Episode: Silence in the Catacombs

Chapter: Spoilers, Sweetie [5/6]

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

A Weeping Angel. A Weeping Angel. And Amy insists on coming along and that woman, that Doctor River Song—

"Breathe, Koschei. You're scaring the nice Clerics," Theta reminds him with a grin, his back to the temple and the team trying to blast their way in, which Koschei has been staring at without seeing them, lost in his thoughts.

"I don't understand how you can be so calm in this situation," he hisses under his breath, low enough that only another Time Lord would hear, despite the wide berth all the Clerics are giving him.

Which is exactly what he wants. Right now, he has more important things to worry about. Like a Weeping Angel in a radiation-flooded maze in the catacombs of a temple abandoned four hundred years ago. And Amy, insisting to come along with her new best friend River—

"Because I keep breathing. No, seriously, you are really starting to scare them with all the spiking and flaring. Have you forgotten how the cloaks work, after all these centuries?" Theta mocks with a huge grin, tilting his head so he can stare at Koschei's face, who glares at him from the corner of his eye.

"No, I have most definitely not forgotten how they work. Why do you think I would be putting on armor if I had forgotten?" he scoffs back, and Theta giggles, of all things. "What has gotten into you now?"

"Oh, this is just so exciting! Don't you see? It's Amy."

"What? Where?" Koschei asks, turning around quickly to scan the camp, but the TARDIS door is still closed and there's no sign of either River's blond hair or Amy's red one. "She's not there," he scoffs, glaring at Theta, whose smile only grows.

"You really don't see it! Hah! This is brilliant!"

"Speak now or buzz off. I'm busy," he growls, and Theta tilts his head as his smile turns into a smirk.

"I don't think that's how that part goes. Isn't it speak now or forever hold your peace?" he hums mockingly, before quickly lifting his hands to head off Koschei's deadly glare. "Alright, alright! But stop flaring, you're scaring the poor boys."

"They're bloody Clerics, not pets. And I don't care what you say, I will not take any more strays," Koschei huffs, but takes a breath and relaxes.

Time Lord armor channels and regulates artron energy, fine-tuning the wearer's abilities to allow for heightened perception and more precise and stronger temporal manipulation. Against a Weeping Angel, which feeds off of energy, the last point might be moot, as it would be giving it more fuel, but that doesn't mean Koschei can't use the improved perception and coincidence manipulation. Any direct attack against a Weeping Angel would result in his energy being drained, and trying to drain an Angel through the same means—

Well, no one ever knows what happened to the last Time Lord who tried it. They only found her TARDIS with the recording of her plan and three Weeping Angels circling it like vultures.

So, no, Koschei is not going to try that trick. He values his continued existence very much, thank you.

Besides, who's going to look after Amy if he gets himself displaced? The Church? River Song?

"Aaand there it is again! Look, look! That tiny wrinkle between your brows, isn't it adorable?" Theta gushes, baby-talking Koschei and almost getting into his face while gesturing at his forehead, and Koschei can only sneer at him, knowing that, no matter how much he tries, he won't be able to push the ghost away with him being intangible and all that.

"It's called a frown, you idiot. It means you're annoying me very much," he scoffs, pulling his head back and looking up into Theta's large dorky grin.

"Oh, no, it doesn't! Well, maybe it does. Well, yes, it clearly does. But not this one! The one before this one, the baby wrinkle with the pout—"

"I do not—"

"That's your Daddy Face!"

"—pout. Wait, my what?" Koschei asks, startled, and Theta puts his hands in his pockets and rocks back on his heels, still too close and with that huge grin on his face.

"Your Daddy Face! You're worried about Amy," Theta explains, his grin turning mischievous as Koschei scowls.

"What part of there being a Weeping Angel in radiation-flooded dark catacombs is not to worry about?" he growls in answer, folding his hands behind his back and wishing he'd taken the gloves too.

However, if he wants to make the most of things, he needs his hands free. True, the gloves don't really hinder that much, nor block feeling, but without a screwdriver to help along, he'll need all the grip and freedom of gloveless hands as he can have. It may not be much, but it may be just enough. Besides, the burns on his hand are not up for anything more than the bandages. He's already regretting putting on the forearm guard on his right arm, but he'd rather have a scar than lose the advantage the armor would give him.

Weeping Angels are not to be trifled with.

The one time the Master came in contact with them, outside of the Academy's lessons and the library, he only got out in time because his two associates were displaced before the Angels could get to him. The third, waiting outside by its car, with the TARDIS attached to it in the shape of a caravan, had dutifully stared at the exit without blinking while the Master used the stolen pieces they'd gone there to retrieve to assemble a time lock, at the price of some of the sound absorbers of his TARDIS, and locked the whole mansion and its underground laboratories before the Angels got out. The Master had quickly decided that he was not going to risk more trouble just to get his hands on some Numean diamonds, no matter how useful they would be in building a radio system far more effective than any he could find on a primitive Level 5 planet, and that he was just going to wing it when he got to Earth. The Nestene could come to Numea and face any other Angels that may be around if they wanted to, but he was out.

Numean don't have a really long lifespan, so those two Angels had been quite weakened, but this one? This one Angel has been waiting patiently for a century, and has now enjoyed a good two hours and thirty-four minutes of radiation. Koschei is not going to take any chances.

Which means he really should insist on Amy staying in the TARDIS, especially because of the bloody dark catacombs the thing will be hiding in – if the TARDIS would cooperate.

"She's such a pain in the ass," he grumbles under his breath, glaring at the blue box over his shoulder, and Theta hums in agreement.

"Children always are. But you wouldn't love little Amelia so much if she wasn't, would you?"

"I was talking about your TARDIS," he hisses, glaring at the smug ghost as he takes some deep breaths, keeping his temper under control.

"Oh? Didn't I hear you refer to the old girl as your TARDIS before?"

"I can't deal with you right now," Koschei deadpans and turns around, looking for the closest group of Clerics to harass.

"I didn't want to care either."

Koschei freezes. That is not Theta's playful and nagging tone, that is his sad and nostalgic voice. He doesn't move, doesn't leave or turn around, but he doesn't need to, to know the ghost is now looking at the TARDIS with melancholy all over his face, seeing people who are no longer there.

And Koschei knows. He knows, because he was the one to deliver the goodbyes, and he saw just how broken those people were left. It wouldn't have hurt them so much if they hadn't cared, and Koschei wouldn't have gone to them if the Doctor hadn't cared in return.

But that's what the Doctor does—did. That was what the Doctor did. He found companions who looked up to him, who were so innocent and pure that he could ground himself in their presence, that he could feel awe and joy through them, when he saw the universe through their eyes and their smiles. He found people who lived so he could remember how to do it himself. And it was never supposed to be about caring – sometimes it wasn't even supposed to be about companionship, some of them just were conveniently there when he needed a hand or a particular set of skills, or joined the Doctor without him ever agreeing to it. But eventually, he would come to crave their smiles, their banter, their presence. And, when the time came to say goodbye, the Doctor's hearts would break a little bit more every time.

"You and your running," Koschei whispers, also staring at the TARDIS, and hears Theta huff, a humorless smile surely on his face. "Whenever you got too attached, you couldn't help but run. Your human pets, House Lungbarrow, Gallifrey—"

"But not you. I didn't run from you, Koschei, I—"

"You're a ghost," Koschei cuts, though there's none of the bitterness or anger than he thought would be there, his voice laced only with tiredness instead. "You can't know what he actually thought, way back then. You're only saying what I wish to hear. And I don't want to hear it anymore."

Theta stays silent, and Koschei can almost feel the regret and grief coming from the ghost, a mirror image of his own.

The TARDIS doors open, and River and Amy come out, the girl's red hair pulled into a bun much like the older woman's, and both dressed in the same style of uniform. They are talking about who knows what, focused and determined, but there are smiles on their faces.

Something in Koschei's chest twists anxiously, but he pushes it away with a scowl as soon as he realizes he's frowning again.

"That's your Daddy face!"

"She's not her," he whispers, watching as River hands Amy a couple torches and helps her attach them to her belt. "Amelia, she's not… Why do I even care?"

"Because she was there, and she needed you, and she cared," Theta answers with an equally soft voice, and Koschei catches him putting one of his ethereal hands on his shoulder from the corner of his eye. "She trusted you, and she was honest. And when she looked up at you, it felt like you were able to do anything and everything with just another one of her smiles."

"But that's not how it's supposed to feel…"

"Isn't it? Because I may be a ghost, with very little actual memories and feelings from the original Doctor to draw from, but… That is how I felt when my daughters gave me that very same smile."

"Why do you need a policeman to check on a crack in your wall?"

"Because it's scary."

"Ugh, alright. Get me something to eat and I'll check that stupid crack in your wall."

Amelia had smiled then, a big and happy smile, and carved a smiley face on an apple because apples aren't his favorite, and held his hand as she took him to her room, and leaned on his shoulder excitedly to check the psychic paper and—

"See you in five minutes, Amelia!"

She had looked up at him with shiny eyes full of tears but a smile on her face, and with that unshakable trust that he really would be back in five minutes, even if there had been sadness there at seeing him leave.

And he had vanished from her life for twelve years, leaving her alone to believe he had never been more than a figment of her imagination.

Yet here she is, nagging River with a smile after the older woman refuses to give her any kind of weapons, putting a pack of batteries in her hand instead with a knowing grin. As stubborn and determined as that seven-and-a-half-year-old who trusted the stranger who fell on her shed to deal with the monsters, but who would not be scared by Prisoner Zero or crazy time traveling aliens. Amy doesn't want an adventure, or, at least, not this time. She wants to come with him, to face a Weeping Angel, because she is still that little girl who would fight dragons to protect the silly knights who were going to get themselves eaten. She wants to follow into the catacombs because she worries about Koschei, all the while trusting him to get all of them out safe and sound.

She is all grown up now, but she is still Amelia Pond, the girl who would bite her psychiatrists because she believed in him, and she knew he would come back. The girl who knocked out a burglar and cuffed him to the radiator to get answers instead of calling the police for them to fix things, because she would let no one fight her battles for her.

Amy Pond. Koschei's little helper.

"Ah. You see it now," Theta comments calmly, a smile on his face, and Koschei can only swallow and nod. "I'm sorry. Maybe it would have been better if you hadn't."

"What good does that ever do? Just look at us. Ignoring something doesn't make it go away, doesn't mean it is not there," Koschei manages to whisper, closing his eyes and taking in a deep breath. "I'll bring her straight home right after this. It'll be better for her."

"But will it be better for you?" Theta asks softly, and Koschei turns to meet those knowing dark brown eyes for just a second before the ghost pops out of existence.

Koschei sighs and glares at the ground under his boots with a frown, before the sound of footsteps makes him look up to see who is approaching.

Amy, standing tall and ready, with two torches but not a gun hanging from her belt. And, of course, River Song, smiling confidently and giving him a look and a raised eyebrow that practically scream well? Tell her something!

"Are you sure I can't convince you to stay in the TARDIS?" he asks seriously instead of whatever compliment River likely meant with that look.

Amy lifts her chin with a grin, not taken aback by his tone or glare.

"Not a chance. Besides, I know how to get out anytime I please. It's as easy as this," she answers, snapping her fingers with the last word and sharing a knowing grin with River.

"Women. Always the women," he groans as he drags a hand over his face, and hears them laugh. "You're going to be the death of me," he adds, still sticking to his grumpy tone as he glares at Amy over his hand, and she winks mischievously.

"Serves you right, after all the scares you've given me. I think I'm getting gray hairs and it's only been a couple of days!"

"Don't worry, dear. You will definitely pay him back for that," River answers knowingly, and, while a part of Koschei bristles and snarls at this woman who claims to know him, the other merely huffs in annoyance as Amy celebrates with an excited cheer.

So, it is with wariness that Koschei meets River's eyes when he finally drops his hand, once Amelia turns her attention to the latest explosion from the Clerics trying to get into the catacombs.

"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on her," she promises, stepping closer to him so she can answer without Amy overhearing, and Koschei looks her over with disdain.

"So far, you've partied aboard a galaxy starliner, graffitied a home box, and jumped out of an airlock. Why, exactly, would I trust you to keep an eye on Amelia?" he asks, voice low and tone serious, and River winks.

"Spoilers, Sweetie."

And, without another word, she saunters off as Father Octavian calls them to tell them they're through, humming what he recognizes as I'm a Believer, the Smash Mouth version, loud enough to be heard as she leaves.

"Women!" he exclaims, throwing his hands up, and Amy laughs.

"Oh, come on, Raggedy Man! Let's go!" Amy exclaims, grabbing his hand between hers and dragging him towards the group, with the same bright and trusting smile her seven-year-old self wore when she showed him to her room for him to close the crack. "Time to save the day!"

Koschei sighs, shakes his head with a tiny smile pulling at the corners of his lips, and pulls the hand out of Amy's grip before turning her around so they are face to face, his hands resting on her upper arms with a soft enough grip to not be overbearing while still being firm.

"You do whatever I say, understood? No wandering off, follow my instructions to the letter, and stick close to me at all times."

"Or River?"

"… Don't make me say it."

"Whatever, Grumpy Man," she chuckles, taking his hands off her arms to squeeze them between hers. "I'll be by your side at all times so you don't get scared, alright?"

"That's all I could ever ask for," he answers softly with a last squeeze before pulling away from her and approaching Father Octavian, dropping all expression from his face. "What's the status?"

"We're through," Father Octavian answers as the Clerics rush from here to there behind him, clearing the rest of the way and checking their equipment. "We're going to drop a gravity globe first, send a small team in to secure the immediate area. Everyone is equipped with extra torches, as you instructed."

"Good. What about tools? What do you have to get through the hull and navigate the ship?" he asks, listening with half an ear to the answer while keeping an eye on Amy, who has joined River a bit further away.

"And he can't choose the faces? He just, what, flickers like an old TV and there's a different man standing there?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that. Regeneration is a bit more explosive. But to an extent, I guess he does have a say on what his new form will be like. That's why he always looks humanoid. Though, again, it depends on what triggered the regeneration. He may not be conscious or strong enough to do more than just take it."

"I wonder if that's why he ended up looking like a blond Harold Saxon."

"Do you really think I would choose a face this recognizable?" he calls, finally turning to acknowledge the girls' conversation, who startle at his interruption, while Father Octavian blinks in confusion, not having heard them with his inferior hearing. "Come on, Amy, give me some credit," he adds with a huff and, when Amy gives him a sheepish smile, he turns his attention back to the Bishop. "Any laser spanners?"

"… I'm afraid those haven't been invented yet, Sir," Father Octavian answers, confused and surprised, and Koschei rolls his eyes, unimpressed.

"Yes, they have, they've been around for about six years now. Get with the program," he scoffs, but shakes his head dismissing the issue. "Viro-stabilizers?"

"Ready, Sir."

"At least there's that. Alright, dose everyone up, Amy included, and get ready. The sooner we get to the Angel, the less energy it'll be able to absorb. Not that it would do much at this point, but count your blessings, right?" he asks mockingly, and doesn't bother waiting for an answer before going to examine their entrance to the catacombs.

The floor is far under them, dark. One of the Clerics drops a gravity globe into the catacombs a moment later, so Koschei sees that it's a quite vast open space. It'll be good to spot the Angel, but this is just the entrance. Everything else, judging by the term 'catacomb', won't be as convenient.

Amy yelps at his back but when he turns around, he sees she's glaring at River, who has an unrepentant grin on her face and an empty needle in her hand. Koschei snorts, attracting their attention, and merely lifts a hand for River to pass him his own viro-stabilizer.

Time Lord or not, drive burn radiation is not something he'd like to deal with. It might not hurt him as much as it would humans, but he really needs to be at his best if they're going to do this.

… Which means he should probably stop looking at River over his shoulder every few seconds. Whoever that woman is, she obviously wants to stay alive as much as everyone else. And, unlike the Clerics, she does listen to him and trust him, even if she's a bit more casual with him than he's comfortable with.

And the way she called him—

Koschei shakes his head, pushing the thought away, and hands the empty needle to one of the Clerics. Now is not the time to think about that. He needs to keep his wits about him, and River can handle herself and keep an eye on Amy. It will have to do for now.

If they survive, he can try to figure things out then.

Father Octavian arranges the group, sending some Clerics down the rope ladder as he said he'd do before following, Koschei after him and River and Amy going down last. Once on the ground and able to look around properly, Koschei realizes he was right. The main chamber is enormous and open, but all the passages going up, to the crashed ship, slither through the mountain, narrower and twisting around the stone they are built in. Great ambush spots to begin with, but there's another reason Koschei takes in a deep breath to calm down his speeding heartsbeat.

The whole place is filled with statues.

"Where are we? What is this?" Amy asks as she stands just behind Koschei's back, sticking close as promised and with a torch in her hands.

"It's an Aplan Mortarium, sometimes called a Maze of the Dead," River answers, waving her own torch around to peek at the closest statues and the rocks framing the tiny square they landed in.

"As if regular graveyards weren't bad enough," Koschei scoffs, forcing his breathing to stay calm and constant to push away dread. "Everyone ready for a game of peek-a-boo? This is your last chance to leave, though I can't assure you'll live much longer even if you do," he adds nonchalantly, stepping away from the group to shine his own torch at one of the statues' eroded face. "Not in this time period, anyway," he whispers with a frown, tilting his head.

There's something strange going on here, something about the statue that he can't put his finger on. It may be the radiation slowly trickling down from the crashed Byzantium, but there's just something that puts Koschei on edge.

He hears River explain about the Angel's touch displacing people in time, and Father Octavian ordering his Clerics to check the statues, but Koschei slowly moves up one of the corridors, using the handheld computer he 'borrowed' from the Clerics to check the ambient readings and the radiation charts in place of his screwdriver.

He had the thing for not even a full day, he can't be missing it already!

… But it would be useful to have one, anyway. Still, if the TARDIS does as instructed, his new screwdriver—sonic, because she won't build anything else—will be better equipped than the last. Some additional settings and signal dampers, for starters, and an actual laser torch instead of the weak and unfocused beam it had been before.

Still, for now, he has to do without.

"So, how does that displacement thing work, Raggedy Man?" Amy asks as she catches up to him, and Koschei looks up for a moment to see she's alone. "River's talking with Father Octavian, so she can't explain."

"It's like buying a car," he answers after a moment, frowning down at the computer before glaring at the statue. "You buy a new car from the dealership and bring it home, and they promise you it will last for, oh, twelve years. For twelve years, you'll have that car, no problems at all. But the next morning, the car is gone, stolen. And those twelve years that you could have used the car? Well, now they are someone else's twelve years. You get a different car, maybe the same model, and move on, but you have still lost twelve years with a good car," he explains, finally turning to see Amy's wide-eyed realization when he still can't figure out what is weirding him out about the statue.

"So, the Angels don't actually kill you?"

"They send you to the past, for you to live your life and die in peace. But those years you could have lived in your original timeline? Those years now belong to the Angel," he elaborates with a shrug, and Amy frowns.

"But you said—"

And she cuts herself, pressing her lips into a thin line.

"I said what?" Koschei asks, lifting an eyebrow, while Amy battles with herself.

"There you are. Found something?" River asks, finally catching up to them, and Amy immediately turns to her.

"Angels don't kill people; they send them back in time. But they don't actually kill people, as in killing them dead," she tells the older woman, who gives her a curious frown before realization washes it away.

"Oh. That doesn't mean they don't kill them. It may be indirectly, it may be kindly, but the people the Angels catch are dead. They are usually sent far back enough that they die before they were taken, or quite close to that moment. If any of us is taken by the Angel, you can consider them already dead," she explains softly, and Koschei rolls his eyes and returns to his scans.

And here he thought his explanation was good enough. Well, whatever. As long as it keeps Amy away from the Weeping Angel, it works for him.

"But what about the Doctor? I mean, what year is it right now? How long can he actually live? Will he just keep regenerating until he gets to this moment in time? Can he even die? He said—"

"Amy, breathe. And don't you worry. He won't get caught that easily, and he has a TARDIS. If anyone can outmaneuver a Weeping Angel, it's the Doctor," River soothes when Amy starts to panic, and Koschei twists just enough to send her the sharpest glare he dares to don without flaring.

"The Doctor is dead. Now focus. We need to get to that Angel before it gets to us."

And gunfire fills the catacombs.