Chapter One: Vincent and the Handler Part 1.
The Doctor was worried. He often was when it came to his companions and doubly so when he couldn't help them with their problems like Amelia was going through. She had just witnessed her husband get shot by Restac, and his body then eaten by the time energy from the crack of the universe, causing her to forget he ever existed.
But the Doctor was sure some memory of Rory still lived in Amy's mind when he saw her looking so devastated for seemingly no reason, before suddenly bouncing back to normal. He had decided to try and keep her spirits up by taking her to the most amazing and calm places he thought she might like, which is why he found himself being dragged around by said companion, looking at all the art in The Louvre when he remembered Amy talking about her favourite artist, Vincent Van Gogh.
"Why are you being so nice to me lately Doctor?" Amy suddenly asked, knocking the Time Lord out of his thoughts. "Seriously, it's been so calm and enjoyable I feel like I should be worried." She laughed. To be fair to the Doctor she had enjoyed the calm trips, with amazing views and friendly aliens. She had already bought a number of trinkets and knickknacks to put around the house, as well as a number of gifts for her friends back in Leadworth.
But she had started getting antsy, already feeling addicted to the adrenaline of a terrifying adventure, the giddiness of living past another brush with death. So to have trip after trip of nothing but calm had left her suspicious to the Doctors true reasoning of a vacation.
"What? No need for worry here Amelia, everything's fine." The Doctor said nervously, looking anywhere but her. He immediately winced, knowing he never called her Amelia unless in truly bad circumstances, which this was most definitely not. He hated having to lie to her but there was nothing he could do when Time Energy was involved. If he tried to bring back her memory she could end up like Donna Noble, and he swore to himself NEVER to let that happen to another friend, especially little Amelia Pond. Besides, even if he could bring the memories back to her, then she would still be upset because her husband had been killed and wiped out of all timelines, and nothing the Doctor could do would ever bring him back.
"Okay, I was joking but now you've got me curious Doctor, you never call me Amelia unless you're worried about something." Amy stated, eyes narrowed on him as he shifted around, looking for any excuse he could to cut the conversation away from where it was heading. She was now worried about what the Doctor was hiding, wondering if she had done something wrong like back on Starship UK with the Star Whale, though she couldn't think of anything she had done wrong.
Everything had been going pretty well after they recovered from the awkwardness of her attempted kiss after they escaped the Weeping Angels at the Byzantium, although why the Doctor had then decided to take her on a trip to VENICE was confusing. 'Men' she thought, shaking her head in exasperated fondness, 'they're all the same even in different species.'
"Oooh, look Amy it's The Church At Auvers-Sur-Oise, one of my favourites." He exclaimed rushing over to look at it, thankful to delay that conversation any way he could.
"We will talk about this later Doctor, don't you think I'll forget Mister." Amy threatened idly as she wondered over to the picture. The Doctor chuckled, relieved she dropped it, before humming in thought as he looked closely at a certain window in the painting. "Amy do you see something there? First window to the left of the church?" He pointed out to Amy, wondering if it truly was a face or if it was just a bit of dust on the picture.
"Where? Oh no I see it. What is it Doctor?" Amy asked, curious as she has never seen anything like it, it unnerved her a bit if she was being honest with herself, the way it seemed to stare into her soul no matter how she looked at it. "It's alien right? Or some mutated dog? It's definitely not normal whatever it is."
"No Amy it's certainly not normal, I know evil when I see it and there is certainly evil in that picture." He glared at the picture, although the glare softened in remembrance as he thought about a certain Time Lady he once knew who would have slapped his arm for saying that about 'a poor defenceless cutie like him'. By Time he missed her, and the way she always puffed up whenever an animal was mistreated around her.
He shook his head, waving the thoughts of long ago back to the back of his mind as he turned to try and find the curator of the exhibit, finding him giving a lecture on Wieco Art Sunflowers, a crowd gathered around as they listened to his speech on the famous artwork. "You see the way the colours of the sunflowers contrast against the -" He cut off as the Doctor rushed over to talk to him.
"Hello! Sorry need to borrow Mr Black for a moment, excuse me." He whipped out his psychic paper, showing it to the surprised Mr Black as he waved it around. "Hello yes I'm with the Department of Paintings and … Artiness, can you please state when that picture over there was painted." The Doctor asked quickly as he pointed over to the church, not letting the man think too much on the frankly awful excuse he used. He felt anxious, knowing there was something wrong back in Vincent's timeliness but not knowing exactly when or what that alien was. Time, he hated not knowing things.
"Ah yes well that particular painting used a particular type of paint commonly -" He was cut off again by the Doctor as he hastened to get the answer, the crowd now curious as to why this man was interrupting the lecture over something they felt could easily wait a couple more minutes before Mr Black was free to deal with him.
"No need for long answers just a simple date will do thank you, bit of a rush you see." The Doctor said, flapping his hand in a get on with it motion. "Department wants lots of punctuality and I'm already late so quick as you can."
"Ah yes well that painting was done in early June 1890, less… less than a year before he killed himself." A silence fell over the group as they mourned the loss of one of the greatest artists they had heard of before the doctor broke it.
"Ah yes thank you for that, love the bow tie." He said, honestly liking the formal tie, making an idle reminder in his head to see if he had one like it back in the TARDIS wardrobe. "Yes yours is quite -. " Mr Black got cut off again by the Doctor running off, dragging Amy behind him as they ran back to the TARDIS.
"Doctor!" Amy exclaimed rushing off so she could get her hand back, wondering what he was suddenly so excited about. "Why are we running off? There's more art I want to look at." As much as she complained she was feeling excited deep down, THIS is what she had joined the Doctor for, excitement and adventure throughout time and space, and to see him running off meant a great time was in store for the both of them.
"Sorry Amy bit of a problem, on the bright side we get to meet your favourite artist, we have a life and death situation with Mr Vincent Van Gogh." He shouted as he ran to the console, immediately going round and setting coordinates for the late lifetime of Vincent Van Gogh, Unknowing just how much this adventure would affect him.
The TARDIS landed with a soft jolt, near a certain famous cafe before Amy and the Doctor walked out, looking around to gauge where they were. The Doctor immediately stiffened, swearing he felt something he hadn't felt in years, decades even, and certainly not in this body. On the edge of his mental awareness he thought he could feel another telepathic being, just outside the mental scan he always unconsciously did whenever he exited the TARDIS.
Before he could follow up on it though, it disappeared without a trace, worrying the Time Lord slightly as that spoke of years of experience in the mental arts. He shook it off though not wanting to worry Amy or distract himself from his current task, which was to find Vincent, preferably before he got attacked and killed by whatever was in that picture.
"Okay! We are in France, mid 1890s, just in time to see what's going on, now Amy, we need to find Vincent so let's have a look around for anything that might lead us to him." The Doctor said looking round quickly to see if there was anyone around.
"You mean like this," Amy stated, showing the Doctor a picture of an orange lighted cafe in her art book she had been carrying around before, looking at all the paintings and learning what had been happening while they had been painted.
"Yes precisely somewhere like that, where is that we can start there." He stated missing the cafe just off to his left as he thought he could feel the telepathy just off his awareness again. He was just about to go off to find it when Amy bumped up against him, jerking him out of his search as she pointed out the cafe in real life.
"Found it!" She chirped walking over to it, slightly disappointed that it didn't look as good as it did in the paintings, but then she felt that that was because real life often didn't match up to stories and paintings.
They both wandered over to a table where a woman was sitting, drinking a fairly expensive bottle of wine and glancing over at them with slight curiosity. "Hello miss, have you seen Vincent Van Gogh around here lately." The Doctor asked, quickly remembering to be polite as that usually got much quicker results.
The woman immediately turned her nose up at them already not interested in them if they were searching for that man. "Quite frankly no, and if I never see him again it'll be too soon." She declared waspishly, dismissing them as she went back to her wine.
"...okayyy." Amy said confusedly, wondering why they got that reaction when asking about such a famous artist, momentarily forgetting what she knew about the early start of his career.
They walked over to another table, where a man and his date were sat eating, laughing over something. "Excuse me," The Doctor said, standing just next to their table. "Have either of you seen Mr Van Gogh around, we need to have a quick word with him."
The woman laughed nastily while the man glared slightly at them. "Yes we saw him, he's inside trying to barter drinks with one of his awful paintings, horrific they are." The man stated getting another laugh out of the woman.
The Doctor and Amy stood looking confused at them before hearing a commotion behind them. Turning around quickly they saw the man himself being roughly guided out of the cafe, a wooden frame under his arm as he argued with the cafe owner. "It's a great deal sir," He argued, pulling the painting of a self portrait of himself out from under his arm and showing it to the owner, who couldn't look more disgusted if he tried. "A bottle of wine for one of my pictures, it'll really brighten the place up!"
"And I've told you I will not have your rubbish staring at my customers and frightening them off!" He shouted, waving his arms about to express his displeasure at the poor artist. "No-one wants to be stared at by a creepy painting of a man most people around here cannot stand, apart from that one farm woman!"
The Doctor was curious this farmwoman was, he was sure that Vincent didn't have many, if any, friends while he lived, before shoving the thought as unimportant as he bounded over to the two, hoping to calm them both down and get a conversation with Vincent himself.
"Hello everyone! No need for shouting, what if I bought this mans painting and he could use that money to buy a drink." He declared grinning, momentarily forgetting that he almost never carried money around and that he definitely did not have any on him at that moment.
"Who are you, I've never seen you before in my life." Vincent said, looking suspiciously at the strange man, wondering if this was another villager wanting to torment him.
"Oh, I'm not from around here no, I'm just visiting." The Doctor said, looking at Vincent with a smile, hoping to ease his nerves slightly. He realised that Vincent was in a dark place currently, and he did not want to set the man off in any way.
"Well that explains it, you have to know three things round here friend. One) I pay for my own drinks." He stopped as almost everyone around him started laughing, flushing slightly in embarrassment before continuing on." Two) noone pays for one of my paintings If they want to stay in this village, and three) your friends cute, but I do not want pity from either of you."
He and the owner started to argue again but before they could get back into it, Amy walked over annoyed. "HEY," She shouted glaring at the owner, who backed away slightly. "I would like a bottle of wine which I will then SHARE" She looked over to Vincent who nodded slightly. "With whomever I choose." She glared back over at the owner, who nodded, thankful he wouldn't have to deal with the crazy artist anymore, before both he and Amy went inside to buy the wine.
The Doctor looked over to Vincent before grinning widely at him, waving him over to an empty table, both sitting down just as Amy came back with a new bottle. "Well this is nice isn't it?" The Doctor asked pouring himself a glass and drinking from it poshly, before remembering that this body didn't seem to like alcohol and spat it back out into the glass.
Vincent looked over at him weirdly, still confused as to who these two were and wondering if were acting friendly for a bad reason. "Who are you two," He asked, glaring slightly." Why did you help me?" He hoped they would be like Alec, his friend who seemed to enjoy his company when he went to her farm to paint. He smiled slightly as he remembered how their first meeting went.
(Flashback) France, August, 1878
Vincent walked over the farmland, picking his steps so he didn't step on any crops, he did NOT need another reason for the villagers to hate him. He was wondering over to a tall hill overlooking the village, thinking it a great spot to try and paint the village and the sky above.
He exited the cropland but before he could walk up the hill he was immediately barrelled over by a large Briard, who quickly put their paws on his chest and growled. Vincent looked around quickly and paled when he realised he must of wandered too close to the sheep so the dog saw him as a threat.
Vincent started trying to slowly get out from under the dog but before he could move he heard a voice shouting. "Toubib! Let the man up, let's see what he has to say for himself." A red haired woman quickly stalked over, looking furious at the man. The dog immediately pulled off the man, but stayed close with his hackles raised, daring the man to try and attack either his charges or his mistress that slowed to a halt, one hand on the dogs neck, showing no fear for a beast that was growling so aggressively Vincent was sure the only reason he still drew breath was this small, unassuming woman who seemed to command such obedience over her pets.
Vincent slowly stood up, not wanting to alarm the dog into an attack as he held his hands near his head, his easel and paints still in his hands. The woman glared over at him although Vincent could tell that she had no clue who he was, just annoyed at him in general for coming close to her animals.
"Well Mister? Who are you and why are you on MY land near MY sheep." She swore if this man was going to harm her animals she would shoot him there and then. These beasts were the only thing she had now and she would NOT let anyone harm them.
Vincent stammered over the answer but gave it nonetheless. " w-well Miss my name is Vincent, Vincent Van Gogh, and I was wandering through to head up the hill" He pointed up to the hill, cursing himself for not realising how close the sheep grazed. "I do not mean to harm any of your animals, please don't hurt me." He looked down, not wanting to see the disgust and hatred in yet another person's eyes.
The woman stopped glaring at him, sensing he was telling the truth about not wanting to hurt any of her animals, and he looked so sad and scared that she truly wasn't in a bad mood anymore. "Well…… alright then" She sighed, letting go of the dogs fur for him to walk back over the sheep still growling at the man who dared to come close to his charges.
She looked over to him, seeing how thin he was and how sickly he looked and came to a decision that slightly shifted tbe timeline of Vincent's life. "Well then Vincent. I'm" She hesitated slightly. "…… Alec and quite frankly you look dead on your feet, so come on, I've got some food just made I've got enough to share and you look thin enough I could use you as a string." She pulled the man back to her cottage, Vincent surprised at her unassuming strength. He tried to excuse himself out of it, stating that he had already ate, when he stomach growled loudly, making him blush and Alec laugh as they went, Alec gaining the position as Vincent's first friend.
(Flashback Over)
Vincent shook himself out of the memory, looking back over to the Doctor, waiting for the answer to his question.
The Doctor smiled and leant over the table to offer a hand. "Nice to meet you Vincent, this is my friend Amy," Amy smiled nervously and waved over to Vincent who quickly glanced over then away with a slight blush. "And I'm the Doctor."
Vincent looked over to him, glaring slightly but with a smile on his face. "Ah" He said chuckling slightly, confusing Amy and the Doctor. "Has Alec finally decided to call the doctor she threatens me with, I apologise for her sir."
The Time Lord looked over at Vincent, confused as to who this Alec was. "Um no noone sent for me that's just my name. We just decided to visit and heard of your paintings." He glanced over to Amy who was looking at the self portrait. "What do you think Amy? It's good isn't it."
Amy quickly looked over to the Doctor, smiling happily, loving the chance she was getting to converse with her favourite painter. "Oh yes" She said happily. "One of my favourites."
Vincent looked more confused than ever now. "How can it be one of your favourites?" He asked, quite sure he had never seen this woman before in his life, though she did share the hair with his closest friend. " I don't think I've ever shown you one of my paintings and you don't seem to know the only other person who's liked them before."
Amy winced in slight embarrassment, backing up slightly. "Oh u-uh I meant favourite painting in general." She said nervously, not wanting to blow her chance so quickly.
Vincent seemed slightly mollified, though still slightly confused. "Well then you can't have seen many paintings If one of mine is one of your favourites." He was still wondering who these people were but was slowly calming, far more interested in the woman sat opposite him.
The Doctor quickly cut into the conversation, not wanting Vincent to dig too deep as to why they were talking to him, although he was confused, he was SURE Vincent was supposed to be more sad and depressed especially this close to his unfortunate demise. He waved it off, more important things to deal with at the moment. "So Vincent, got any churches to paint recently? Any churches around? Gotta love a good church am I right?"
Vincent glanced back over to the Doctor, wondering about why he seemed so concerned with his painting of a church, "Well yes actually me and my friend were thinking of painting a church tomorrow night." He smiled happily, still shocked occasionally even two years after when Alec made plans to spend time with him.
The Doctor was growing more confused and concerned by the second. It sounded like someone was messing with Vincent's timeline, although he couldn't see how it was going bad so far, nothing too drastic, maybe an extra year added on to his life but nothing major. Still, he thought, he should go find this Alec and see if they were from this time and if they had any plans of messing around with anyone else. "Well then that's great" He smiled encouragingly.
"HELP, HELP THERES BEEN AN ATTACK!"
The trio quickly looked at each other then ran over to the alleyway, where a woman was cradling an unconscious woman who was bleeding pretty badly from her arms.
The Doctor quickly jumped into action pushing through the crowd already gathered to see if he could help the poor woman. "Everyone stay back! I'm a doctor." He quickly looked over the woman and produced some bandages suitable for 1890, not wanting to be accused of witchcraft. He bandaged the woman up, stopping the bleeding and waved smelling salts under her nose to wake her up.
The girl slowly regained consciousness, to the relief of the mother who was proclaiming thank yous to the Doctor, who asked what has happened. "It was so strange" the girl still in her mothers arms said."One moment I'm walking through the alley, then one moment I sneezed and something blew me over and, I must of landed on something sharp because my arms quickly got all scratched up. Then I hear this voice at the other end and whatever knocked me over disappeared out the other side."
The Doctor got up and ran to the other side of the alley, scanning with his sonic. He managed to get a quick reading of low level psychic activity, but was this controlling the creature, or getting it away? Whatever the case he determined, it was gone now.
The Doctor, Vincent and Amy idly walked back to Vincent's house, the Doctor jumping on thr chance for a stay over to keep an eye on the endangered artist. As they walked however they saw the light was on, and the Doctor could feel the telepath in the house.
He quickly ran in, ignoring Vincent's shout and pointed his screwdriver at the intruder. "Who are you?" He said quietly, glaring at the shocked ginger woman."You are not human, no human has mental abilities like yours. I request parley in compliance with the Shadow Proclamation."
The woman looked over at the man, before letting a small giggle out of her mouth. She immediately covered her mouth with her hands but you could still tell she was smiling under it. "Why are you threatening me?" She laughed. "With a SCREWDRIVER?"
The Doctor looked at her shocked, that was not the reaction he was expected. He glared once more aiming it at the womans chest. "Well this screwdriver is also sonic" The woman whipped her head around, shock evident in her eyes" I see you've heard of them." He raised an eyebrow and he started to demand information once more. "Again I request parley with the Shadow Proclamation. You are obviously alien and intelligent so you must know them."
The woman slowly walked up to the Doctor, who slowly lowered it, seeing the woman was still in shock and definitely not a threat right now. "What is your name?" The woman asked, eyes slowly filling with tears.
"My name?" The Doctor asked, getting a nod from the woman. "I'm the Doctor, Time Lord of Gallifrey." He said proudly, although a bit confused as most aliens knew him on sight. Granted most aliens also wanted to shoot him on sight but still!
The woman started to cry. "T-Theta?" She whispered getting a shocked then angry look from the Doctor, now very serious as no-one apart from family and the closest of friends were to know the true name of any Time Lord.
"How do you know that name?" He asked quietly, threateningly, though the woman didn't seem to notice, instead launching herself at the shocked Time Lord. The Doctor automatically held the woman as she cried into his chest. He was so confused, who was this woman and how did she know of his closest secrets.
The woman slowly pulled herself back together and smiled happily up at the Doctor, beyond thankful he was still there and not some conjuration her mind made up.
"Hello Brother."