Danni's feelings were all over the place, which was not something she could handle right now. Amy's words echoed in her mind like a record, joining the mass of other words that kept her closed off from the world around her. Missy's words that had, over so many years, picked and picked at her until she'd just shut off, felt like they had very much been validated. Her family didn't care. They were better off without her. She really shouldn't have tried escaping on her own. Maybe she had been better staying off with Missy.
As they walked through the hallway of the pyramid, she was very glad that the Doctor was by her side. She was very aware that he'd deliberately removed the gun from her hand but she was more than happy for him to do so. His thumb kept lightly brushing over the back of her hand, like he was reminding her that she was holding his hand, like the comfort was there for her if she needed it. She couldn't quite take it yet, she couldn't quite let him make her feel better, but she kept hold of his hand because she didn't want him to disappear again.
She'd told Tony about how much bigger she and the Doctor were compared to most things. She hadn't meant it in an egotistical way, it just kind of… was. She'd accepted it a long time ago. Or, she had thought she had. She hadn't expected Amy's words to cut quite so deep. She hadn't thought that was how the people she loved saw her, not really. Maybe she still wasn't quite over being part Time Lord. It had been centuries, how was it still bothering her so much?
"Do we know where we're heading?" Dafydd asked as they continued down the never-ending hallways.
"Not usually. We tend to work better that way," Danni offered him. The Doctor nodded in agreement.
"Knowing what I'm doing slows me down," he explained, like it made a lot of sense. "I've been told I work better in the moment." He looked down at his wife. "Did you see anything on your trip down to us?"
She shook her head. "Just the hallway," she explained. "It was pitch black when I accidently opened the door, but when I sonicked it the emergency lights came on. I'm guessing there is some sort of generator, something that needs to be activated to save power. But not enough to get them off the ground."
"You still think that it's a spaceship?" he asked. She shrugged.
"Spaceship, shuttle, station. Whatever it is shouldn't be on this planet but is," she replied. "How do we get it to leave before anyone else dies?"
"You assume someone has died?" the Doctor asked, curious.
"Why else would they march a Time Lord and his in-laws from a blue box in a desert?" she countered. She smiled smugly at his slight look of surprise. "This isn't my first go around the track, Spaceman," she retorted. "I know a good, old fashioned alien invasion when I see one. We'll handle it. We always do."
He came to a stop, turning them both around so they were facing each other. "Really?" he asked. "That much faith in us?"
"That much faith in you," she corrected cheekily. "I'm just here to be the eye candy for those too stupid enough to see you instead."
"That you are, my Pet," he purred, pulling her closer. "Smart and gorgeous. How did I get so lucky?" She giggled in delight as he then walked her backwards, pressing her up against the cold metal wall. His lips descended on hers and she closed her eyes, holding onto him tightly.
Rory groaned to himself. "I thought I'd never have to see that again," he muttered. He grabbed Tony, covering his eyes with his hand. "Keep walking forward. I'll tell you when it's safe to look."
"Dad!" Tony moaned in annoyance. "It's just kissing!"
"No, it's really not," he replied, doing his best to not look. "Keep walking."
Tony dragged his feet slightly, but did as he said. Dafydd looked at the couple, who had completely checked out of the situation at hand, absolutely baffled. "Do they do that often?"
"Too often," Amy snapped. "Oi! There's a child here! Not to mention the monsters trying to eat us!"
Danni's change in demeanour was almost instance. The Doctor closed his lips on hers a couple of times, ending the kiss slowly and gently. He then rested his forehead on hers. "She didn't mean it," he whispered softly.
Danni didn't reply. She didn't immediately contradict him, or agree with him, which meant that it was affecting her too much for her to confront. Instead she gave him another quick kiss and slipped out of his arms but he didn't let her go far. He took hold of her hand again and they continued to walk.
Tony didn't feel like complaining about the walking again. After what he had been through, it was quite nice to calmly head through rather uniform hallways, that even though they were dimly lit, they still had lights. Lights, and a solid floor, and nothing trying to eat them. He wasn't even annoyed by the fact that everyone was making sure he was kept in the very middle of the group, with the guard and the Doctor and Danni in front of him and his parents behind him.
"I'm sorry," he said, much to everyone's confusion. "I didn't mean to get us all trapped in a pyramid."
"None of this is your fault," Danni replied. "Maybe don't have a tantrum next time and hit the controls, though."
He nodded. "I don't know how you can do this all the time," he continued. "It's so scary it must be really tiring."
"It is," the Doctor confirmed. "But if we don't do it, who will? And, sometimes, you see something so amazing the bad stuff gets washed away."
"There's a planet where every single plant shines like glitter on the grass. Beautiful yellow grass that's always soft under foot. There's rarely any noise because no animals live on it, just a few insects. You can lie on the grass, looking up at the bluest of blue skies, and still see the stars overhead," Danni told him. "It's the most peaceful place I've ever been to. It's absolutely stunning, and for every monster in a pyramid, there's a planet just like that."
Tony considered that for a moment. "We did go to some amazing places," Rory added. "It wasn't always death and destruction."
"Not that I was trying for that," the Doctor pointed out.
"Can you stop trying to sell the TARDIS to our son?" Amy asked. "That's how we got into this mess in the first place."
It was weird for all of them, Amy included, for the red-head to be protesting travelling in the TARDIS. She had made her choice but, at the same time, the choice had only been there because of her. The Doctor pulled Danni closer as he felt her physically react to Amy's words.
"We're trying to save you and your son," he retorted. "And I'd be thankful if you watch your tone around my wife."
"Doctor, don't," Danni said in warning.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Amy asked, indignant.
"You know exactly what it means, Amelia," the Doctor replied firmly.
Amy stopped. "No, I don't," she challenged. The Doctor did the same, shooting her an angry look. "What do you mean, Doctor?"
"We are in a pyramid that is trying to kill us. Perhaps petty squabbling is a thing left until after we're safe, don't you think?"
"No, I don't," Amy said yet again and the Doctor sighed in frustration.
"You are being contradictory just to start an argument," the Doctor said lowly. "I am not arguing with you here, Amelia. Your grievances are not important right now, nor is your want for everyone to fit into these nice, neat boxes in your head."
Danni recognised the look on his face. His anger was beginning to bubble over. "Doctor, stop," she told him. "You're going to start a fight and we have bigger issues than this."
He regarded his wife for a moment, the way she looked as closed off and irate as she had when she'd first found him again, and realised that she truly believed that. That Amy's attitude towards her, that she, wasn't important. He shook his head once. "No, this is important," he told her.
"No, it really isn't," she snapped. "What is important is that this pyramid is attacking us for some reason and we don't know why. Once we get everyone out then feel free to start a war with your fellow Scotsman, but for now, we have to move!"
"If he has something to say, he should say it," Amy said angrily. "It's not like we wanted to come here anyway!"
"Mom, will you stop it?" Tony cried, finally pulling his mother's attention back to him. He knew once she started ranting it was hard to stop her, especially if she was feeling attacked. "She's right! The floors rumbling again."
The Doctor's eyebrows furrowed and he stood perfectly still for a moment. "He's right. Something's coming," he told them. "From behind us. Move."
He reached out to grab Danni's hand, but she'd already taken her gun out and was quickly heading to the back of the group. "Everyone move," she instructed. "Follow Dafydd and keep heading into the pyramid."
Rory wanted to protest heading into the pyramid, because it seemed like a stupid idea and he was right, but he ushered his son and his wife forward. "Come on, keep moving," he encouraged Tony lightly. "It'll be over before you know it."
"What is their problem?" Amy asked him quietly as they began quickly moving ahead. "Did they both regenerate grumpy, or what?"
"I think it has something to do with you implying Danni wasn't part of the family," Rory told her.
"No, I didn't," Amy retorted. He looked at his wife, trying to see if she was serious or not.
"Yes, you did," Tony spoke up. He glanced back to see Danni and the Doctor getting further away. "It was really crappy, mom."
"Hey, watch your language," Rory scolded. "He's right, though. She's family, Amy. Of course she is."
"I didn't say that!" she protested before hesitating slightly, her anger seemingly fading away for a moment. "It wasn't what I meant. She's not behaving right!"
"She seems the same to me," Tony told his mother. "She's hurt, sad and scared. I'm not sure how else you're expecting her to act."
"Like… Well, like Danni!" she said.
"That is Danni," Rory said. "We've all changed, Amy. Maybe that's what's scaring you."
~0~0~0~
The Doctor watched the Ponds scuttle off, making sure they were safely behind the guard sent to babysit them, before stepping by Danni's side. "Sorry," he told her. "I believe I may have upset you."
"No, I'm fine," Danni said shortly. He had stood up for her, why would she upset? Why was she upset?
She pulled out her screwdriver and pointed it down the hallway. "Have you tried scanning them? I only found organic tissue, maybe one of your apps might pick up something else?"
He took out his sunglasses and popped them, pushing them up his nose. "You scanned them?"
"Of course," she replied. "You didn't?"
"I was busy running for my life with your grandparents. I didn't have the chance," he retorted. He set off the sonic sunglasses, watching the readings flash in front of his vision. "Should have, though," he admitted. "It was a bit of an oversight."
"Well, you're bound to forget stuff in your old age," Danni shot back teasingly. "Have they eaten a lot of people?"
"A dozen or so, perhaps," the Doctor offered. "Why?"
"I was just wondering how hungry they might be. If they've been trapped in here for a while, a dozen or so people might not be enough." She looked at the results of her sonic screwdriver, but there was nothing new. Just organic, so not genetically engineered, and all one species. Whatever was coming towards them wasn't something that she had encountered before. "Anything?"
The Doctor shook his head, taking off the glasses. "I think they're just our basic, common-or-garden monsters," he replied. "We'd better start running, my Pet."
"Definitely," she agreed. With her free hand she grabbed his. They ran together, as they always should, until they caught up with the Ponds.
"Where are we heading?" Dafydd called from the front of the group.
"Away from the Bellymaw, really," the Doctor replied.
"The hallways are getting more uniform. We've not hit a crossing in a while. I think we're finally getting to the centre," Danni continued.
"And whatever is in the centre is the key to getting out of here?" Rory asked.
Danni shared a look with her husband. That's what they were both hoping for, but neither of them really knew what was around the corner. That was the thing with the adventures. Sometimes they seemed a bit predictable – angry monsters trying to kill everyone, for example – but ultimately, they never really knew what was going to happen. They didn't know if the middle of the pyramid held all of the answers, or it was just the middle of a pyramid?
Danni grabbed onto her husband tightly as the whole hallway shook, knocking Tony down off his feet and sand to fall from the stones.
"What was that?" Rory asked as a loud roar reverberated off the walls around them.
"I suspect our friends are tired of chasing us," the Doctor said. The rumbling of many footsteps caused the pyramid to shake even more. "I suggest moving."
Everyone agreed and, once Tony was back on his face and mothered by Amy for a moment, they picked up the pace. The roaring moved ever closer, but fortunately they were coming up to another room to hide in.
"In here!" Danni shouted. She opened the door first, letting everyone in before darting in herself. The Doctor slammed the door shut behind them, using his glasses to lock it. "That should keep them out for a while," he said with a bit of a pant. He turned just as Danni used her own sonic to turn the lights on, showing them exactly where they'd run into.
The room was incredibly ornate, contrasting with the rather basic and uniform corridors they had run through. The walls shone with gold and treasure was displayed on every surface. On the far side was another computer, this one much larger than the one Tony had encountered, with multiple screens and a throne instead of a deck chair. There was only one other door out on the other wall and Dafydd quickly moved over to it to make sure it was secure.
"It's the control room," Danni breathed, stepping further in. All the shiny objects were calling to her. Perhaps she could find something small to sneak out when they left. No one would miss them, would they?
Rory, who hadn't moved from the door, stepped closer. "I-I think they're leaving," he commented. "That's good, right?"
"I shouldn't think so," Danni muttered. She walked over to a large cabinet that stood against the wall next to the control system, looking over all the of trinkets it contained. Golden birds with jewels embedded in the wings. High quality jewelled eggs. "Oh my," she breathed, opening it up to have a closer look at the tiara perched so delectably on a soft, velvet pillow. Who would leave that just lying around?
"What makes you say that?"
"Because they're mindless, hungry monsters," the Doctor replied shortly. He, instead of looking at all the decadence around them, had headed straight to the controls. "They don't just give up and go home. Chances are we've been herded to exactly where the people in charge want us to be."
"Ah." Rory looked at the door. "Great. That's-That's great."
"What do we do?" Amy asked. She nudged Tony over to where the Doctor was, keeping him in the safest part of any room. "We can't stay in here, can we?"
"If we leave we'll just get eaten," the Doctor retorted. "I'm not looking to become someone's lunch, are you?" His fingers hovered over the controls. "This seems pretty basic."
Danni appeared next to him, tiara on her head. "Should be pretty easy to hack into, then," she said. "Perhaps we're not where they want us to be, perhaps we're where they are supposed to be."
"Meaning?"
"The monsters—"
"Bellymaws."
"The bellymaws haven't come in because, whoever was in charge, didn't want to be eaten by their own guard dogs," she finished.
Amy looked at her head. "Are you wearing a tiara?" she asked.
"Yes," Danni replied simply. "Want me to take a look?"
"What? Don't think the old man can cut it?" the Doctor retorted.
"I just thought you were better when there were switches and turny things," she replied teasingly. "Could be better to let the young people sort out the technology."
"I was a master of technology before you were even born," he muttered and she giggled.
"Well done for playing the old man card again," she replied.
He waved his arm grandly, stepping out of the way. "If you think you can do better, Danielle," he challenged. She grinned and cracked her fingers before typing the control keyboard expertly.
Rory and Dafydd had joined them at this point. "Does she really know what she's doing?" Rory asked tentatively.
"Your Danni may not have had computer skills, but this one does," she replied shortly. "I was trapped in computer simulations quite a lot, I know how to…" She grinned as the screens brought up the camera footage she'd assumed had been there. "Aha! See? Total pro, me!" She reached up, adjusting the tiara. "Totally keeping this," she murmured happily.
The camera seemed to be showing a live feed of the room. The Doctor held his hand up in the air, giving it a wave to see the delay. There wasn't much. He scanned over the multiple screens, using it to see if he could spot anything useful, or something that could give him a hint to what was happening here.
His eye immediately caught sight of something in the opposite corner of the room. He placed his hand on Danni's arm, giving it a rub. "Think you can find if anything was recorded?"
She shot him an incredulous look. "Of course I can," she retorted. "Give me a few minutes."
He pressed a kiss on her hair but she had already started searching for any sign of the videos. He turned and stalked over to the other corner, where tattered clothes were left discarded. He gingerly picked some up. It didn't look anything like Dafydd's uniform as it was a varying shade of brown but covered in blood
Rory crouched down next to the Doctor. "Is that…"
"The remains of our chaperones friends?" the Doctor finished. "I don't think so. I think these are remains of other people." He placed the cloth back down on the pile.
"Do you think they're walking around somewhere?"
He shook his head. "I suspect they were brought here by hungry monsters then eaten by them," he offered as an explanation.
"If they were in here before, does that mean they can get in again?"
It was a very good question, one that he didn't have an answer to. Rory glanced over at Amy, who was watching Danni with her head slightly tilted, observing her every move. Tony was watching as well, but he looked much more impressed.
"Amy… She didn't mean what she said," Rory said softly.
"Yes, she did," the Doctor said sharply. "And she is going to apologise. She will make it right. I don't need to tell you what Danielle has been through, she doesn't need to be dismissed by the people who are supposed to love her." He met Rory's gaze and the human blinked in surprise at the anger they held. "You are both very lucky that she cares about you. I would have never come back on my own. Danielle is what is keeping us all together."
"Doctor?" Danni called over, voice low. On the screen above her was a woman in a uniform. It wasn't unlike Dafydd's, but in a different style, complete with a helmet.
"Is that one of yours?" he asked Dafydd, who shook his head.
"I think she's the original crew," he replied. Danni pressed play and the woman started to move. She looked over her shoulder, talking to someone else out of shot before sitting down in the throne.
"My name is Greta Jansson and my crew crash landed on this planet forty-three hours ago," she explained. "We were pulled down into the desert where we came across other wreckages and the pyramid. It was the only thing around for hundreds of miles, so we came in to investigate. I am telling you this because, if you are watching this video, you are the same. You have become lost in the maze, and I am not sure there is a way out for any of us."
"What?" Amy asked. She looked to her Raggedy Man. "She's not right, is she?"
He waved his hand, telling her to be quiet. "This planet is pretty much deserted, but it wasn't always this way," Greta continued. "There used to be a group of people who lived here called the Farynites. Their civilisation is all but erased, but we found this room, like you have, and we searched. The Farynites didn't die out, they were wiped out. The people who brought this spaceship down to this planet wiped them out. And we are next."
Danni reached out, pausing the video before the woman continued. She didn't say a word, staring at the screen as her blood ran cold. That was pretty ominous, and also not a good sign at all.
She felt the soft, almost timid, nudge of the Doctor in her mind and she desperately wanted to accept the comfort. Instead she threw up her walls and stepped away from the console. She didn't want him to see how scared she was. "Keep going," she muttered. "I'm going to look underneath."
She dropped to the floor, crawling underneath, pulling her screwdriver out. The Doctor didn't watch as he tried not to feel wounded at the way she pulled away. He knew she was still unlearning the defence mechanisms that she'd put up in place to keep herself safe, he just wished she would let him in. He really needed the comfort as well.
"The creatures that landed here believed themselves to be gods," Greta continued when he started the video again. "They demanded sacrifice and the Farynites were willing to pay that price for bountiful harvests and workable weathers. However, they became greedy, wishing to be fed. When the Farynites started to dwindle in numbers and the sacrifices stopped coming, they went looking instead. The monsters you have come across are not just monsters, they are the Farynites. They were designed to find food and bring it to their masters. They have been here ever since."
There was a clatter from underneath the console. "No," Danni breathed, horrified. She'd shot the monsters, she'd killed them and they were just people. They'd been trapped, converted, forced to do what they were programmed to do, not what they wanted. She'd killed them.
"They led us here and they led you here as well. But there are no masters left. They've been left to rot and we…" She looked to her crew. "We think their masters were trying to fuel their ship. The monsters, they've brought all of the parts here even though there is no one left."
"Fuel?" Rory repeated. The Doctor was already looking over the console, using his glasses to pull up the readings.
"I think that the monsters were bringing the engine down here. The ship only has half a tank of fuel." He took the glasses off but held them in one hand. "The bellymaws won't know to stop. They're just doing what they were told to."
"The engine was as old as the missing crew were," Dafydd said. "Were they dormant until we turned up? Is that why the engine was so close to the surface?" The Doctor nodded, pointing at him in agreement.
"We are leaving this message because we have no other choice but to run. There is a hidden door to the side of these controls. We are heading out this way and we suggest you do too. We wish you all the best, and hope that we all survive. Take care." Greta's hands hovered in front of the camera for a moment before she turned it off. The screen went black for a moment before the live feed of the control room flickered back on.
The Doctor immediately crouched down by his wife, who was still underneath the console. "Danni, come out," he instructed as kindly as he could. "I know what you're thinking…"
"I'm fine!" she snapped back. "I'm fine. There's something here. Give me a moment!"
He ran a hand over his face in exasperation. "Danielle, please," he tried. "I know you're scared."
She turned around underneath the console, her face suddenly appearing with a look of anger. "Do you?" she challenged harshly. She met his gaze, expecting an argument, but just saw fear and hurt at her words. She deflated slightly. He was just trying to help and she was taking out her fear on him. She scooted forward, smiling softly. "There is something under here," she told him again, this time softly. "I need to get it out." She leant forward and pressed her forehead against his. "I won't be a moment."
Across the room Tony turned to his mother. "Mom?" he asked, his voice small. She immediately wrapped him up in her arms.
"Everything's okay," she promised her son. "Me and your father trust them both. We'll get out."
Above his head she shared a look with Rory, who looked just as dubious as she felt. When she was younger, she would have meant her words wholeheartedly, but she had learnt that her Raggedy Man wasn't as infallible as she had once thought. She watched as Danni reappeared from underneath the console, something in her hand.
"It's a hard drive," she told her husband. "It wasn't connected into anything, which makes me think there's something on here that they're trying to hide."
The Doctor agreed wholeheartedly and set to work the moment she'd plugged it into the console. His fingers were quick on the various keys until he pulled up a 3D map of the pyramid. "That's interesting," he declared. "Look, this is the path we came in from." He pointed to the screen and the rather long and convoluted path that ran right around the pyramid, turning off in multiple directions as if to confuse anyone who was walking through it. "And this is the door that Greta left through."
That path was straight forward, with no twists and turns. It just went straight up, like a winding staircase. "That would have been a lot more convenient," Danni muttered. "We came in the back and it make no sense at all."
"Neither did the front entrance," the Doctor replied.
"If Greta left out that door, why didn't they survive?" Tony asked, which was a very good question.
The Doctor pulled out his sunglasses again and, after a moment of fine tuning, brought up the heat signatures from throughout the pyramid. There were a few dotted around the entire structure, with none lining the exit. He pulled them off again. "I have absolutely no idea," he replied.
"If they're avoiding the way out, what's there instead?" Rory asked, as optimistic as ever.
"We'll we're about to find out," the Doctor declared. "Straight out and up, correct?" Danni nodded.
"Few minutes, tops," she agreed.
"We'll get out, get the Ponds back to the TARDIS, and then come back and figure out what is going on."
"Wait, you're coming back?" Tony asked, alarmed. "But there's things in here that want to eat you! It's too dangerous!"
"The TARDIS is being held in place by something in this pyramid," the Doctor explained. "We can't get you or your parents home until we figure it out. Now." He started ushering everyone towards the door. "Dafydd, if you don't mind."
Dafydd rolled his eyes but complied with the Doctor's command, heading out of the door first. The hallway was just the same as the rest of the underside of the pyramid and, after doing a quick check, he gave the all clear. "There's nothing but stairs," he called.
"Well, then, off we go!" the Doctor said, clapping his hands together sarcastically. "Always the fun part of any adventure; the walking."
"Oh, hush," Danni told him. She took his hand. "We'll get back to the life-threatening running in no time."
Just as they headed out of the door, Danni paused, reaching up to her head. She had the tiara, that was what mattered, but she let go of the Doctor's hand. "We forgot the hard drive," she told him. "If we can run it through the TARDIS we might get something useful from it." She leant up, pressing a kiss on his cheek, and hurried back inside the room. She grabbed the hard drive and pulled it out.
Immediately the door slammed shut behind her, cutting her off from the rest of the group. "Doctor!" she cried, banging on the door.
"Danni!" he shouted back.
"Danni!" Amy joined in. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine!" she replied. She tried to open the door. "I can't get the door open!"
The whole pyramid began to rumble, shaking as if it was coming to life and she realised that the door being closed was the least of their problems. She rushed back over to the console to see a face take over every screen.
"You have displeased us!" the voice boomed, low and grand. Her eyes widened; she guessed this was the fake gods. "Blood and horror will rain down on you for defiling our temple! Your souls will perish!"
"That is not good," she muttered to herself. She pulled out her screwdriver and pointed it at the door, but it didn't budge. "Doctor!"
"It's deadlocked!" the Doctor told her, shouting over the noise the pyramid was making. "You're going to have to unlock it from your side!"
She nodded. "Get everyone out! I'll be right behind you!"
"We're not leaving you," Amy told her firmly.
"Yes, you are," Danni snapped. "You have to take Tony and get out of here! I'll be right behind you!"
"We're not going anywhere!" the Doctor confirmed.
"Yes, you are!" she repeated. "You need to get everyone out, Doctor. That's what we do! We save people! We keep them safe, so do as you are told!"
Back at the console, she stared at the controls, eyes scanning for anything she recognised. There wasn't a lot, really, passed the basic computer skills she'd picked up over the years. Hacking into the system had been most of her knowledge. Her fingers twitched nervously. What if she made everything worse?
No.
She shook her head, adjusting the tiara. She could do this. She knew what she was doing. Sort of. She began typing, working out the system, finding the menus and the options given rather unintuitive. She was sure it was just how the TARDIS was translating the words, but that didn't make it better.
She found herself looking at the weapons systems of the pyramid. Nothing particularly special, just some gas dispensers and some turrets, the sort of weapons she would expect for the space ship that was buried underneath the stone. But it was still enough to do serious damage to the tent village outside.
"Right, let's try and turn you off," she muttered. That ended up being a dead end, though, without the passwords for the override and not much time to try and crack them. The sonic screwdriver wasn't doing much good in that regard, either.
She quickly reconnected the hard drive, bringing up the map of the pyramid. Perhaps she could find another way out. One that would loop back to the exit to the pyramid.
Her eyes widened slightly in horror. The monsters – the bellymaws – were very quickly heading towards the exit. Everything, like it always seemed to, was steadily getting worse and worse.
"What do I do? What do I do?" she whimpered. "What can I do now?"
The part of her that never swayed from Missy's side told her to run. To get out, and run, and never look back. She could kill any creature she came across and save her family. They could escape to the TARDIS and they would be fine.
The other part of her, the uncomfortable part, the one she tried to not listen to said that she couldn't just save her family. She had to save everyone she could. It was the part of her she'd squished down when she'd been trapped, and outright ignored when she'd been on the run. She didn't want to listen to it because that was the part of her that got herself killed.
But she couldn't just sit back.
She growled, angry at herself, as her brain quickly worked out a plan. She searched for the controls for the spaceship with the idea that if she could set it off to fly all that would be destroyed would be the pyramid itself. She could save everyone and, hopefully, get herself out of the room as she went. Send the ship into space, where it would float for all eternity, never hurting anyone again.
~0~0~0~
"Do as you are told!"
That was the last word Danni gave them, and the Doctor found it incredibly frustrating. He couldn't just leave her in there. He had to work out a way to get her out, but being on the wrong side of the door made that very difficult.
His big brain also quickly latched onto the idea that now they'd left the main control room the bellymaws were going to start attacking again. Danni was, in that regard, the only safe one. He had a soldier and his extended family to worry about as well as Danni.
Part of him – a large part of him – wanted to leave everyone behind and save just his wife. The way his hearts ran and his panic rose reminded him too much of how he'd felt when he realised Missy had taken her in the first place. How she'd been right by his side and then just… just gone.
"Doctor, what do we do?" Amy asked him, seeing him floundering. It was a role she had fallen into a few times when they had travelled together; when he was feeling a bit overwhelmed, she pulled his attention back to her and it gave him something to focus on. Danni had done much the same when she had appeared.
The Doctor stared at Amelia Pond for a moment, supressing the overwhelming need to shout at her. Danni was showing off because she was feeling rejected. He shook his head.
"Follow the stairs up," he replied like it was obvious. "Tell everyone you see that they need to get as far away from the pyramid as they possibly can, then get back to the TARDIS."
"And you're going to save Danni, right?" she asked in reply. He nodded.
"I'm not leaving her behind," he said. "Amelia, I'm trusting you to get everyone else out. I'm not leaving without her."
With a nod, the four rushed up the stairs and the Doctor turned back to the door. He slipped his sunglasses on and turned back to the door.
"Come on, Doctor, this is what you're here for," he said to himself. "Stop the monsters and get the girl."
~0~0~0~
It was with an almighty cheer that Danni managed to get the engines started. Her sonic screwdriver had been pretty much useless, so it had taken a lot of what she had learnt to break through the security to set everything in motion.
"Oh yeah!" she cried, turning around, looking for people to have seen what she had done and to praise her for it. Instead she remembered she was on her own. "Oh." Now, more than ever, she really understood why the Doctor liked having companions around; it was great to have someone to show off to.
Oh well, she could show off later. She still had to escape before the ship took off. She doubled her efforts before, finally, finding the correct command. She heard the door unlock and she punched the air just as the engines kicked into gear. She stumbled, falling into the console.
"Right, celebrate later, Fielding," she muttered. She rushed over to the door then glanced back at the walls. All the shiny things. All the wonderfully valuable, shiny things…
She growled as it took longer than it should have to open the door. The whole pyramid was starting to shake and she was certain that the outer layer of stone would have already started coming away.
The door did open, though, and on the other side stood the Doctor. "What are you doing here?" she cried, alarmed as he pulled his sunglasses off.
"I was waiting for you!" he shouted back over the rumbling.
"Why? Because you thought I couldn't do it?" she countered accusingly. "Or because you thought I was going to do something stupid?"
"No, of course not," he replied. "I wasn't going to leave you behind!" There was a loud rumble and Danni jumped. The Doctor reached out, grabbing her. "I promised I'd never leave you behind again!" he shouted over the roar of the engine. "You and me, Danni-Girl. To the end of time!"
She looked down at his hand, then up to his face. Everything about him said that he truly, honestly, meant every word and Danni couldn't help but grin widely in response. No matter what happened to her, she had always held onto the belief that she had someone waiting for her at the end. Amy couldn't see her and she was so afraid that the Doctor could only see Missy. But he didn't. He'd waited for her. He was always waiting for her.
She reached out, pulling him forward and into a searing kiss. He seemed a little surprised at first, but he quickly wrapped her up and held her close. Her chest ached happily and her hands threaded themselves into his hair. The world around them felt like it was trying to fade away, so she pulled back, but the Doctor wouldn't let her.
Then the pyramid shook and he had to hold onto her tightly to stop her falling to the ground. She glanced behind her at the door, pushing through the happy daze that he'd put her in.
Oh, yeah, the spaceship.
"Come on, Spaceman!" she said happily. "We've got to get out of here before it takes off!"
His wolfish grin just solidified the idea that he really was by her side. "Run!" he commanded and, hand in hand, they did just that.
~0~0~0~
Outside was total chaos. The tents had been abandoned, naturally, and everyone was running away from the pyramid that was crumbling and collapsing. The Doctor and Danni broke out before the exit was blocked up by falling to stone to find the Pond family, along with Dafydd, stood there waiting.
Naturally.
"I told you to head back to the TARDIS," the Doctor shouted over the sound of the destruction.
"Yeah, I know," Amy replied.
"I have a face people listen to this time around!" he pointed out. "You're supposed to listen to me!"
Danni rolled her eyes. "No, you don't sweetie," she corrected.
"You listen to me!"
"That's because you're gorgeous," she retorted.
"What did you do?" Rory asked before the flirting could start. That would always lead to kissing and, with the immediate threat of a pyramid about to fall on top of them, it really needed to wait.
"I set the spaceship to take off," Danni explained. "It'll destroy the pyramid, which will stop people going in, and it will just keep flying until it runs out of fuel. Hopefully no one comes into contact with it until then, but there's not much I can do about that."
"That's really clever!" Tony exclaimed happily. "You're awesome."
"Well, yeah, I kinda am, aren't I?" she retorted. She looked back at the pyramid. "I couldn't save the bellymaws. Unfortunately, they're going to be trapped on there forever. There's always someone you can't save."
The Doctor saw the sadness on her face and knew that Amy did too by the way she couldn't stop staring at her. "Come on! We need to get back to the TARDIS."
Danni turned to Daffyd. "Thank you for your help. Sorry we couldn't save your friends."
"You saved everyone else," he replied, giving them a little nod. "I'm sure the Captain will be pleased to hear…"
Danni drew in some air through her teeth. "Yeah, about that…" She grinned, reaching out to take the Doctor's hand. "We were never here!"
~0~0~0~
"It's such a shame," Tony commented from his perch on the stairs to the balcony above the console room.
"What is?" Amy asked as the Doctor turned the monitor on. He wanted to make sure the ship took off from the planet before he tried to fly them away.
"All that cool stuff in the pyramid was just blown up," he explained. "And no one is ever going to know."
"We'll know," Rory replied, wrapping his arm around his son's shoulder. It was amazing how relieved he was to get him back into the TARDIS. It made him feel rather bad for the period of time he'd travelled when his dad knew all about it. When they got back he'd make more of an effort to help him with the gardening.
"Yeah. Plus, Danni's got her tiara," his mother added. He glanced over at Danni, who looked rather pleased with herself. She adjusted the tiara happily.
"Well, there's that," the Time Lady agreed. She moved over to his side, reaching into his pocket. She pulled out a small golden beetle with red gems embedded in it. "Here, have this."
"Where did you get that?" Amy asked in surprise.
"Oh, I took it," Danni replied with a shrug. She pulled out a couple more small trinkets that had been too nice to leave behind. "What can I say? I can be sneaky when I try."
The Doctor, satisfied, tried to send the TARDIS into flight. As he expected she set off on the first try. "Why don't you stay the night?" he declared, moving away from the adventure they had and to address the elephant in the room. "One big, happy family."
~0~0~0~
Sorry for the long break between updates. I can't tell you the trouble I've been having even getting motivated to write. I think I'm just going through a longer-than-usual slump. It was bound to happen, but I hope you enjoy this anyway :)
Authora97 - Oh, Amy will apologise, the Doctor will make sure of it XD
bored411 - We're getting to the fluff, as you can see. I don't think Amy quite understood what she said actually meant. I think she'll get the message soon enough. Thanks, sweetie!
sam - She has, hasn't she? XD
Guest - I can't wait to get to Season 11. There is a little drabble up in the Outtakes right now which is set at the end of the Witchfinders if you're interested :)
setsuna1415 - Go for it! There's plenty to re-read haha!