Disclaimer: Trust me, I don't own this TV-Show Doctor Who
Trust
(Missing Scene S.6 Ep.11)
There are monsters lurking in this hotel's rooms. Some expected, some not. But if you are brave enough to confront them, you get rewarded.
-o0O0o-
Warning: Mentions of torture and betrayal and also self harm and attempted murder. Yes, this is playing in that creepy hotel and Tella has some serious problems and angsty issues. You can skip to the next paragraph sign, to avoid the darkness.
-o0O0o-
Tella knew fear.
You just had to confront her with a body of water. She refused to even step into puddles and shut down whenever asked about it. All three of them had for obvious reasons thought they had seen Tella angry before but they were proven wrong when they one time had pranked her by throwing her into a lake.
She had already screamed and begged when the Doctor had grabbed her torso and Amy and Rory her legs, but Amy was never able to forget the look of utter panic and horror when she darted out of the water and broke down shaking on the shore, grasping for air. She was able to swim, the swift powerful strokes with which she saved herself onto dry land again proofed that, so it had to be one of her so many secrets, one of the really bad experiences she had. Because she had unleashed her sharp tongue on all of them this time and in a destructive and hurtful manner she never had before, too, before vanishing into the depths of the TARDIS for about four days, and even after reappearing it took her another week to speak with them again.
And there was something else, far deeper hidden and only visible in the rare moments of honesty, when her mask slipped away to allow a peek at the true, age old persona behind it. Amy had seen it twice so far and the first time back then on the Byzantium, that glimpse of age old fear had caused her to trust Tella, despite the circumstances. She never thought she one day would discover what exactly this spark was.
So yes, Tella knew fear.
In fact the Timelady wasn't even brave. No, not at all but practical. If a task made certain actions otherwise considered brave necessary she did them. But she always preferred to give the first take to others.
So the moment her eyes settled on the statuesque figure sitting on the bed with the back to the door, Amy wondered about her untypically changing her mind about staying in the lobby guarding that mad guy instead of following the little group around to explore the rooms full of bad dreams. "Tella?"
No reaction. Amy carefully took a step closer. "Tella? Lady Storyteller?"
"I'm blind, not deaf." Her voice was glass, but chipped one. Wait a second…..
"Blind?"
No reaction. Amy took another step. "Tella?"
"What do you want, Pond?" It was the same cold aloofness she splat Amy's Name with, she had used on that lake.
Taken aback, Amy started to stutter. "I.."
"Because if you have nothing to say, leave this room."
Amy blinked. "All right. What's going on here."
And Tella snorted. But otherwise stayed silent.
Amy knew that behavior, knew it all too well. Tella was sulking. In a more expressive way than normal, but still sulking.
Amy observed the stiff posture, the back and silver robes, anything that could give her an indication about….
Tella was wearing a navy blue blazer with fitting dress and shoes today.
"This… this is your room!"
"Is it? I hadn't noticed. I thought the Doctor had a name-plate made for my door. Or didn't he, I can't read it. Oh, I beg your pardon, you already know that."
Her voice was off. Pure acid but also something else, something Amy had never heard before.
This was not Tella, this was not real. And still, Amy wasn't able to turn away.
"What happened? Tella, please, talk to me!"
"Enough! I refuse to be the subject of your mockery, anymore. I resurrected you from the death, do you rely think something like those ridiculous shackles are going to held back the Celestial Storyteller? The only reason you or the Doctor or any other of his oh so beloved humans are able to held me here is because I wish it. So. Do. Not. Try. My. Patience! GET OUT!"
In a fluid movement she stood and turned with an rattling of the shackles connecting her hands with each other but also each cuff to the floor. This wasn't even the most frightening thing, neither was her completely untypical ruffled and unkempt hair.
Her eye sockets were empty, her complete eyeballs missing, scratched out with blood still on her cheekbones, her facial expression further disfigured from an inhuman sneer of pure loathing.
Amy stumbled backwards causing Tella to smile or rather bare her teeth, continuing in a low voice. "Oh, yes. Your little human brain starts to understand its orders. Now repeat that action, one step after another, until you feel a flat surface against your back. That's the Door. You will turn, grasp the handle, open it, step through it and close it again."
With every word she took a step closer, forcing Amy to retreat , until Tella's hands were stretched behind her and held her back from diving Amy further to the door.
But Amy dind't left. "Tella, talk to me! Please, what the hell is going on!"
It was an Illusion. Nothing but an Illusion. But that behavior frightened Amy, more than any other of Tellas previous outbursts. Something was off. The way she moved was to edgy, her smile to sharp.
"Tella please, let me help you!"
She grew silent, tilting her head in that way a blind person did, when listening. "Helping me? You would... Does the Doctor know of this."
Amy shook her head and remembered, she couldn't see her. "No, no I'm alone."
A weary smile crossed the Storytellers bloodied face. "You really want to help me, do yo? Why now? After everything."
"Listen, I don't know what's going on. But of course I'll help you. We're friends."
"Friends, Indeed. Very well, opening the shackles will be sufficient."
"Ok. Ok... How?"
"By ordering the TARDIS to do so, of course, deary."
Ok, this wasn't the TARDIS. Just another reminder, that all this was an Illusion, nothing more. But Amy wanted to know. Needed to know.
So she went on and took a deep breath. "Please let Tella go."
And the shackles hit the floor with a ringing sound.
Tella needed a few seconds to register what exactly had happened than she slowly lifted her hands, feeling for the now missing restraints.
Amy grinned. "You're free."
Tella nodded and stepped closer, a disbelieving smile on her face. "I am. You are really my friend, Amy Pond."
"Of course, I..."
And then Tella kicked her into her stomach. Amy bend in pain and before even registering what happened, Tella had somehow picked up the chain and slung it around her neck!
Amy trashed, fumbling for the chain merciless strangling her, while Tella's soft, comforting voice hummed in her ear.
"Hush, everything is gong to be alright, Amy. Yo must never be the subject of his anger. I will not allow my friends to be hurt, I promise you. its all for the best, pleas stop resisting. Everything is going to be fine, trust me in this, my dear friend. I will not lose more of my beloved to him. Please, be calm, I am not going to hurt you. I never will. I am not him. You can trust me, i will never lie to you, I respect you. Amy, I am your friend. As you are mine. Hush now, please. Trust me."
Air. She needed Air! The world already started to fade around her.
And then, the grip loosened and she stumbled forward grasping and coughing and sinking down on the bed.
Somebody called her name, a warm hand resting on her shoulder, and a blurr of a person.
"Tella..." Amy croaked, and coughed again.
"Everything is alright. You are save now. I am here."
Amy gulped and flinched back, because it really was Tella sitting next to her. But as her sight gained focus, she realized it was the real one. Her Tella, with her strangely colored eyes and her navy-colored human outfit.
"Your room..."
Tella smiled weakly. "It seemed you have found it. We have searched the whole hotel for you."
"The hotel..." whispered a voice behind them and Amy flinced. Because the other was still there, laying on the floor, leaned up against the wall she seemed to be shoved agaist, when the real one saved Amy.
"Ignore her, " Tella, the real one mumbled.
"Ignoring me. I remember now, telling precious Amelia exactly the same once. The Pasiphae Hotel, right. Such an easy riddle to solve, but so many had to die before we found out."
Amy furrowed her brows. "What's she talking about."
"No Idea. Ignore her. Let us get out of here."
But the other one raised her voice. "Oh no, you will not. Not this time. I will not allow you to do the same mistakes. Lapskraus, Milady Storryteller!"
And the real Tella froze. "No. No. You are just an illusion, a depiction of….."
The creature used the time to stumble to her feet. "The hotel, right? The Pasiphae- Hotel. Such an easy riddle to solve , indeed. Just a little knowledge needed on human folklore. You have studied human folklore already, have you not? Anyway, it had been an adventure. Amy had found my room…. Oh yes. You had found my room. I hope I have said it just like it once had been said to m e. I hate to break a paradox, but you know that."
Amy blinked. "A paradox? Tella,what is going on here."
"The trouble with Timetravel, deary," both said simultaneously, before the Tella with eyes, the real Tella Amy reminded herself, flinched. The other one just smiled that unsettling smile again and continued. "There is always the possibility to meet yourself, just from another time."
"That's why I decided in my first regeneration to use a specific word to reveal my identity to my former self, so the damage such a meeting is likely to cause can be avoided," the real Tella reluctantly explained.
"Lapskraus," added the blind one satisfied.
Wait. Really?
"She is from your future."
"Or so the hotel want me to believe."
The blind one sighted. "I knew you would react like that. I reacted like that. Pushing the truth away, although I knew it was going to happen. There is a reason you fear your nick name, after all. Tella. Tella and the Time Lord with the silver, unruly hair and the dark skinned human companion. You still remember them. That's why you froze in shock the first time He called you that. You remember. You remember the day he discovers our former name. The day he does this to us, the day the Doctors next regeneration activate our…."
"There is no next regeneration. This one is his Thirteenth."
The other one chuckled. "After all this time you are still convinced he follows any rules? Especially the ones created a applying by the gallifeyan society? What a naïve child I had yes I have been so naive. I had followed him in his TARDIS after that, after what you remember. And he had activated the chip again, chained us to the Zero-Room and exposed us to time and space and we scratched our eyes out so we did not have to see all those timelines and we stuffed the remnants, that glittery jelly into our ears so we did not have to hear all those stories hidden in the music of the spheres. The pain had always kept us sharp, our mind unclouded. And the Doctor had watched us, watched us like he watched Gallifrey burn and he had done nothing to…."
Her head tilted in an unnatural angle she sunk to the floor.
Tella's movement had been so fast, Amy stared blankly into space before realizing the posture the untypically heavy breathing Time Lady stood in: right hand before her chin, left hand before her solar plexus.
She had snapped her neck.
Tella had just snapped somebody's, no not somebody's, her own neck. Because she hadn't liked what that person had said.
The lifeless figure on the floor flickered before disappearing. This caused Tella to take a deep breath and roll her shoulders before turning to Amy, still with a green nose but a strong, normal voice. "Well, at least we have figured one way out to get rid of those illusions. Because that is all this was: an Illusion. Just an illusion. Just an Illusion."
Then she closed her eyes and placed her thumb and index finger on the root of her nose. "Of course. Pasiphae. Greek mythology. The Mother of the Minotaurus. Believe! They are not feasting on our fear but on our believe."
She carefully smiled. "I hope you are all right. I am sure there will be some cool drink to be found in the lobby to help your sore throat. I apologize for not preventing anything of this from happening"
Was she kidding?
She had just killed a person!
More exactly a version of herself!
A version the Doctor had tormented, forcing her into insanity. To attack Amy and atempt to murder her to save her from the Doctors wrath, because Amy had freed her.
"This? This is your deepest fear? You… you're afraid of the Doctor?"
"I am not afraid of the Doctor."
No she wasn't. She was afraid of the Doctor uncovering her Identity.
Amy gulped. "Who are you!"
There was this distant look again, but no answer. But Amy would not let her get away with it. Not this time.
She knew Tella had committed some crimes, she had been exiled to this colony after all. But her believing the Doctor capable of this?
"Tella, who are you. Honestly. The Doctor won't never ever do something like this. To anyone! What have you done to think he will do this to you. Why do you even think of him treating you like that!"
"It is what Time Lords do to monsters. It is what he does to monsters."
"You're no Monster, Lady Storyteller! This thing out there, killing people, trapping them in this place, this is a monster. Not you. "
A sarcastic voice in her head reminded her of monsters killing people just like she did a few seconds ago without blinking an eye.
That green nose had been caused by the things that Illusion had said.
A monster was able to coldly place a Weeping Angel in Amy's eye because it was required for a fix point.
Tella also hadn't apologized for strangling her, merely for not preventing it.
And ther'd been this smile, the voice of that chained thing, that chained monster… no!
"You're not a monster."
Tella closed her eyes. "No, no I am not. Not anymore. And that is why we desperately need to find the Doctor, there are some things we need to tell him to save us all."
"Yeah, ehm. Ok. Lady Storyteller?"
"Yes, Amy?"
"It's save, your secret I mean. I won't tell anybody. But I'm sure it will never come to this."
Tella nodded and opened the door, then closed it again. She turned, came back to Amy. She stopped before her thoughtfully and then hugged her. She hugged her.
Lady Storyteller hugged her!
She was this shocked, she nearly missed the Time Lady whispering in her ear. Just nearly.
And as she pulled her back onto an arms length, her gloved hands still placed on Amy's shoulders, she stared dumbfounded into Tella's age old eyes full of vulnerability and age old fear but also a tiny spark of… hope? "This, is who I had been."
"…Why?"
Lady… Tella shrugged. "You didn't run away when confronted with myself. This person still exists, even if you were never suposed to see even a glimpse of her. You trusted her, fully. You at least deserve the Name of the person forcing you through this."
She gestured at the room, then furrowed her eyebrows. "Still we really need to go now."
Shaken from her daze and glad for an escape out of this surreal situation she had no Idea how she even had gotten herself into, Amy nodded briskly. "Yeah, definitely."
There was still another monster on the loose.
-o0O0o-
The Door opened to a leafy suburban street, with a row of terraced houses opposite a small park.
Tella inspected everything with a critical eye, which was weird. Amy laughed and turned. "Don't tell me. This isn't Earth, that isn't a real house. And inside lives a goblin, who feeds on indecision."
That Minotaur had been freaky, and she had enough from things like that for the rest of the week.
The Doctor smiled. "No. Earth, real house," -he pulled a keychain out of his pocked and rattled it-" real door keys."
What? "You're not serious."
She looked from the wide grin on the Doctors face, to Tella, who tilted her head to one of the Houses with a TARDIS blue painted Door and a well-preserved E-type Jaguar parked outside. Wait, what. THIS one?
Rory spluttered. "The car, too? But, that's my favorite car. Tella, did you ... How did you know that was my favorite car, Doctor?"
"You showed that picture everybody, Rory," Tella corrected with that mischievous twinkle in her eyes. "I had nothing to do with it. The extensive movie collection on the other hand..."
"And a library..." Amy added half-hardy, but Tella shook her head.
"I am afraid, with the home cinema and the winter garden, there was only place for a small collection of titles."
"Home Cinema!"
Amy gulped and turned to her Husband. "Rory, can you give us two minutes? Two minutes?"
He laid one arm around the Doctors shoulders. " She'll say that we can't accept it because it's too extravagant and we'll always feel a crippling sense of obligation. It's a risk I'm willing to take." He threw the keys in the air and caught them, grinning.
"Hey."
At least, he turned to leave, but was stopped by Tella, calling his name. Surprisingly enough, the Time Lady turned to Amy. "May I?"
Amy shrugged, not sure what exactly she wanted. "Yes?"
And then Tella hugged her husband. That was the moment Amy knew something was wrong.
Rory blinked dumbfounded and needed two takes to talk. "Tella..."
She didn't loosen the hug. "As far as I know it is practice hugging each other when receiving a gift, or not?"
"Normally the person getting the gift hugs the giver."
They couldn't contain their laughter anymore, when Tella flinched back as if he burned her. "I... I apologize."
"Nothing to, "Rory muttered with read ears, before remembering what he wanted to do before her sneak attack and disappeared into the house. No, Amy decided, she didn't like the emptiness in Tella's Eyes one bit. She leaned against the bonnet.
"You're leaving, aren't you."
"Oh, you haven't seen the last of me. Bad Penny is my middle name. Seriously, the looks I get when I fill in a form, it's…."
"Why now, "she interrupted, looking from him to Tella and back.
He sighted, eyes terribly old. "Because you're still… breathing."
She closed her eyes, trying to hide her breaking voice in a laugh. "Well, I think this is about the washing up, personally. "
He laughed and jumped forward, gesturing exited. "I mean, you're right, there's still heaps of stuff out there to look at. Do you know, there's a planet whose name literally translates as Volatile Circus?"
At least he was overexerting. He was trying to mask his sadness. Or not, because he was sobering down. "Or maybe there's a bigger, scarier adventure waiting for you in there." He gestured to the house.
Amy shyly looked to the door, then shook her head. "Is it because of her? What did she do, to convince you to do this."
"We all know, I cannot persecute him to do anything, Amy," corrected Tella.
Amy gulped down her tears. "Even so, it can't happen like this. After everything we've been through, Doctor. Everything. You can't just drop me off at my house and say goodbye like we've shared a cab."
"And what's the alternative? Me standing over your grave? Over your broken body? Over Rory's body?"
Amy turned to Tella, silently asking for help with this stubborn …. There was the vulnerability all over her face again. Her pain of her lost people and… friends and the fear of losing Amy and Rory, the same she saw in the Doctors eyes. Lady A… Tella stepped forward and took Amy's hands in hers. "I promise, this won't be the last time we see each other. But it is for the best this way."
Amy nodded. She was right. The both were right. She had lost as much as she had gained on her travels in the TARDIS, after all. And the Doctor always wanted the best for them. Even if it meant to let go. Besides, Tella promised. "Don't be a stranger."
Tella smiled, let go and bowed. So, did Amy, before the Doctor hugged her tightly.
"If you bump into my daughter, tell her to visit her old mum sometime."
He loosened the hug and grinned. "Look after him." Rory.
"Look after you," she countered. "Seriously, Tella. You have the full clearance to be the most sufferable pain in his ass to prevent him from doing something stupid."
A mischievous grin flashed over her face, and with a startle, Amy realised it was the same of the projection, the same she had seen a few times so far but never made the connection. To Tella's more open, playful side, yes. But never to her madness. Which painted a lot of situations in a way darker light, and made Amy realize why the Storyteller kept them all in apparently blissful ignorance.
And for a second, she cursed herself for not searching the TARDIS Library for Information about who Tella had been.
"That will not be necessary," Tella interrupted her thoughts and remembered Amy, she could trust her.
"We're going to be fine," The Doctor flashed a grin and stubbed her nose.
Amy ginned despite her tears falling freely now. "Bye."
He followed Tella into the Tardis, but both turned at the entrance. The Doctor waved, and Amy waved back. Tella smiled encouragely, before closing the doors.
Amy held her eyes glued to the dematerializing TARDIS, even when she heard Rory's confused voice behind her, screaming over the unique groaning sound.
"What happened? What're they doing!"
"He's saving us."
-o0O0o-
"Why this sudden change of heart?"
"You know why." He grabbed the monitor and pulled it forward so they both could see the file on it.
"I want answers," he demanded.
"You know I cannot give you any."
"Because you don't know enough, too. Yes. You just seem to be the type of person who hates to be in the unknown."
"You are afraid."
He should have known, his poor attempt at bribery didn't work. Well better save, than sorry. Lat time it was playing on her curiosity which got her joining him, after all. He waved his hands dismissingly. "Oh, everybody dies, sooner or later. No. No," he clasped his hands and kneaded them together while leaning forward, "I want to know why."
Her eyes lingered on his. "A comprehensible demand."
"Especially with how far they went to do it."
She said nothing.
He inhaled and straightened his bowtie. "Tella…."
"No."
"I see…. Not even when I ask you to help me, as a friend?"
"It is not my place. As much as I despise not getting all pieces of the puzzle. But I cannot. This is yours and yours alone. After all, you are the one knowing the answer."
"Spoilers," he warned.
"You already know that, so no."
He shrugged and started typing in coordinates. "So, Dandelecan IV then."
"If you wish."
He blinked and looked up.
She sat down on the passenger seat. "I cannot help you on your quest of seeking the reasoning behind your murder. But how am I able to stop you from going on a little farewell trip around the universe with a few detours before reaching Dandelecan IV. It is still one trip."
He laughed, setting the coordinates on random and pulled down the lever. "One day, I'm going to check your DNA, so you're not some weird hidden Regeneration of the Master!"
"I am the Storyteller. I am worse," she answered dryly.
He shook his head. "No, because I trust you."
"So do I," she lied through her teeth.
AN: Hey!
No, Amy does not knew Tella's full name, just the one she had before and during the Time-war. You can go back to my shot "What is in a name" and read the AN, if you want a deeper explanation of my thoughts on that topic. Still, this is an immense show of trust as we learn later. In fact, Amy Pond now has Tella's utter and completely trust. Sadly we are also nearing ourselves the end of the eleventh arc.
They won't see each other for a long time.
Tella not hugging Amy at their farewell is her trying to keep controll over the situation. Amy knows that and respects it, that's why she doesn't thy to hug Tella.
Gosh, this fic turns into one single pile of angst. But to be honest this was meant to be a darker one from the beginning one. Still, I definitely need more humorous scenes. Tella has a funny side, too. On the other hand this chapter was to be expected to turn into something like that.
Anybody caught the Easter eggs this time?
Oh and I started to publish the Leviathan Storyline. It has way shorter chapters and won't be updated frequently but I hope it will be enjoyable. Its currently on hold, actually.
As you may have noticed I now leave a note which chapter was added in the summary of the story to make this a little easier to read.
Thanks for rab70149 and aimeitingguo for following, and for everybody else staying with this collection regardless of the current chaos.
As always read and review
alkatie
23062017
24042018
