Her skin was tinged with pale blue, her lips a deep purple, her eyelashes inhumanly long. Despite that, she looked like any other human being. Except for the fact that her bottom half was a shiny emerald fish tail.
"It would seem so," he replied. Fascination washed over his face. The only time he had ever believed that mermaids existed was when he went through his pirate phase as a child. He slowly bent down to get a closer look, his finger lightly tracing the skin on the female's arm. His expression kept contorting, changing from wide eyes to a frown to his head tilting to the side and back to the frown again. She wasn't dead. He could feel a very vague pulse.
"If that's a mermaid then we must be..." Amy trailed off as she scanned around, realisation hitting them both.
"On the lake," finished Sherlock, rising to his full height.
She gazed at the mermaid again. "We need to help her."
"No! Wait." Suddenly, Sherlock spun around, his coat swishing, and once he stopped he looked down. He had seen a moving shadow when he briefly glanced down. Frowning, Amy watched as he crouched down to the ice. Using his hand he cleared away some of the frost to see underneath the ice better. He was intrigued to see more, know more. He said it wasn't important knowing about this kind of thing but God he was curious. He brought his face up to the ice, staring through the ice into the lake below. "They're down there," he said. Shadows passed gracefully in the water below. "Fascinating."
A smile played on Amy's lips. Since she had known she had never really seen him interested in anything else other than he detective work. Arms folded she peered into the lake, too, spotting a shifting shadow which was gradually getting closer, the detail of the mermaid becoming more visible by the second.
Sherlock had his hand placed on the ice. That's when the mermaid under the ice forced her way through the ice, snarling, her teeth like fangs on a vampire, her fingernails claw-like and menacing. The ice broke, the shards being pushed up into the air before crashing down over Amy and Sherlock and the mermaid on the ice. Amy used her arms to shield herself, causing her to miss the moment the mermaid snatched Sherlock's wrist and pulled him under. There was a deep groan accompanied by a huge sound of splashing, Amy herself getting wet from the wave caused by mermaid and the disappearing detective. The spot where he had been crouched seconds ago was empty, a jagged-edged hole in the ice in it's place.
It took Amy a while to register what had happened. A beat. Then she was scrambling to the edge of the hole, screaming Sherlock's name, peering into the hole in an attempt to see him. All she saw was the ripples caused by the wave, her panicked reflection and brief shadows swimming by. "Sherlock! Sherlock! Oh, God, Sherlock!" In a moment of madness she stuck her face in the bitter cold water. It felt like her face had been shredded with knives. Yet it was virtually impossible to keep her eyes open for long enough to focus on anything. Twice more she tried, and twice more she failed.
Rising up, she gulped in air, her face pale white and her lips blue, her hair wet, sticking to her cheeks. The mermaid that had been lying on the ice had vanished, another hole in the ice made when it had disappeared down in to. It was a trap. Oh great. She rapidly paced, rubbing her hands over her face in panic. Think, Amy, think. What do I do? Get the Doctor... No! There isn't enough time. I'll have to go down there after him... I can't swim very well... What if I don't ever find him... What if he's... No! NO! He will be fine. He will be fine as long as I go down there and help him... I'm not important... I have to try.
She readied herself to dive down, inhaling huge bouts of air. Even if she didn't survive, she knew that she would feel better about dying for at least trying to save a friend. She was ready to go, quickly edging her way up the hole when there was another big splash - several big splashes that made her back away in shock - and Sherlock emerged from the water. He coughed and spluttered and desperately tried to cling to the edge of the ice.
"Sherlock!" Amy gasped, kneeling down in a instant to help him. "Oh, my God! Oh, my... Are you alright?!"
"I-I'm... fine. Jus-just help... me out..." he coughed, trying to push himself up even though exhaustion was getting the better of him, his limbs weaker than he would ever allow them to be.
She got hold of his upper arms and dragged him out of the water with all of her strength, her face and hands aching from their ordeal in the freezing lake. The water had made him heavy and he could not stop shivering once he was out and sprawled onto the ice. He was muttering incoherent words.
"You managed to fight her off..." she said as he rolled over onto his back, his chest rising and falling rapidly as he regained his breath. He simply nodded, unable to speak.
She hadn't realised that she was crying until she tasted the salt on her lips. She forced a smile, cupping his face in her hands, then his neck. "Thank God you're okay," she breathed. "I thought... Well, I thought..."
"Don't," he croaked and shook his head, fixing his eyes firmly on her. With his sheet white complexion and alien blue lips his eyes looked extremely eerie.
"Sorry." She moved her left hand away. It was tainted red. Concern struck her. "You're hurt." There was deep gash on his neck, crimson oozing from it in waves.
"I know," he spoke, the words vibrating as he shivered violently. "I'll be- I'll be fine... I-i-i-it's nothing..."
Shut up, Sherlock, that is not nothing! Shaking her head, Amy couldn't help but smile. He was still being stubborn. "Let's get you back to the TARDIS."
