Episode: Silence in the Catacombs
Chapter: You Might Want to Find Something To Hang On To [2/6]
Summary: Amy Pond wanted a peaceful outing, just for once. Doctor River Song wanted a lift from her partner in crime. Father Octavian wanted an army to defeat one of the most terrifying monsters in the galaxy. The Master wanted everything to start making sense again. Or the one where legends and statues come to life and the past and the future conspire against Amy and the Master.
Rating: T
Amy blinks once, twice – and turns away from the display with a short laugh and a huff.
"Oh my God, you got me! I actually thought you were serious, but you really got me! Well, I have to give it to you, Raggedy Man. That was great acting," she admits, turning back to him with a smile—
Just in time to see the Doctor slam his elbow through the glass.
The alarms come to life all around them, but the Doctor ignores them in favor of taking the box out of the ruined display and running down the corridor.
"Amy, TARDIS, come on!" he orders, but Amy is already fast on his heels, trying to make sense of what happened.
"What did you do that for?!"
"It's Gallifreyan! I'm the last of the Time Lords, the only remaining living being who knows this language, so that means I must have written it. But why would I write that? I mean, 'hello, sweetie'? That's obviously a way to get my attention, which means there's something important recorded in this box!" he explains between pants as they run to the TARDIS, ignoring the guards shouting at them to stop. "And now we're going to see what it is!"
Amy shuts the door at her back as soon as they're both inside, and rushes to the railing before the Raggedy Man dematerializes the TARDIS, taking a moment to recover her breathing before she joins him by the console.
"Wait, you were serious? That thing really says 'hello, sweetie'?"
"I told you, didn't I? Weren't you listening?" he huffs without looking up from the electrode-thingies he's connecting to it. "Now, let's see if we can get the security playback working," he adds with a grin, pressing some buttons before they look up at the screen.
The feed is grainy at first but clears quickly, leaving them with a black and white image of a woman in a dressing gown, with curly hair and dark glasses, exiting a chamber right in front of the camera, holding a small revolver at the ready.
She looks both ways down the corridor before looking at the camera, lowering her gun and pushing her sunglasses down – and giving them a wink, smirk included.
Amy chuckles as quietly as she can, because that looks like something out of a spy movie.
The Raggedy Man, on the other hand, is frowning quite seriously, quiet as he presses a couple buttons for the image to follow her when she moves down the corridor.
"That was the home box chamber. But how did she know what to write?"
"Maybe you wrote it down for her? You know, this way you could distract the crew or do whatever while she wrote that there," Amy suggests, alternating between looking at the screen and at the Doctor.
"Could be."
"The party's over, Doctor Song," a man's voice calls as the image focuses on the woman standing in front of yet another round door, her back to the camera. "Yet still you're on board," he adds as she turns around, completely calm and without her sunglasses anymore.
"Sorry, Alistair. I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there?"
"She's so cool," Amy whispers, grin growing, while the Doctor's frown turns confused.
"What's down there… Whatever's in the vault, she didn't take it," he points out, and Amy can feel her excitement grow.
"Any of you?" Doctor Song adds, before dropping her sweet tone for something more dangerous, her smirk also slipping away. "Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach its destination."
"Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution," Alistair answers, presumably giving the orders to whoever goons he has with him, out of the camera.
Doctor Song doesn't seem bothered by that, though, looking at her wristwatch.
"Triple seven five slash three four nine by ten. Zero twelve slash acorn," she says completely unbothered, though she makes sure to look straight at the camera and adjust her curls with a grin with her last words.
The Doctor's eyes grow wide just before he rushes into motion, adjusting levers and pushing buttons all over the TARDIS' controls.
"Hold on! Those are coordinates!" he shouts at Amy, who makes sure to grab onto one of the dividers of the console before the ship starts to shake.
"Oh, and I could do with an air corridor," Doctor Song adds, and that's when it becomes clear that it is a message, the whole graffiti thing and these numbers now, and that she knew who she was sending it to.
After all, the Raggedy Man is the last of the Time Lords, the only creature in the whole universe who can read Gallifreyan and is in possession of a TARDIS, a space- and time-traveling machine. Who else could she have sent this message to?
"Like I said on the dance floor… You might want to find something to hang on to," Doctor Song tells Alistair and whoever is with him, and Amy has to laugh.
"She is really cool! Do you know her, Raggedy Man? Why didn't you ever tell me about her?" she asks as she watches Doctor Song blow a kiss to the people off the camera, just before the door at her back opens – and she's sucked into the void. "She's out in space!"
"Hold on!" the Raggedy Man shouts, pulling another lever before rushing to the door, opening it and reaching out—
And crashing back inside with a grunt, with Doctor Song lying on his chest.
"That was amazing!" Amy gushes, almost bouncing on her toes. "It was just like a spy movie!"
"Hello, Sweetie," Doctor Song tells the Raggedy Man as she gets off him, winking down at his wide-eyed and breathless form. "I knew you'd love the hair," she adds before jumping to her feet and watching the ship fly away outside of the TARDIS. "Come on, we have to follow it!" she orders, rushing to the controls as she pulls her really tall high heels off, and Amy's admiration turns to worry when she realizes the Raggedy Man is still silent.
He's sitting up now, but one of his arms is curled around his ribcage and his breaths are more like gasps.
"Draining the lungs. Never a good experience."
The Raggedy Man was shot by a Dalek, twice, one shot almost blowing up his hand while the other did internal damage. And that was just yesterday. He may be a lot better, may not even look hurt anymore, but that doesn't mean he's fully healed. And Doctor Song landed right on top of him with who knows how much force.
Amy rushes down to the door to help him up, ignoring Doctor Song doing who knows what with the TARDIS and talking to herself – or to them, but since no one is listening, it's about the same thing.
"Are you alright?" Amy asks as he gets to his feet, and the Raggedy Man takes a deeper breath and nods.
"Come on! They've gone into warp drive; we need to stay close or we'll lose them!" Doctor Song calls from the controls, and Amy finally realizes she is operating the TARDIS, she is flying her.
The Raggedy Man rips his arm out of Amy's grip and crosses the distance in two long steps before Amy can realize what's happening.
"Use the stabilizers!" Doctor Song tells the Raggedy Man—
And he grabs her arm and pushes her into the jump seat instead, grabbing the other tightly before she can get over her surprise and do more than stare wide-eyed at his snarl.
"Just who do you think you are? Coming in here, into my TARDIS, and barking out orders as if I'm nothing but your servant! Well, newsflash, I have had enough of people thinking they can do whatever they please with me, I have had enough of being ordered around like a good little soldier! I am no one's tool and no one's puppet, and you can't use me anymore!"
"Doctor—"
"Don't call me that!" he roars, bristling almost visibly, and the TARDIS' wheezing turns louder and almost pained, while Doctor Song's expression goes from startled to fearful, and Amy takes a step back. "That's what you think, isn't it? Oh, the Doctor will save us, the Doctor will fix everything so we can go back to doing whatever we please and being idiots. Well, tough! The Doctor won't fix anyone's messes ever again! The Doctor is gone, you took everything that could ever be taken, took all mercy and hope and left nothing behind! Only pain and loss and the weight of all those choices you primitive, useless, greedy little monsters forced your precious Doctor to make because it. Was. Convenient! And you know what? Congratulations! Now there's nothing left but me! And I won't hesitate to say no, to leave you to die, because I have died enough because of your pathetic race, I have lost enough to your meaningless mudball of a planet, and I have nothing left to lose!"
Amy is the one gasping now, pressing tightly against the railing she backed into, and trying to keep any sounds at bay, be it whimpers or sobs. Doctor Song looks heartbroken, her eyes shiny with tears and her hands shaking where they are tightly holding onto the seat.
And the Raggedy Man's snarl twists into something that could almost be called a grin, but which has too many teeth and absolutely no humor in it.
"If I ever scare you, if it ever looks like I'm losing my mind… Rule 6. Remember that one."
"Rule 6!" Amy shouts before she realizes it, stumbling up the ramp to the control platform, and the Raggedy Man's head snaps up to stare at her with wide-eyed wild eyes, the shock in them slowly dragging the man back from under all of the pain and rage and grief. "Rule 6, Rule 6. Please, Raggedy Man, Rule 6."
"Doctor Rule Number 6. Look pretty," Doctor Song elaborates, and the Raggedy Man jerks away from her as if the mere contact had burnt him.
"How do you know about those?" he asks in a whisper, that last shock finally chasing the darkness away, and Amy lets out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.
"I know you in the future. Look, we can't lose that ship. I'll explain when we land, but we have to—" Doctor Song adds, but the moment she stands up from the seat and tries to approach the console, the Raggedy Man snarls at her, forcing her back.
"You stay there, don't move, don't even look at Amy, and you will tell me everything," he hisses, pointing at the seat, and Doctor Song obeys and sits down once more.
"I'll tell you as much as I can."
And that seems enough for him, because he turns his back to Doctor Song and starts to maneuver the TARDIS, whose flight is much smoother than usual, if as noisy, with just tiny minute shivers instead of the shaking that happens normally.
Amy is curious as Hell about the other woman, but she won't risk her luck by pushing the Raggedy Man's buttons. So, she holds onto the railing and studies Doctor Song.
She's older than Amy, pretty and badass, as they saw in the recording. She knows the Raggedy Man, knows him as Doctor, though he doesn't seem to know her. Well, she said she knows him in the future, which would explain that, and the way she's looking at him now, all sad and… heartbroken?
… He was quite nasty, and the way he just…
"I have died enough because of your pathetic race, I have lost enough to your meaningless mudball of a planet, and I have nothing left to lose!"
Amy shivers and rubs her arms, despite knowing it will do nothing.
The TARDIS stills with her characteristic wheezing, and the Raggedy Man takes a couple deep breaths, leaning over the controls, before finally straightening and turning to Doctor Song.
"Your hand," she whispers, eyes wide, as she focuses on the bandages on his right hand, before looking into his face with realization. "This is still so early for you…"
"Who are you," he orders, ignoring her comment, and Amy cautiously but quickly moves to his side, not touching but simply being there to both support him and give him something to center himself.
He may not look ready to snap anymore, but Amy knows just how much of a rough week he's had, starting with whatever happened on Christmas, to the damage to the TARDIS, Prisoner Zero and the Atraxi, Starship UK, and, just yesterday, the return of the Daleks, the Doctor's worst nightmare. And now, this woman just invites herself in, with knowledge she shouldn't have and giving orders without thinking it twice, as if that was all the Doctor ever was good for. To do what other people wanted or needed him to do, without a care for him.
Amy's not sure how all those other Doctors the Atraxi showed them would have reacted, but her Raggedy Doctor is too broken to simply take it anymore.
"I'm Doctor River Song, and I'm an archaeologist. I met you so long ago," she answers, smiling softly with her last words. "We keep meeting in the wrong order. But for as long as I've known you, you have always known me. I knew the day would come when it would be the other way around, but…" she adds, trailing off as she stares at his bandaged hand once more. "I never thought it would be at such a time, so soon after…"
"Shut up," the Raggedy Man orders, voice quiet and dead serious, as his hands clench into tight fists.
"I'm sorry, Sweetie. I didn't mean to bring up bad memories."
"I said shut up," he hisses, lowering his head and with his fists shaking, and, taking a leap of faith, Amy reaches out and wraps her hands around his bandaged one.
The Raggedy Man goes completely still, not even breathing for some long seconds, before relaxing with a sigh.
River looks pained.
"I'm sorry. I have a favor to ask."
"No."
"Raggedy Man—"
"No," he repeats, stronger this time, as he slips his hand out of Amy's grip. "You wanted to follow the ship? We followed the ship. Now get out. I'm not your personal taxi service, I'm not at your beck and call every time you decide to do something stupid like jump out of an airlock. And I don't care if you know me or not, I don't know you. Get out of my TARDIS."
"What about environmental checks?"
And, with an explosive huff, the Doctor moves to the TARDIS door, throws it open, and takes a deep breath. Just outside, Amy can see sunlight on dark cream rocks filled with puddles, but not much more.
"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System, in the Garn Belt. Oxygen rich atmosphere, all toxins in the soft band, eleven-hour day and…" he rattles out before taking another sniff. "Chances of rain later. All environmental checks clear, Honey?" he asks mockingly with a sharp grin, and River flinches before she can stop herself.
"You think you're so hot when you do that," she answers as she stands up and grabs her shoes, sounding casual despite Amy knowing she's definitely not.
"I don't need to," the Raggedy Man retorts, still with that unsettling smirk, before gesturing at the open door. "Now, off you go. If you're lucky, some of your luggage might have survived the crash."
"The crash?" River repeats, frowning, before hurrying down the ramp, Amy at her heels.
And there, sticking out of some kind of building carved on a mesa, is the smoking spaceship they had been following.
"The museum display said it had been sabotaged. That wasn't you?" Amy asks River, because she does look genuinely startled at the sight of the wreck.
"No, the airlock would've sealed seconds after I blew it. Oh, I did warn them."
"We saw that part. What were you warning them about?"
River ignores the question, taking some kind of scanner out of her handbag to wave around and type in.
"Well, at least the building was empty. Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries."
"The exhibit said there were no survivors. Also, how did you do that? How did you just leave him a note in a museum?" Amy tries again, looking over her shoulder to make sure the Raggedy Man is busy fiddling with the TARDIS' controls and grumbling to himself low enough for her to not understand a word.
He doesn't want her mingling with River, but River obviously knows him enough to be able to pull off her tricks, so there must be some truth to them knowing each other in the future.
Plus, the way River talked about 'bad memories'… Can she know about Christmas, and what happened to the Raggedy Man?
"There are two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum. The home box of category four starliners and, sooner or later, him. He loves to nag the managers about events, rewriting passages and history every couple of centuries or so. He drives them mad," she explains with a genuine smile, both amused and fond, and Amy is really curious now. "How long has it been for him?" River asks softly, looking up from her device to meet Amy's eyes. "The scar on his hand, it is bandaged still. How long has it been? And how long since you two met, from his perspective?"
"The scar? That's going to scar?" Amy repeats before shaking her head to focus on the actual question. "That was just yesterday. He keeps it bandaged because the burn is still healing, but he said he doesn't need to stay in the infirmary anymore. He's still sore, though, which is why he suggested we visit the museum instead. And we met around four or five days ago, for him. I think? I don't know, he doesn't really talk about things."
"I know. He's a frustrating man to look after," River agrees when Amy huffs, and the two women exchange a smile.
"Amelia! Come on, we're leaving!" the Raggedy Man shouts from the TARDIS, making Amy jump before she and River turn around.
He's still serious, gaze dark and clearly no-nonsense.
"What name is he using? I know he didn't go by Doctor this far back, so what name is he using now?" River asks quickly, and Amy finds herself at a loss of words.
He didn't give her a name this morning and Amy didn't think to ask. And, seeing how he has refused both Harold and the Professor, she can't give River those either.
"I am not the Doctor! Not the Doctor or the Professor or the Master or the Captain or anyone! I am the Nameless, the Madman, the Diseased!"
"I-I don't know," Amy confesses, shaking her head, and River looks defeated before putting herself together and turning to the Raggedy Man.
"There's one survivor," she tells him, foregoing any name or nickname in favor of the information. "There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die."
And the Raggedy Man tenses and straightens, focused and deadly, but at least this time it is not directed at River or anyone present.
River's device beeps, and, with a hopeful smile at the Raggedy Man, she moves away from the TARDIS and pulls it to her ear to ask whoever is on the other side where they are.
"What is she talking about?" Amy asks the Doctor as he joins her at the door, his frown both angry and worried, and he shakes his head slowly.
"I'm not sure. And, before you ask, we are not staying. I just need to make sure that thing won't be coming after us if she messes up."
"Can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon," River asks, waving around her device, and the Raggedy Man scowls.
"No screwdriver. The TARDIS is making me a new one, this time hopefully up to my expectations. Give me that," he answers, gesturing for her phone-thing, and River hands it over without a second of hesitation.
He goes inside to use the console to boost the signal instead, but River stays outside with Amy, still looking fond and sad at the same time.
"I'm Amy, by the way. Amy Pond. I don't think we were introduced," Amy tells her after a second, if just to have something to say, and, even though she looks amused, River shakes her hand. "So, you know about the Doctor? I mean, the Raggedy Man?"
"You are nowhere as subtle as you are trying to be. And, even if you were, I can't tell you anything. That is his story to tell," River answers calmly, and Amy sighs.
"I just… He's hurting so much; I just want to know how I can help."
"Stay with him. He needs people around, something to focus on, someone to remind him to live. It will get better, but it will be hard before that. Be there, give him an anchor so he can figure out who he is again. Things have changed so much in such a short time…" River reassures Amy, and, though she doesn't really say much, Amy realizes that's all she's going to get.
But that presents a new problem. If this is Amy's last trip, how can she stay with the Doctor? How can she be there when they won't be traveling together anymore?
"Done," the Raggedy Man tells them as he rejoins them outside, tossing River her device back, which she catches without problem. "Now, what were you talking about before? What is that survivor?"
Before she can answer, the whistling of whipping wind grows stronger, attracting their attention to four small tornadoes growing in the wreckage – and dissolving to reveal soldiers in desert camouflage in their wake.
Three of them immediately start scouting the area after getting their bearings, while the fourth approaches them.
"You promised me an army, Doctor Song."
"No, I promised you the equivalent of an army," she answers calmly before gesturing at the Raggedy Man, who is standing very still and very serious with his hands in his pockets.
If Amy didn't know he doesn't have a screwdriver, she would worry he's about to point it at the soldier's head.
… Actually, maybe he picked it up when he went to boost River's signal. So, Amy decides that, one way or another, she's probably better off worrying.
"Father Octavian, sir. Bishop, second class, twenty clerics at my command," the soldier introduces himself after giving the Raggedy Man a thorough look, unimpressed.
He is even more so when the hand he offers goes ignored, the Raggedy Man simply standing still and observing.
"Doctor Song—"
"I don't care about you, your Church, or this woman. I just want to know what you idiots are about to unleash, and if I need to bother cleaning up after you when it inevitably finishes chewing on your bones," the Raggedy Man interrupts, as calm and unbothered as if he was talking about the weather, before grinning slowly but sharply. "So, let's skip the formalities. Tell me all about this new mess you think I'll be dragged into. Please, just try. I'd love to shoot any and all of your arguments down."
"It's a Weeping Angel," River answers simply before the red-faced and nostril-flaring soldier can retort, and the Raggedy Man whips his head around to stare at her so fast that Amy startles.
His grin is completely gone, jaw clenched tightly, and his eyes are wide.
It is not the same reaction from when he first saw the Ironsides, there's no denial this time, but Amy can't help but think back to it, to the same pale amber eyes full of dread and growing horror. He clamps down on that quite fast, just a second since he first reacted, but that's all the more reason for Amy to realize she saw correctly.
If she had never seen such an expression before, she wouldn't have recognized it in so little time.
"Tell me everything," the Raggedy Man orders the soldier, straightening into something powerful and commanding and, for the first time since Amy met him, not fully human, even if nothing seems to have changed.
He still has the same Saxon face, stubble on his chin. His short blond hair, left much to its own devices usually, is now even more ruffled by the wind. His comfy jeans, white shirt and cardigan are pristine except for the sleeves, rolled up to expose the bandages tightly wrapped over the burns on his right hand and forearm.
But something about the way he holds himself, about his pale yet dark eyes, about the command in his voice, screams alien in a way it has never done before.
No, that's not right. He was like that in the laboratory, when he gave the Daleks their testimony and the lights flickered like crazy.
"Who…" the soldier whispers, wide-eyed and shuffling back a bit, while River takes in a shuddering breath with awe in her eyes.
"I have had many names, new and old, invented or borrowed, all fake and all inconsequential. So, no, you do not care for my name, because you will not have it. What you need is not a who but a what. And, fortunately for you, your Clerics, and all other lifeforms on this planet, Doctor River Song found you the only entity in the whole universe that could ever help you. I, Father Octavian, am the last of the Time Lords. And if you hope to live, you will obey me."