The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 39
A/N: I think I'm going to stop writing disclaimers now, it's getting hard to think up witty things to say. Anyway, we have the second part of The Time of Angels, let's hope it's a good chapter.
And I have an announcement for everyone, I'm afraid I might have to go on a bit of a hiatus. This will probably be the last chapter for around a month. Don't worry, I'll keep writing and I might post another chapter during June sometime. I'm really sorry for this, but my exams start in a few weeks and I really need to put some effort into studying, without worrying if I'm going to be able to post within a week. Hopefully, by the end of June I'll have at least finished the first story in my Time Lady series and maybe gotten up to the end of the first series finale in this one. I am really, really sorry. But... just to make it interesting, if I don't post during June sometime, the next time I post, I will also be posting my next Time Lady story.
Replies to Reviews:
Marmalade1512: Ooh, spoilers. I think if Rhea was going to marry a woman in the show, she'd marry River. I haven't quite fixed all of the bugs in The Wedding of River Song yet. I have two different ways for it to go and I'm not sure which way I want it. For all you know, River isn't in love with the Doctor. She might be in love with Rhea and resigned herself to be second best to the Doctor in Rhea's eyes. I know, I love pushing it with the suspense. I'm trying to let go of bits and pieces now and then and even that's really hard. I'm so glad you liked the chapter!
Tokala: River and Rhea's relationship is a little hard for me. I want to it equal parts romantic and equal parts friendship, but I don't know which way to go. Well, we'll just have to see how it goes. I fell in love with 10/Donna when I read To Err is Human, I think it's absolutely wonderful and had a really interesting way of looking at a Human Nature AU. I ship River with pretty much every Doctor, I don't know why, I just really like their relationship. Especially 10/River, I wish we could have gotten to see that picnic at Asgard. Of course, it makes we wonder why River thought 10 had done the Byzantium, seeing as it was 11.
NicoleR85: I was debating whether to make River jealous in this story, but I thought that, one, Rhea and the Doctor's relationship has been going on for a long time, at least for him, and I doubt non-psychopath River would want to damage that, and two, I wanted Rhea to have a friend that understood what she was going through, and River was the best person for that. But it would have been fun to see a bitchy Rhea. But you never know, Rhea doesn't always like someone continuously. She could get really pissed off at River and have a go at her. The ending to Flesh and Stone will be very interesting, we will get to see a very possessive and pissed off Rhea and plenty of Rhea flirting with Rory just to get back at Amy.
Alexandra Wolfe: I've actually read all of them :) And they were absolutely wonderful. I kind of went on a bender of reading fanfics that weren't Doctor/Rose. But thank you, anyway!
grapejuice101: I love this episode too and I love playing around with the spoilers in this chapter! And Rhea gets to meet River, which is like a match made in... hell, maybe, with the Doctor thrown in, of course :)
SophieJoy: Don't think it's stupid and you're right, someone else is probably thinking the same thing. It's actually Ri-a or Riya, think of it as a long 'e' sound.
Warnings: Not much in this chapter.
The Time of Angels: Angel Eyes
The Doctor's eyes widened, a thought coming to him. "Pictures? Why aren't there pictures?" He breathed.
Amy picked up the remote for the video and tried to switch the footage of the Weeping Angel off, but it kept coming back on. She set the remote down and peered at the screen.
"You're just a recording. You can't move." Amy muttered to herself, shaking her head.
She looked away and knelt down to unplug the power source, and when she looked back, the Angel's face was right in front of the camera. She backed away to the door, her eyes wide and her blood pumping.
"Doctor!" She called out, a little scared. She tried to open the door but it wouldn't budge. She looked back at the screen to see the Angel with its mouth open in a fierce snarl in full predatory mode.
"Rhea!" Amy called out again, the fear rising in her.
"This whole book, it's a warning, about the Weeping Angels. So why no pictures? Why not show us what to look out for?" The Doctor narrowed his eyes at the book that was currently in Rhea's hands.
"There's a page here about images." Rhea pointed out.
"Yes!" The Doctor snatched it from Rhea, ignoring her grumbles, and stared at the page that Rhea had pointed out. "'That which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel.'"
Amy spared another look at the screen as she tried to open the door, frantically. "Doctor! Rhea!" She screamed.
Rhea frowned at the Doctor. "What does that even mean? 'An image of a Angel becomes itself an Angel.'?"
Amy looked to see a hazy image of a Weeping Angel forming inside the very room.
"Doctor! It's in the room!" She shrieked.
The Doctor's, Rhea's and River's eyes widened when they could finally hear Amy's screams.
"Amy!" The Doctor shouted and three ran to the transport.
"Doctor!" They could hear Amy screaming from inside.
The Doctor, Rhea and River ran up to the door. "Amy, are you all right?" The Doctor asked, hurriedly.
"What's happening?" Rhea asked.
"Doctor! Rhea! It's coming out of the television." Amy whispered in horror, staring at the static hologram of the Angel in front of her, its claws reaching for her. "The Angel is here."
The Doctor paled. "Don't take your eyes off it!" He ordered her. He took out his sonic screwdriver and used it on the keypad. "It can't move if you're looking." For some reason, the screwdriver didn't seem to be working. "What's wrong? It's deadlocked." He grit his teeth.
River was also trying her hardest to override the controls. "There is no deadlock."
"Don't blink, Amy! Don't even blink!" The Doctor shouted through the door.
"Doctor!"
"What are you doing?" Rhea asked.
"Cutting the power. It's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off. It's no good, it's deadlocked the whole system."
"There's no deadlock." River said, stubbornly.
"There is now!" The Doctor snapped at her, his hesitation and wariness of the woman finally coming out.
"Help me!" Amy screamed.
"Amy!" Rhea shouted, a thought occurring to her, desperately hoping that it would work, otherwise Amy would die. "Can you turn it off?"
"Rhea!"
Rhea growled. "The screen, Legs, can you turn it off?"
"I tried."
"Well, then, try again, moron, but this time, don't take your eyes off the Angel." She ordered Amy.
"I'm not!" Amy protested.
The Doctor and River were still, frantically, trying to override the controls.
"Each time it moves, it'll move faster. Don't even blink." The Doctor ordered.
"I'm not blinking! Have you ever tried not blinking?" Amy shouted, exasperatedly. She winked, trying to relieve the pressure in her eyes.
She fumbled for the remote without taking her eyes off the Angel. She grabbed it and started to back away to the door, trying to switch it off again. It turned itself back on.
"It just keeps switching back on!" Amy said, her helplessness leaking into her voice.
"Yeah, it's the Angel." Rhea explained.
"But it's just a recording." Amy protested.
"No, anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel." The Doctor explained.
Rhea looked over at River, who now had a small blowtorch in her hand and was using it on the door. "What are you doing?"
"I'm trying to cut through. It's not even warm."
"There is no way in, it's not physically possible." The Doctor said, shaking his head.
Rhea sighed. "Guess that means my blaster's out of the question."
"Doctor! Rhea! What's it gonna do to me?" Amy shouted from inside the transport.
"Just keep looking at it!" Rhea warned. "Don't you dare stop looking!"
"Just tell me. Just tell me. Tell me!"
Rhea swallowed hard and ran back for the book and brought it back to just outside the transport door where she sat down.
She paled and looked up. "Amy, not the eyes." She called out. "Look anywhere but don't look at the eyes."
But Amy was looking the Angel in its eye. "Why?"
River and the Doctor turned to look at Rhea. "What is it?" River asked, worriedly.
"'The eyes are not the windows of the soul, they are the doors. Beware what may enter there.'" Rhea quoted, her voice hard, realising exactly what the Angel was capable of doing to Amy.
"Rhea, what did you say?" Amy called out again.
The Doctor let out a frustrated growl, realising that they were running out of time. "Don't look at the eyes!" He shouted.
"No," Amy shook her head. "About images, what did you say about images?"
"Whatever holds the image of an angel, is an angel." River repeated.
"Okay…" Amy nodded to herself. "Hold this." She held out the remote. "One, two, three, four..." She hit the pause button while the footage showed static.
The image of the Angel froze before turning off. The door opened and the Doctor, Rhea and River rushed in. The Doctor unplugged the screen, while Rhea and River ran over to Amy.
"I froze it! There was a sort of blip on the tape and I froze it on the blip. It wasn't the image of an angel any more. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good." Amy panted, needing that extra bit of praise.
"That was fucking awesome, Legs." Rhea said, squeezing Amy's shoulder.
"Absolutely amazing." River agreed, rubbing Amy's back.
"Rhea, River, hug Amy." The Doctor ordered.
"What," Rhea frowned. "Why?"
"'Cause I'm busy." The Doctor explained.
Amy glared at him, slightly offended. "I'm fine." She said, her voice hard.
"You're brilliant!" River commented.
"Thanks." Amy smiled, shakily, at Rhea and River. "Yeah. I kind of creamed it, didn't I?"
Rhea left Amy to River and came up to the Doctor. "So it was here? That was the Angel?"
"That was a projection of the Angel." The Doctor corrected. "It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant."
Suddenly, they heard the sound of an explosion and all of them reacted in different ways, the Doctor and Amy, flinching, and Rhea and River turning towards the sound. The Doctor and Rhea ran to the door.
"It's gone positive!" One of the soldiers told Octavian.
"Doctor! We're through!" Octavian called out.
The Doctor looked at Rhea, Amy and River. "Okay. Now it starts."
Amy rubbed her left eye.
River headed for the door and Rhea was about to step out, when she saw that Amy was standing still. "You okay, Legs?"
"Yeah," Amy nodded. "Coming. There's just... something in my eye."
The Doctor climbed down a rope ladder, Rhea right behind him, and the two joined Octavian at the bottom. Him and the Doctor turned their torches on and looked around, while Amy and River joined them and the other soldiers.
"Do we have a gravity globe?" The Doctor asked Octavian.
"Grav globe." Octavian held out his hand and one of the soldiers took out a sphere from his pack, handing it to Octavian.
"Where are we? What is this?" Amy asked, looking around.
"It's an Aplan mortarium. Sometimes called a maze of the dead." River explained.
Rhea spun around to look at her. "You have got to be kidding me." Rhea groaned. "This place is called the 'maze of the dead'." She blinked. "We are so screwed." She breathed.
"Don't be so pessimistic, Rhea." The Doctor chided, gently.
"So, what's a maze of the dead?" Amy asked.
"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone..." The Doctor's legs swung and kicked the gravity globe like a football and it rose into the air, stopping and then bursting into a great big ball of light, which enveloped the entire cave and revealed a large number of stone statues. "…the perfect hiding place."
"I reiterate my statement, we are so screwed." Rhea said, glaring at the Doctor.
"I guess this makes it a bit trickier." Octavian said.
"A bit, yeah." The Doctor nodded, half-laughing.
"A stone angel on the loose among stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for." Octavian commented.
"Needle in a haystack." Rhea mused.
"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle. Of death. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues." Rhea glared at him. "No, yours was fine." He said, hurriedly.
"Right. Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection. One question, how do we fight it?"Octavian asked.
"We find it, and hope." The Doctor and Rhea went off and Amy followed them.
River went to follow the Doctor and Rhea, but Octavian grabbed her by the arm before she could move.
"They don't know yet, does they? Who and what you are." Octavian growled in her ear.
River grit her teeth. "It's too early in their time stream."
"Well, make sure they don't work it out, or she won't let him help us and she'll kill you on the spot." Octavian warned.
"I won't let you down. Believe you me, I have no intention of going back to prison." River said, grimly.
"Sir?" One of the soldiers called out. "Side chamber. One visible exit."
"Check it out. Angelo, go with him." Octavian ordered him and the two soldiers went to check out the chamber.
The Doctor shone his torch in every direction, while Rhea and Amy followed. Rhea stopped and looked at the many levels above them and all of the statues lining the way, her eyes narrowed in concentration. Amy stopped, shortly, and rubbed the corner of her eye with one finger and found a little bit of grit. She frowned and used her full hand, paling when sand and grit came through her fingers. Scared, suddenly, she stopped and looked at her hand, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. River came up beside her.
"You all right?" River asked, worriedly.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Amy nodded. "So, what's a maze of the dead?"
"Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds. It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls." Amy raised an eyebrow. "Okay, that was fairly bad." River amended. "Right, give me your arm." She ordered, holding up a syringe. "This won't hurt a bit." She, suddenly, stabbed the needle into Amy's arm.
"Ow!" Amy shrieked, yanking her arm back.
"There, you see. I lied." She smiled. "It's a viro-stabiliser. Stabilises your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship." River explained. She turned to Rhea. "Over here, darling. I need to give you a shot too."
Rhea rolled her eyes and held out her arm, her eyes not flinching the slightest when River applied the stabiliser. She slid the arm of her shirt and her blazer back down her arms and moved back over the Doctor.
"So what're they like? In the future, I mean. Cos you know them in the future, don't you?" Amy asked, slyly.
River's eyes widened and she shifted, slightly, turned uncomfortable by the question. "The Doctor? Well, the Doctor's the Doctor." She smiled. "And Rhea, well, she's Rhea." She shrugged.
"Oh, well," Amy rolled her eyes. "That's very helpful. Mind if I write that down?" She asked, sarcastically.
"Yes, they are." Rhea called out, to the Doctor, a smirk brimming on her lips, hearing the conversation between Amy and River.
The Doctor was busy taking readings with River's scanner. He looked up at her when he heard her voice. "Sorry, what?" He asked, nonchalantly, his features indifferent, as if he hadn't been listening in on every word that had transpired between Amy and River, desperate to know any real information, either about who River was or what was in store for him and Rhea. It wasn't like him to want to know any sneak previews ahead of time, especially since Rhea had been with him for so long, but this was too early for Rhea and that was making him quite anxious.
"Talking about you." Her smirk turned into a full-blown smug grin.
"I wasn't listening, I'm busy." The Doctor said, shaking his head, quite pathetically. He cursed himself, silently, knowing that Rhea would be able to tell when he was lying.
"Ah." Rhea nodded. "The other way around." She said, conspiratorially, and winked, biting her lip to the point of pain to stop herself from laughing at his cheeks colouring and at the caught-out expression that formed on his face.
The Doctor turned the device the other way up and realised that he had been holding the scanner the wrong way, realising that he had been caught out. He looked over at Rhea, who merely raised her eyebrows, the grin never leaving her dark red lips.
"Do you have to point out everything I do wrong?" The Doctor asked, only slightly annoyed.
Rhea's lips curled into a knowing smile and she nodded. "Of course I do, honey." She crooned, moving over to him and giving him a placatory kiss on his prominent jaw line, patting him on the back in a condescending manner, and watched him soften in her arms. Oh, you damned, damned whore.
"She only does it in a you're-such-an-idiot-and-I'm-going-to-have-so-much-fun-pointing-it-out way." River added, innocently, winking at Rhea.
The Doctor glared at River, disgruntled, while Rhea smiled over at her. "Oh, I bet I like you." Rhea purred, a smile stretching across her dark red lips, her dimples showing.
River smirked. "Oh, you do." She said, knowingly.
"She is so his wife." Amy said in a loud whisper. "Or you've got to be married to her."
"Oh, Amy, Amy, Amy! This is the Doctor we're talking about. Do you really think it could be anything that simple?" River asked, looking anywhere but Amy, not wanting herself to give anything away. She could tell that Amy might have a thing for the Doctor, but she was ready to defend the Doctor and Rhea if need be. The Doctor and Rhea were her closest friends and as far as she was concerned, they were 'endgame' and she wouldn't let anyone disturb their relationship, even if it was Amy who was the one doing the disturbing. Plus, she was kind of invested in Amy's romantic endeavours. She'd never be able to look Rhea in the eye if Amy made a move on the Doctor.
"Yep."
River grimaced. "You're good. I'm not saying you're right about Rhea and the Doctor…" She left it open, so that she wouldn't have to get into it about her and Rhea. That was something best left unsaid and not mentioned to Amy just yet. "...but you are very good." River said, grudgingly, her voice turning breezy when she started to talk about Rhea, slyly glancing at her.
Rhea blinked a few times, hearing the end of that conversation. River said that she wasn't saying Amy was right, but she didn't say Amy was wrong. Now that made her blood chill. River had to be wrong. There was no way in hell she could be the Doctor's wife. She wasn't capable of being a wife to anyone, not anymore at least, let alone to a centuries old time-travelling alien. She was the girl that men screwed in the bathrooms of bars or in the alleyway, she wasn't marriage material. The first time had definitely drained away any desire to be a wife. She doubted even the Doctor had the power to change her mind about that.
The Doctor, Rhea, Amy and River were examining the statues, searching for the Weeping Angel, when they heard gunfire. They all looked at each other and ran back down to the main chamber.
A young cleric had fired his weapon at one of the statues. The Doctor stopped to look at it.
"Sorry. Sorry, I thought... I thought it looked at me." The young cleric stuttered.
"We know what the Angel looks like. Is that the Angel?" Octavian asked, sternly.
"No, sir." The young cleric shook his head, sheepishly.
"No, sir, it is not! According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil. So it would be good, it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of decor." Octavian growled.
"Hey, cool it, Friar Lawrence." Rhea snapped. "These things are fucking scary. They're meant to be."
"What's your name?" The Doctor asked, suddenly, feeling sorry for the young man who was currently being reprimanded by the Bishop.
"Bob, sir."
"Ah, that's a great name. I love Bob." The Doctor said, cheerfully.
"It's a Sacred Name. We all have Sacred Names, they're given to us in the service of the Church." Octavian explained.
Rhea snorted. "'Bob' is a Sacred Name? It really is the 51st Century, isn't it?"
The Doctor walked over and joined Bob and Octavian. "Sacred Bob. More like Scared Bob now, eh?" He joked.
"Yes, sir." Bob said, embarrassment colouring his voice.
"Ah, good." The Doctor nodded his approval. "Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron." He said, pointedly, looking at the Bishop. "Carry on."
"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes." Octavian turned to Bob. "You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach." He ordered.
"Isn't there a chance this lot's just gonna collapse? There's a whole ship up there." Amy asked, looking around the upward passage.
"Incredible builders, the Aplans." River murmured.
"Had dinner with their chief architect once. Two heads are better than one." The Doctor said.
"You mean you helped him or he had two heads?" Rhea asked, warily.
"Oh, he had two heads." The Doctor turned to Rhea and River. "That book, the very end, what did it say?"
"Hang on." River said and pulled the book out of her pack, showing it to Rhea, who narrowed her eyes at the last page.
"Read it to me." The Doctor demanded her.
"'What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels.'" Rhea and River said, simultaneously, their faces paling as they looked up.
"Oh, that is so not good." Rhea breathed. She reached over and punched the Doctor in the arm, lightly. "Why do I let you get me into these things?"
The Doctor, Rhea, River and Amy proceeded up the passage.
"Are we there yet? It's a hell of a climb." Amy asked, breathing heavily.
"The maze is on six levels representing the ascent of the soul. Only two levels to go." River said, striding along.
"Lovely species, the Aplans. We should visit them some time." The Doctor commented.
"I thought they were all dead." Amy said, frowning.
"So's Virginia Woolf. We're on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. That's having two heads. You're never short of a snog with an extra head." The Doctor muttered and ducked when Rhea's hand swung for him.
"Doctor, there's something. I don't know what it is..." River trailed off.
"Yeah, something wrong. Don't know what it is yet either, working on it. Then they started having laws against self-marrying and what was that about? But that's the church for you." The Doctor paused, realising what he had just said and who he had said it to. "Erm, no offence, Bishop."
"Quite a lot taken, if that's all right, Doctor." Octavian said, dryly, his voice cool.
"Self-marriage? Really, you can do that?" Rhea asked, a strange gleam coming to her eyes.
"The only one you're going to be happy with." The Doctor muttered to himself, feeling as if he had just been punched in the stomach when he saw the gleam in her eyes. He knew that Rhea didn't believe that she deserved to or could ever be happy. He knew that she had resigned herself to a state of acceptance in her life, she wasn't happy and she wasn't suicidal anymore and that was enough for her to get by. But the worst part of it all was that he knew he could make her blissful.
They had reached a narrow passage lined with statues.
"Lowest point in the wreckage is only about 50 feet up from here. That way." Octavian said, pointing in a certain direction.
"I guess the Church had a point, if you think about. Can you imagine trying to divorce yourself?" Rhea asked, shaking her head. "That would have given an entirely new meaning to 'messy divorce'."
The Doctor suddenly stopped and narrowed his eyes at the statue. "Oh!" He managed to say, his face turning bloodless.
"What's wrong?" Amy asked, frowning at the Doctor's reaction.
Rhea's eyes widened in realisation, staring at the statues, intently, as she came to the same conclusion the Doctor had. "Fuck." She cursed, running her hair through her hair.
River's face turned pale. "Oh." She said, staring at the Doctor and Rhea.
"Exactly." The Doctor nodded.
"How could we not notice that?" Rhea hissed at him.
"Low level perception filter, or maybe we're thick." The Doctor said, reluctantly.
"What's wrong, sir, ma'am?" Octavian asked.
"Nobody move." Rhea ordered and everyone stilled. "Everyone stay exactly where they are."
"Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we are all in danger." The Doctor said, apologetically.
"What danger?" Octavian asked, confused.
"The Aplans." River replied.
"The Aplans?"
"They've got two heads." Rhea explained.
"Yes, I get that. So?"
"So why don't the statues?" The Doctor asked. "Everyone, over there. Just move, don't ask questions, don't speak." All of the soldiers moved to a spot where there were no statues. "Okay, I want you all to switch off your torches."
"Sir?"
"Just do it." Everyone switched off their torches. "Okay. I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment."
"Are you sure about this?" Rhea asked him, under her breath, leaning forward.
"No."
"Oh, well, that's good to know."
The Doctor switched off his torch for a split second and turned it back on again to find that the statues in front of them were now facing them. The Doctor and Rhea ran ahead.
"Oh, my God!" Amy whispered in horror. "They've moved."
The others followed after the Doctor as he observed every single statue lining their way to the ship.
"They're Angels." Rhea exclaimed, spinning around. "All of them!"
"But, they can't be." River said, shaking her head.
"Clerics, keep watching them." The Doctor ordered. He backtracked and saw that the Angels had moved forward. "Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us."
"There was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear." River protested.
Rhea turned to look at River. "Could they have been here already?"
The Doctor's eyes widened and he rushed to Rhea's side. "The Aplans, how did they die out?" He demanded.
"Nobody knows." River said, shaking her head, helplessly.
"We know." The Doctor corrected.
"They don't look like Angels." Octavian added.
"And they're not fast. You said they were fast. They should have had us by now." Amy pointed out.
"They're dying. Losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving." The Doctor murmured.
"Losing their image." Rhea breathed.
"And their image is their power. Power. Power!" The Doctor shouted, his eyes wide as they dawned with realisation.
"Doctor?" Rhea stared at the Doctor with worry.
"Don't you see? All that radiation spilling out, the drive burn. The crash wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission, for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army and it's waking up."
"You mean the Angel on the Byzantium crashed the ship on purpose so it could get to these Angels here." Rhea whispered, looking around.
"We need to get out of here fast." River said, grimly.
"Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please. Any of you, come in!" Octavian growled into his radio.
"It's Bob, sir. Sorry, sir." Bob's voice came over the radio.
"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active!"
"I know, sir. Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir." Bob informed them.
The Doctor snatched the radio from Octavian. "Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor. Where are you now?" He asked, slowly.
"I'm talking to my..." Octavian began to protest.
"Shut up!" The Doctor and Rhea snapped at the Bishop, their words synchronising.
"I'm on my way up to you, sir, I'm homing on your signal." Bob told the Doctor.
"Well done, Bob. Scared keeps you fast, told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob, what did the Angel do to them?"
"Snapped their necks, sir."
Rhea frowned. "You told me they send people back in time." She said to the Doctor. Something felt strange with Bob. Rhea felt that he sounded entirely too detached by the idea of his comrades' gruesome death, a far cry from a man who had fired his gun blindly because he thought he saw an Angel.
The Doctor nodded. "That's odd. That's not how the Angels kill you, they displace you in time." He paused. "Unless they needed the bodies for something."
Octavian took the radio back from the Doctor. "Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan."
The Doctor snatched the radio for the second time from Octavian. "Don't be an idiot!" He snapped at Octavian. "The Angels don't leave you alive!" He turned his attention back to the radio. "Bob, keep running, but tell me, how did you escape?"
There was the sound of static coming over on the radio. "I didn't escape, sir. The Angel killed me, too."
Rhea and the Doctor exchanged a look, wondering what the soldier meant by that.
Rhea shuffled closer to the Doctor, so that she could speak into the radio. "What do you mean the Angel killed you too?" She asked, gently, dread coursing through her blood.
"Snapped my neck, ma'am. Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick, so that was something."
Rhea swallowed the lump in her throat. "If you're dead, how are we able to talk to you?"
"You're not talking to me, ma'am. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion."
Rhea pinched the bridge of her nose and the Doctor tightened his grip on the radio and on Rhea. "So when you say you're on your way up to us..."
"It's the Angel that's coming, sir, yes."
The Doctor looked up. "No way out." He said, grimly.
"Then we get out through the wreckage. Go!" Octavian shouted.
"Go, go, go. All of you run!" The Doctor shouted, ushering Octavian, Amy, River and Rhea head of him.
"What about you?" Rhea asked, stubbornly, not willing to leave him alone in a cavern full of homicidal statues.
"I'm coming." The Doctor leaned down and kissed her hard on the forehead. "Don't worry. Just go!"
"I'm not leaving you." She hissed and the Doctor growled, exasperatedly, pulling her into his side, so that he could keep a better eye on her.
Amy and River left with the other clerics, while the Doctor, Rhea and Octavian remained.
"Called you an idiot. Sorry," The Doctor shrugged. "But there's no way we could have rescued your men."
"I know that, sir. And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families."
"Then don't bother asking for our help." Rhea said, gritting her teeth.
Octavian glared at her and walked off.
"Angel Bob, which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?" The Doctor asked into the radio.
"Yes, sir. The other Angels are still restoring."
"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you." He grabbed Rhea's hand and they ran along the passage, stopping when they saw Amy waiting for them. "Don't wait for us, go, run."
"I can't!" Amy cried out and the Doctor and Rhea rushed over to her. "No, really I can't."
"Why not?" Rhea asked, carefully.
"Look at it. Look at my hand. It's stone!" Her hand gripped the railing and she paled when all she could see was stone.
Further along the passageway, River, Octavian and the clerics arrived at an open chamber and could see the ship above them.
"Well. There it is, the Byzantium."
River let out a breath. "Well, it's got to be 30 feet. How do we get up there?" She growled.
"Check all these exits. I want them all secure." Octavian ordered his clerics.
The Doctor was examining Amy as Rhea had an arm wrapped around her. The Doctor flashed a torch in her eyes.
"You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?" The Doctor asked.
"I couldn't stop myself. I tried."
"Listen, Amy, it's screwing with your head. Your hand isn't made of stone." Rhea murmured, soothingly.
"It is." Amy said, stubbornly. "Look at it!"
"It's in your mind. I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go." The Doctor said, gently.
"I can't, okay? I've tried and I can't. It's stone." Amy snarled.
The torchlight started to flicker and the Doctor and Rhea stared at it with dread.
"The Angel is gonna come and it's gonna turn this light off, and then there's nothing I can do to stop it. So do it, concentrate, move your hand!" The Doctor growled.
"I can't." Amy said, shaking her head.
"Then we're all going to die." The Doctor said, lightly.
"They'll kill the lights." Rhea pointed out.
The lights flickered off and the Angels moved closer to the three.
"You've got to go, you know you have." Amy protested. "You've got all that stuff with each other and River and that's all got to happen. You know you can't die here!"
"Time can be rewritten, it doesn't work like that." The Doctor said, sadly, shaking his head.
He looked over at Rhea, wondering what his life would have been like had Rhea not been in it. He reached out and took Rhea's hand in his hair, rubbing the skin, comfortingly. Rhea smiled over at him, her eyes soft, thinking the exact same thing. What would her life have been like had he never knocked on her door at three in the morning? Maybe she was always meant to meet him. Maybe that was the reason she had survived so long before she met him. Because she had to meet him. Rhea didn't know whether she should scream or smile. Isn't that a scary thought?
The lights flickered again and Amy turned to look at the Angels, suddenly closer.
"Keep your eyes on it. Don't blink." The Doctor ordered.
"Run!" Amy cried out.
"Don't you get it, Legs? We're not going." Rhea said, gently, shaking her head and resting her cheek on Amy's shoulder. "We're not leaving you here."
"I don't need you to die for me, Rhea, do I look that clingy?" Amy said, nonchalantly, but Rhea could see the fear bleed into her voice and her entire body tremble.
"You can move your hand." The Doctor tried again.
"It's stone." Amy said, stubbornly.
Rhea growled, exasperatedly. "It's not stone!"
"Those people up there will die without you. If you stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them." Amy tried to reason with them.
"Amy Pond, you are magnificent." The Doctor murmured, kissing her on the forehead. "And I'm sorry."
Amy took a deep breath. "It's okay. I understand. You've got to leave me." She said, nodding her head as if she were trying to reassure herself rather than them.
"Oh, no, we're not leaving you, never. I'm sorry about this." The Doctor reached down and sank his teeth into her hand. Amy screamed and yanked her hand away from his mouth, moving it. "See, not stone. Now run!"
"You bit me!" Amy shrieked.
"Yep and you're alive." The Doctor pointed away.
"I've got a mark!" Amy rubbed the red mark on her hand, feeling the indentation of his teeth in her skin. "Look at my hand!"
The Doctor pulled her and Rhea behind him. "Yeah, and you're alive, did I mention?"
"Blimey, your teeth! Have you got space teeth?"
"Alive. All we're saying." Rhea pointed out, smirking. "And what exactly is space teeth?" She asked, incredulously. "What would even classify as space teeth, as opposed to human teeth?"
They ran back in the direction of the clerics and River.
One of the clerics that was sent to check the statues returned. "The statues are advancing along all corridors. And, sir, my torch keeps flickering."
"They all do." Octavian said, grimly.
"So does the gravity globe." River murmured, looking up.
"Clerics, we're down to four men. Expect incoming."
"Yeah, it's the Angels. They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves." The Doctor said, as he, Rhea and Amy rushed into the cavern.
"Which means we won't be able to see them." Octavian said.
"Which means we can't stay here." Rhea pointed out.
"There are more incoming!"
River looked at the Doctor and Rhea. "Any suggestions?" She asked.
"The statues are advancing on all sides and we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium." Octavian told them.
"There's no way up, no way back, no way out. No pressure, but this is usually when either of you have a really good idea." River said.
"There's always a way out." The Doctor's voice echoed throughout the cavern.
The lights flickered off again and when they came back on, the Angels were right in front of them, blocking the passage.
"There's always a way out." Rhea said, sarcastically, but she frowned when she saw the Doctor brighten, as if an idea had come to him.
"Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor and Doctor Adwani, please?" Angel Bob's voice came over the radio.
"Hello Angels." The Doctor's voice was light, but Rhea could hear the undertone of steel. "What's your problem?"
"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir." Angel Bob said, apologetically.
Rhea narrowed her eyes her at the radio. "Why are you telling us this?" She asked, suspiciously.
"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end." Angel Bob informed them.
"Which is?" The Doctor asked.
"I died in fear."
"I'm sorry?" The Doctor asked, confused.
"You told me my fear would keep me alive but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down."
Rhea paled, reaching out for the Doctor, who took her hand in his, gratefully. The Doctor felt the fury burning inside of her. Blaming Rhea, my Rhea, for something that she couldn't help… He gritted his teeth, trying to curb his anger, fruitlessly.
"What are they doing?" Amy whispered to River.
"They're trying to make him angry. But nothing makes him angry like blaming Rhea for something she had no control over." River whispered back, staring at the Doctor's changing expression with trepidation. "She carries enough guilt for things that weren't her fault. He hates it when people try and add to it."
"I'm sorry, sir. The Angels were very keen for you to know that."
"Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier." The Doctor growled into the radio, his voice rough and his eyes closing briefly, but Rhea could see the guilt and torment in his eyes.
"But you're trapped, sir, and about to die." Angel Bob sounded confused, wondering how exactly the Doctor was going to fulfil his promise.
"Yeah, I'm trapped." The Doctor muttered. He looked up and around, his eyes darkening with anger. "Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whopping mistake!" He shouted.
"What mistake, sir?"
The Doctor turned to Octavian. "You lot, trust me?" He asked, his voice light, but Rhea could see the anger and frustration reflected in his gaze.
A cleric was watching the passage. "Sir, two more incoming!" He shouted, fearfully.
Octavian nodded after a moment. "We have faith, sir."
The Doctor looked at Amy. "Trust me?"
Amy smiled at him, softly. "Yeah." She whispered.
River stared at him, intensely, when his gaze turned in her direction. "Trust me."
"Of course." She swore, meaningfully, and he grinned.
Finally, his grey-blue eyes stopped on Rhea. "Well?" He held his arms out. "Trust me, beautiful?"
Rhea glared at him and looked at River. "I'm actually kind of insulted that he asked." She shook her head, biting her lip and a strange sort of happiness filling her. "Always. With everything I've got." She vowed, her eyes burning with a fierce warmth.
What surprised Rhea the most was not her willingness to tell him that but the sincerity of the statement. She actually meant it. How stupid is that? This is going to come back and bite me in the ass, isn't it? But she refused. She refused to tie her wrists together with rope and lead herself to the guillotine, willingly.
"That's my girl!" The Doctor crowed, grinning at her. He reached down, cradling her head, tilting her face up, his thumbs falling to her cheekbones, and kissed her hard on the mouth, his lips moving against hers for a brief, blissful second and then leaving her icy, the unpredictability of the gesture making her blink in surprise.
For a slow, languorous moment, they were the only ones in that cavern and there were no homicidal statues on their way to send them back in time. The Doctor reached out and brushed her hair away from her face, tucking the locks behind her ear, his lips tingling with that familiar electricity that came every time he caressed her skin with his mouth. Rhea revelled in the meaning behind the gesture and touched her fingers to the side of his shoulder, unspoken words passing between them.
River watched them, fondly. It was so strange to see them like this, the Doctor, so happy and buoyant, and Rhea, almost shy in her attraction to him. It was a far cry from the slightly hesitant Rhea she had seen at the beginning of the adventure, who had tried her hardest to pull away from the Doctor. Rhea had once told her that she had trouble maintaining distance from the Doctor. The minute she'd try and pull away, the Doctor would just reel her back in. Rhea hated him for that, she told her it scared the hell out of her. But River could tell something was different in this Rhea, something had happened to her, quite recently, that had turned her hard, like stone, unyielding. If she were being honest, it scared her to see this Rhea, to see her like this, so broken and unforgiving. Her anger was shown in every step she took, the way she carried herself, so wary, as if someone would swoop down from the sky and destroy her. But seeing them now, like this, the two of them so unguarded, Rhea so exposed, this reminded her more of her Doctor and Rhea, the future Doctor and Rhea, how they were with each other, how they acted around each other.
The Doctor turned to Octavian. "Give me your gun." Octavian handed him the gun. "I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do..." He jumped on the spot. "Jump." He ordered them.
"Jump where?" Octavian asked, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion.
"Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal."
"What signal?"
"You won't miss it." The Doctor said, darkly, raising the gun and aiming it at the roof of the catacomb, his gaze not moving once from the gravity globe in the air.
"Sorry, can I ask again? You mentioned a mistake?" Angel Bob asked over the radio.
"Oh, big mistake. Huge. There's one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have any plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, ever put in a trap."
The Doctor's spoke, hurriedly, but each word carried an enormous promise behind it. She was hypnotized by how his jaw was clenched and his mouth was set in a firm, hard line, the absolute fury prevalent in his eyes. It were times like this could see why everyone was so terrified of him. Amidst the sugar rushes and the bouncing around, she sometimes forgot what this single man was capable of. He was dangerous. Even more so, now that they had provoked him.
"And what would that be, sir?"
The muscles in Rhea's legs coiled, ready to spring the minute the Doctor gave his signal.
"Me!" The Doctor growled and fired the gun at the gravity globe, suspended in the air, forcing it to explode and darkness to rain down on all of them.
A/N: And that's a wrap for The Time of Angels, everyone.
We got to see River a bit more in this chapter. I hope you all still like my characterisation of River. She definitely ships the Doctor and Rhea fiercely from what we see in her point of view at the end. I think it's pretty much divided in Doctor Who OC stories, especially when we get to Season 5, River's either all for the Doctor/OC relationship or she's portrayed as a jealous bitch. But I think River would never go after the Doctor if he was already in a relationship, and I think in this story, River would go after Rhea more than the Doctor. Hell, we might even get a kiss from River and Rhea. I hope you liked the idea that Amy thinks either Rhea or River is the Doctor's wife and River's view of that. River is definitely not the Doctor's wife in this story. So, The Wedding of River Song will definitely be an interesting thing, won't it? I wonder what will happen.
Oh, and I thought the whole "time can be rewritten" thing was interesting in this chapter. Rhea seems to think it was fate that she was to meet the Doctor. I wonder what would have happened if she had never met the Doctor ;)
And we got some sweet moments between the Doctor and Rhea in this chapter. Especially at the end. I think it's sweet that Rhea trusts him. Although that will be a point of contention between the Doctor and River in the next two chapters. I wonder how Rhea will react when she finds out that River was in prison for murder ;)
Anyway, seeing as the last question didn't get many replies, I'll ask it again: What's your OTP and OT3 (threesome) and why?
Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter and don't forget to leave a review! And check out my Tumblr, the covers for The End of the World, The Runaway Bride, The Idiot's Lantern and Days of Wine and Roses are up!
And I am really sorry about the hiatus, everyone :( I will try and post sometime during June, but no promises. But if you wanted to reach me or get an urgent reply to something, ask me on Tumblr, I'll most likely answer :)