Journey Amongst the Stars

By Lumendea

Chapter Four: Mirror on the Wall: The Handless and the Wolf

Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or any of the spinoff material and I gain no income off of this story, just the satisfaction of playing with the characters.

…..

Rose didn't trust the terrain as they walked. She didn't know if vines came alive in most fairy tales, but she was sure that she'd seen that in movies. There wasn't enough of a road for the cart, and she'd seen the clear hesitation in leaving it behind. Still, they'd come with her and the Doctor to her surprise.

"I still don't understand," Wilhelm said. "What is causing this?"

Rose and the Doctor exchanged a look. How did they explain this?

"Something powerful is using your stories for inspiration," the Doctor said.

"That's…"Jakob shook his head, but he didn't argue. "And we cannot leave the area." He shook his head. "I was minding the road. I'm sure that it didn't turn."

"It probably didn't," the Doctor agreed.

"Then how?" Wilhelm demanded. "That's not possible!"

"This creature… it can alter the world around you. It's not from this world, and I don't know what it wants here. It's kind often just like to toy with humans. They find it entertaining."

"You can't mean to say that magic is real?" Jakob gasped. "That- that the gods of old are real?"

"This isn't magic," the Doctor promised. "It's hard to explain, but no curses are waiting out here. If we can find my TARDIS, then we can fight back."

"Your what?"

"My TARDIS. It's a blue box. Keep an eye out for it."

"So you weren't out here on a horse," Jakob said. He was frowning and eyeing the Doctor suspiciously.

Rose spotted something ahead of them. A tall, dark shape through the trees. Glancing back at the men, she gestured for them to be quiet and then pointed ahead. Thankfully, even the Brothers Grimm fell silent. They crept forward slowly, each sound seeming exaggerated in the still forest. As they came closer, Rose could see that it was a stone tower.

The tower was made of dark stone and stood only about three stories tall. Around it, tall trees largely kept it hidden, but Rose was certain that it was a new addition to the forest. There was one window high and no doorway. It was silent, and there was no light coming from the upper window. A small curtain fluttering in the breeze was just visible, but there was no sign of any other movement.

"Doctor? How does the original Rapunzel end?"

"Rapunzel becomes pregnant from the prince and is banished into the wilderness by Gothel," the Doctor answered. "Then Gothel traps the prince and blinds him. The pair finds each other in the wild after Rapunzel gives birth. Her tears heal his eyes, and they survive."

"That's… not great," Rose said. "But not terrible."

"So what danger lies here?" Jakob asked. "If we are indeed threatened by the tales?"

"Maybe someone waiting to kill you as soon as you reach the top," the Doctor said.

"That's a pleasant thought," Rose said. "Maybe this isn't Rapunzel's tower. Maybe it's something else."

"The Eternal does need to be present physically," the Doctor agreed. He was frowning up at the window. "Not sure we should risk it."

"It might be a local watchtower," Jakob suggested. His voice wavered slightly. "Maybe it was already here."

Rose stepped away from the others and circled the base of the tower. There were no doors on the far side hidden away and no sign of even a secret entrance. Reaching out, Rose pressed her hand against the stone. It was rough with hints of wear from the weather, real and solid. If there had been a door, she would have considered Jakob's suggestion. Looking up, she found Wilhelm circling the tower and touching it as well.

"I am unsure if this is a miracle or a nightmare," he admitted. "These stories… they are our culture, part of the fabric of the society that we raise our children in, and yet now I sense foul intention within them."

"I'm sorry," Rose offered softly. "For what it is worth, I'm sure that the stories will be appreciated properly in the future." At least most of them, Rose inwardly added. Others she'd never heard of.

"Who are you?" Wilhelm asked. He was studying her as if she was a rare curiosity. "You and your companion? These strange happenings do not frighten you."

A howl made them all stop, and Rose's answer was lost. Rose's chest tightened, and her heart beat fast. The warning from the Brothers Grimm rang in her head, but she didn't think that they would help now. Then again, there was a bad wolf in the Three Little Pigs too, wasn't there? Probably others too given that Germany was a farming land. In old times surely wolves were one of the biggest fears. Another howl made Rose step away from the tower and scan the trees.

"Oh dear," Wilhelm breathed.

Something moved in the trees, but it was too tall to be a wolf. Rose's heart jumped; it was too tall unless it was a humanoid wolf-like in some portrayals. But it wasn't a wolf that stepped out of the trees. The figure was humanoid with a pale, almost blue face that looked like a painted doll. Thick golden curls surrounded the face, and it wore a long fancy gown. But horrifyingly, it had no hand. There were bloody stubs at the ends of its arms, but even worse was the ring of hands surrounding its head like a twisted halo. There were over a dozen of them, twitching and flexing their fingers. The figure walked slowly towards them, its face twisting and distorting slightly.

"This can't be from a fairy tale," Rose gasped. She took a step back.

"It's the handless girl," Jakob whispered. "But- but it isn't like this! Not at all like this!"

"Just stay calm," the Doctor said. "The Eternal is twisting your stories now to make them more frightening and potentially more dangerous."

"Eternal?" Jakob gasped, but he didn't finish his questions. "Uh, hello there, my lady. May we assist you?"

The figure stopped, and for a brief moment, Rose wondered if this might not be as horrible as it seemed. But then the figure opened its mouth. A sheer noise came out, and the hands all stopped moving. Before anyone could move, the hands left the halo and rushed towards them. One struck the Doctor in the chest, knocking him back several feet. Screams erupted from the Brothers Grimm. Hands flew through the air at them, and the brothers ran.

Shifting her wrist, Rose summoned her sword and brought it up in front of her. Three hands raced towards her. She swung at the closest, slicing through it. The flesh fell apart, and Rose's stomach turned at the sight of the blood. A scream bubbled up in her own throat, but she kept it in. More hands attacked her, and she swung, but one caught her in the back, making her stumble. She glanced back at the figure; it was drawing nearer and more hands were appearing around it. Rose tried to find the Doctor, but she couldn't see him close by. The Brothers Grimm were done.

In the distance, Rose thought she heard a familiar series of swear words, and as she turned to look, a pair of hands grabbed the back of her coat and hoisted her up. Rose swung the sword up blindly, trying to catch them, but failed. Her feet were pulled off the ground, and Rose struggled even more. She could feel the coat slipping and started trying to wiggle out of it, but the hands started moving, carrying her away from the tower. She let go of her sword and twisted her shoulder, trying to get free.

Trees rushed past her and Rose gasped several times as she swung too close to a thick trunk. Finally, she slipped free of her red coat and fell to the ground. Her foot caught a root, and she hissed in pain but scrambled to her feet. The hands instantly realized that they'd lost their prisoner. Her coat fell to the ground a few feet away, and they swung back to face her. Rose summoned her sword back and brought it up just as another howl ripped through the forest air. A massive wolf appeared in the corner of Rose's right eye. Its mixed white and grey fur almost shimmered in the low sunlight, and it snarled.

"Great," Rose whispered. She adjusted her stance, glancing between the wolf and the hands.

Before she could choose the first target, something moved to her left. Rose risked a look, and her stomach tightened. The creepy handless creature was walking towards her. There were more hands around its head now, once more forming the odd halo appearance. It didn't seem bothered by the wolf, and the dull eyes were focused on her.

The wolf lunged past Rose, snarling and blocking her view for a moment. The hand monster opened its mouth, but the massive wolf struck it head-on. They both tumbled to the ground, the wolf tearing wildly at the creature's chest. Rose was frozen, but only for a moment. Running forward, she looked around as the hands began zooming back towards the monster and the wolf. She sliced through the first two with rapid swings and shifted to block the third. She ignored the flesh as the hands fell open and reminded herself that this was just a creation of an Eternal. It wasn't a truly living thing, more like a solid illusion. She still felt sick.

Then the creature stopped moving, and the last of the hands dropped out of the air. Before Rose could start panicking about a body in the middle of the forest, it and all the hands began to dissolve. It fizzled, but only for a moment before it seemed to just collapse into a mound of dirt. Then the wolf moved forward and sniffed at the pile. The light forest breeze began to carry away the specks of dirt. Soon there would be nothing left. Rose wondered if that was how it always worked for Eternal's creations or something here was different.

The large wolf turned towards her, golden eye meeting hers and glinting in the light. Rose stopped and watched the creature move. It just stared at her, making no move to attack. Then before she could say or do anything, the wolf turned around and rushed into the trees. In the shadows of the trees, it quickly vanished from view leaving Rose alone and confused.

"Okay," she breathed. "Okay, forget Red Riding Hood being eaten. Apparently, I'm a friend to wolves."

A nervous laugh tried to build up in her chest, but she suppressed it. There were other things to worry about. The Eternal was twisting the fairy tales now, and she couldn't help but be very worried about that. Thankfully, the hands hadn't taken her far, and Rose pulled back on her coat as the chill tried to settle into her bones. Double checking her direction, Rose started to run back towards the tower, keeping her eyes and ears open for any sound of the others.

"Doctor!" she shouted. "Grimms? Can anyone hear me?" The forest was still and silent in response to her question. "Can't be far," Rose said to herself. "We're trapped after all."

"Rose?" She knew that voice and turned as another figure came running up.

"Doctor!" Rose sighed in relief and moved forward. He opened his arms and accepted the hug with a smile. "You alright?" Rose asked. Pulling back a bit, she checked him over for injuries. There was some slight bruising around his neck that made her frown. "What happened?"

"I'm fine. Managed to get free of those hands. Then they vanished not long after. Was that you?"

"Uh… sort of, I got some help from local wildlife."

"What?"

"A wolf helped me," Rose answered. She shrugged. "I don't get it either."

"Bit different than the Bad Wolf we were expecting," the Doctor said. Then he frowned a little. "Then again… maybe not." Then he shook his head. "Come on; we have to find the TARDIS and fast!"

"What about the brothers?" Rose asked. She gestured around. "They're out here too."

"I know, but the Eternal is going to keep giving us the runaround. If it is using their minds and knowledge as the source of these ideas, then it can't hurt them." He sounded confident and met her gaze. "We'll help them best by stopping that Eternal."

"Okay," Rose agreed. "Doctor, I think it's in the tower." The attack happened when we found the tower. "It seems… I-"

"I agreed." The Doctor cupped her cheek gently. "There's a telepathic force there. I didn't feel it at first. It was probably blocking us, but once the attack started, it had to reach out more." He took her hand gently. "Come on, Rose. Let's find the TARDIS and put a stop to this bad story."

…..

Clinging to the trunk of the tree, Jakob tried not to think about the branches creaking below him. They had to hold even if only a little longer. Below him, stood three wolves all with glowing gold eyes that made him shiver. They were just looking up at him, not growling or snarling. He swallowed. His fear was beginning to be replaced with curiosity. These wolves were behaving oddly, but after that horrible handless creature that was an insult to the story, he wasn't sure what these creatures might be capable of.

"They don't seem to be attacking," Wilhelm said.

He looked over to a nearby tree where Wilhelm was waiting. His brother seemed to have picked the superior tree to climb as the branches formed an empty space for him to sit. He looked much more comfortable and was actually learning out to study the wolves. Two more were under his tree.

"They seem to be waiting for something," Wilhelm added. Then he looked out into the forest. "I can see the tower, barely, but I can see it."

Jakob couldn't see the tower from his position. The thick green leaves were too thick around him. "Do you see the others?"

"No, and no sign of those hands. Maybe it was killed, and that's why the hands vanished."

"Killed by whom?" Jakob muttered. "Our companions didn't strike me as dangerous. Odd but not dangerous."

"I disagreed, my brother. There was something odd about them both. They are enshrouded in secrets."

"Yes, but I don't think they mean us harm." Glancing down at the wolves, Jakob swallowed nervously. "Either try to eat us or move off. This doesn't seem like normal behavior."

"Maybe they are trying to starve us out. I fear I don't know much about the hunting patterns of wolves." Wilhelm chuckled. "It almost seems like they are trying to keep us here. Making sure that we can't get into any trouble."

Jakob snorted and adjusted his grip on the trunk. He looked up, trying to see if there was a better position he could shift himself into. There wasn't, and he sighed. Then he looked down at the wolves. They were still just watching them, making no sounds. He had to admit that while crazy, his brother's thought didn't seem completely unreasonable.

….

The TARDIS was right ahead of them, but that made Rose stop in suspicion. The Doctor tried to keep walking, but Rose grabbed his arm tightly to hold him still. Nothing moved. She could feel the soft hum of the TARDIS in her mind and was certain that this was the real TARDIS.

"This has trap written all over it," Rose whispered. A breeze blew across her face. The forest was silent. "We found it a bit easily, don't you think."

"Maybe, but the Eternal might be busy with something else." He smiled softly at her, but Rose could see the worry in his eyes. "We have to try."

Nodding, Rose released the Doctor's arm, and he took a step forward. Beneath his feet, the ground rumbled. They both dashed forward, the Doctor pulling out his key and Rose summoning her sword. Thorns burst from the rumbling ground, their vines reaching towards Rose and the Doctor. Swinging her sword, Rose barely sidestepped a vine that attempted to tangle around her ankle. The Doctor to her surprise, actually shifted behind her, letting Rose slice through another vine.

One vine twisted towards her, the three-inch-long thorns moving too close for comfort. In the distance, Rose heard a howl and snarled herself, slamming the blade through three vines at once. The Doctor jumped forward, ducking under another vine and going for the TARDIS door. Spinning around, Rose sliced another vine near the root and backed up towards the Doctor.

"Never saw the TARDIS as a castle," Rose said.

"You'd be surprised."

Then she heard the door open. The hum of the TARDIS increased, and she stepped back, nearly falling over another vine. Strong arms caught her and Rose slashed down with her sword to cut the offending vine. As the Doctor pulled her inside, more vines and thorn bushes rose up around the TARDIS. Before the door was kicked shut, the thorns completely blocked Rose's view of the forest.