The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 40
A/N: I think this is going to be a very interesting episode, don't you think? Flesh and Stone is where it comes out that River is in Stormcage for murder. I wonder what Rhea will think about that?
Replies to Reviews:
Time-Lady1013: I'm so glad you like the story :) And I'm glad you're liking the twist on a common plot, I've wanted to write this story for awhile!
TheGirlWhoLives: No problem. My exams... huh, you know I'm just glad they're over. I know it is irritating when someone just stops writing suddenly, I just wanted to give everyone a heads up, I've been planning this hiatus for awhile. Oh, I'm glad you love the Doctor and Rhea together. I love Nine/Rose as a couple in Season 1, I think they're really cute, but I always felt like it was a little one-sided on the part of the Doctor. If elt like she only really came into her feelings for the Doctor in Season 2, and for me, that makes me feel as if she's a bit vain, only falling for the "pretty" Doctor. She was so against him regenerating, even in Season 2, I mean, if you're in love with someone, you have to accept something that is a very basic part of them, it's like accepting the fact that your boyfriend/girlfriend/partner is human and there are certain things that make them human. I see regeneration as just something that Time Lords do, like sleep for humans. I don't know, her dislike of regeneration makes her feel shallow in Season 2. I ship 10 with Martha, Donna and the Master, not Joan, though, because I don't appreciate racism. Even if she's from the 1910s, I don't like racist people. The way I see Eleven is I feel like River made him more Time Lord, which is something I hadn't seen in the New Series. I don't know if there's someone like that in Classic Who, though. I mean, everyone keeps saying that "Oh, his companions make him more human", but he's not human, I thought that was the point. I don't know, my OTP for Eleven is with River. I like Whouffle though too, I think 12 and Clara might have a relationship similar to 10 and Rose though, so I don't want to see Clara's characterisation as just a romantic interest for the Doctor. But I really want to see how she and 12 get along. I think Clara's a great love interest for 11, even if he neglected her a bit during the regeneration. She's very different to other companions, she seems a bit more normal.
Tokala: The multiverse would be screwed if Rhea and River got their hands on it :)
Marmalade1512: Thank you so much! River does really ship the Doctor and Rhea. But there might be something else there. We'll have to see ;)
Princess-Amon-Rae: I'm so glad you liked the chapters. I'd love Nine to travel with Donna, cause there'd just be so many sparks. I plan on writing a story like that where Donna instead of Rose travels with the Doctor. Yeah, in my opinion, Rhea hasn't known Rose for that long, so she doesn't feel her absence as keenly as the Doctor does, that's why she's all aboard for Martha to join them. Well, I don't have an OTP in Classic Who, but my OTP in New Who would be 10/Donna or 11/River. My OT3, in the platonic sense, would be 10/Donna/Martha or 11/Ponds (including River, even if it makes it OT4). My OT3 in a romantic sense, is pretty much 2 Doctors with one companion, like 9/10/Rose, 10/Rose/10.2 and 10/Donna/10.2. 2008 was pretty much hell for Rhea. Poor her. It'll all be explained soon enough, I promise. That scar will be as well. I'm glad you like Rhea and River together, I feel like they both have good explosive personalities. Yeah, I agree, 11/Rhea need more sexy times. Unfortunately, we'll have to wait and see if they get more.
Sherlockianyepguest: By the time we get to Midnight, we'll see a much more calmer Rhea. I don't think she'll murder anyone unless she had to. But I feel like the Doctor needs someone to be there for him and Rhea feels protective over him, so she'd be there. Well, you got one out of three correct. She had a great relationship with her father, his death hit her really hard. Her uncle is like a second father. And she has three cousins, 2 boys and a girl. The oldest, she's a bit so-so with, the middle, she adores like her own brother, and the youngest, a girl, she feels protective of, but there'll be some friction between them in the future. I know that the Doctor and Donna were meant to be platonic. But I have a way of shipping two people who were never meant to be together in the first place. It's my guilty pleasure. I just feel like 10/Donna had so much chemistry, compared to 10/Rose and 10/Martha, that I can't help but ship them. I just can't ship 10/Rose to the extent that others do. I mean, I think they're absolutely adorable together, but I look at them and see like a teenage girl with her first boyfriend and vice versa, not really a serious relationship, I find a lot more things wrong with their relationship than right. I know that might offend some people, but that's just my thought. As for the gun thing, Rhea gets curtailed by the Doctor a lot and you might get the reason why she listens to the Doctor a lot in this chapter. She's still human and she doesn't feel good about shooting things every chance she gets. Not to mention, she's trying her hardest to change and be less of the killing machine she used to be. Donna is my most favourite female character in the show, followed closely by River, just for the fact that she has low self-esteem but never seems to take any crap from anyone. I love Amy and Rory together, because I feel like they're today's idea of a really simple couple.
Warnings: Swearing, sexual innuendo.
Flesh and Stone: Angels Among Us
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.
The minute that everyone heard the gunshot, they all threw themselves into the air as high as they possibly could.
Rhea landed on her feet, looking around, wondering what had changed. She saw that she was now standing on the bottom of the Byzantium.
"Up. Look up." The Doctor insisted, while everyone struggled to their feet on an artificial surface, although the tunnel walls were the same.
"Are you okay?" River asked Amy, worriedly, checking her over for any injuries she might have received during the jump.
"What happened?" Amy asked, frowning and rubbing her head in confusion.
"We jumped." Rhea replied, flatly.
"Jumped where?"
"Up. Up. Look up." The Doctor insisted again, pacing around.
"Where are we?" Amy asked, looking around.
"Exactly where we were." River replied.
"No," Amy shook her head. "We're not."
Rhea sighed, frustratedly. "We're standing on the hull of the Byzantium." She told Amy, her tone impatient.
The Doctor knelt beside a little, black round hatch in the floor with six inset lights around it, nudging Amy's ankles aside. "Move your feet." He growled at her, while he used his sonic screwdriver on the hatch.
"Doctor, what am I looking at? Explain." Amy hissed.
"Oh, come on, Amy, think. The ship crashed with the power still on, yeah? So what else is still on?" The Doctor paused as Amy realised that they were now standing on the hull of the Byzantium. "The artificial gravity. One good jump," The Doctor jumped on the spot. "And up we fell. Shot out the grav-globe to give us an updraft, and here we are!" He returned to use his sonic screwdriver on the hatch.
"Doctor. The statues, they look more like Angels now." Octavian informed him, his machine gun pointed at the statues on the ceiling.
"They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage, draining all the power from the ship, restoring themselves. Within an hour, they'll be an army!"
The indentation opened up into the ship just as the lights started to go out, the glass breaking and the light sparking all around them.
Rhea looked up. "They're taking out the lights." She told the Doctor.
"Right, look at them, look at the Angels. Into the ship, now, quickly all of you!" The Doctor ordered, jumping into the hole.
"But how?" Rhea frowned, peering into the hole to see the Doctor standing upright, horizontal with respect to her.
"Doctor!" Amy exclaimed.
"It's just a corridor." The Doctor said, looking around. "The gravity orientates to the floor." He threw his sonic screwdriver down and caught it in an attempt to explain. "Now, in here, all of you, don't take your eyes off the Angels. Move, move, move!" He started to use the sonic screwdriver on a keypad on the wall.
"Oh, what the hell." Rhea muttered and threw herself into the hole, landing on her feet next to the Doctor, watching as Amy and River did the same as her, the former stumbling a bit.
"Okay, men, go, go, go!" Octavian growled, joining the Doctor. "The Angels, presumably they can jump up too?"
The door closed as soon as everyone was inside the Byzantium.
"They're here. Now. In the dark, we're finished. Run!" The Doctor shouted and him and Rhea turned around to see a large door behind them close, blocking their only escape.
"This whole place is a death trap." Octavian commented, looking around.
"No, it's a time bomb. Well, it's a death trap and a time bomb." The Doctor amended. "And now it's a dead end. Nobody panic." He ordered.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "Oh, yeah, 'cause when you saw 'death trap' and 'time bomb', no one's gonna panic. Moron." She muttered.
They could hear banging come from outside the door they had just entered through, sparks flying around the circular door.
"Oh, just me then. What's through here?" The Doctor asked, pointing his screwdriver at the door that had just closed behind them.
"Secondary flight deck." River answered, not taking her eyes off the door.
"OK. so we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah?" Amy asked, nervously.
Rhea looked thoughtful. "What happens if the gravity fails?" She asked the Doctor.
River lifted up a hatch on the wall and started to work on bypassing the power, twisting the wires that were in the hatch.
"I've thought about that." The Doctor told Rhea.
"Well?" Rhea raised an eyebrow.
"Well, we'll all plunge to our deaths. See. I've thought about it." The Doctor tapped on her the nose, affectionately. "The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them, it's impossible."
"How impossible?" Rhea asked, gracing him with a playful smirk. Impossible's practically his middle name.
"Two minutes." He challenged her, a knowing smile forming on his face.
The hum of the engines slowed down and quietened and their way reopened so that they could see the cavern outside.
"The hull is breached and the power's failing." Octavian said.
The lights slowly dimmed and went out and the arms of an Angel could be seen to be pressed against the edges of the door which had suddenly opened.
"Sir! Incoming!" One of the clerics warned.
"Doctor! Lights." Rhea shouted.
The Doctor started to use the sonic screwdriver to help River, the green light giving some modicum of brightness in the dark corridor. The lights started to flicker now and again, allowing them to see the progress of Angel trying to make its way inside the Byzantium. The lights went out again and came on brighter than before, revealing the four Angels inside the corridor with them.
"Clerics, keep watching them." Octavian ordered his soldiers.
"And don't look at their eyes." Rhea warned them, sharply. Her form was tense and her eyes were angry. She had no idea what to do in this situation and had no idea how they were going to get themselves out of this predicament.
The Doctor nodded. "Anywhere else. Not the eyes. I've isolated the lighting grid. They can't drain the power now."
"Good work, Doctor." Octavian said.
"Yes. good. Good in many ways, good you like it so far..." The Doctor trailed off, his voice sheepish.
Rhea groaned, sensing that wasn't the end of it. "So far?" She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Well," The Doctor drawled, trailing off. "There's only one way to open this door. I guess I'll need to route all the power in this section through the door control."
"Good, fine, do it." Octavian hissed.
"Including the lights. All of them. I'll need to turn out the lights." The Doctor emphasised the last sentence.
"How long for?" Octavian asked, dread filling him.
"Fraction of a second," The Doctor grimaced. "Maybe longer. Maybe quite a bit longer."
"Maybe?" Rhea's eyes widened.
"I'm guessing. We're being attacked by statues in a crashed ship, there isn't a manual for this!" The Doctor said, defensively.
"Doctor, we lost the torches." Rhea said, slowly, as if the Doctor didn't understand. "We'll be in total darkness."
"No other way." The Doctor said, earnestly, stroking down her hip. "Bishop?" He turned to the man in question.
Octavian pursed his lips and turned away from the Doctor, facing River. "Dr Song, I've lost good Clerics today. You trust these people?" He asked, darkly.
"I absolutely trust them." River's voice did not waver once.
Rhea's eyes softened when she looked at River and she smiled, wryly. She had no idea why River would trust her that much. The Doctor, definitely. But her? She had never done anything that could inspire that kind of unconditional loyalty in someone. She didn't deserve that kind of trust. She had done nothing to deserve it.
"They're not some kind of mad people then?" Octavian asked, suspiciously, after a few moments of silence.
River hesitated, slightly, and blinked. "I absolutely trust them." She deadpanned, sending Rhea a guilty look, not really wanting to include her in that statement.
Rhea shrugged. "I can assure you that I am not insane, that would be quite ironic if I was, but you are right about the Doctor." The Doctor glared at her. "But…" Rhea began, pointedly. "There have been studies that make the connection between insanity and genius. Incredible numbers of geniuses have been diagnosed with mental disorders." She explained. "So, even if he is a madman, and I can assure he most certainly is, he's probably our best chance out of here." She told Octavian, plainly.
The Doctor huffed and turned to Amy. "That's the best I'm going to get out of her, isn't it?"
"Wife!" Amy hissed over to him, a devious smile plastered across her face.
"Excuse me." The Doctor interjected into Octavian's and River's conversation, returning to work on the door.
Octavian leaned in, trapping River against the wall, who looked like a deer caught in headlights. "I'm taking your word, because you're the only one who can manage this guy." He growled.
River snorted. "You should see how Rhea does it." Then, she paled when Octavian's face seemed to harden even more, his eyes darkening with anger.
"That only works so long as they, especially she, don't know who you are. You cost me any more men, and I might just tell them. Understood?" He snarled.
"Understood." River said, harshly.
Rhea frowned, hearing that last dregs of that conversation. She stepped up and shoved herself in between Octavian and River and levelled a livid glare at Octavian.
"Cool it, Church Boy." Rhea growled at him, nudging him back with one hand. "None of us have to help you here. You asked for our help. There will be casualties, deal with it."
She moved aside and joined the Doctor, missing River's sigh of relief and grateful look that she graced Rhea with.
Octavian huffed and returned to his stance in front of the Doctor, Rhea, River and Amy and behind the other clerics. "Okay." He sighed. "Doctor, we've got your back."
"Hey!" Rhea exclaimed. "Who's watching my back, then?" She asked the Doctor.
"I love watching your back." The Doctor whispered, hotly, in her ear, sending a shiver racing up and down her spine.
Rhea gave a mock-scandalised gasp and turned to the Doctor with bright eyes and a large smile. "You bad, bad boy." She purred in his ear, her fingers stroking down his chest and tugging at his suspenders, lightly.
The Doctor shrugged. "I actually quite like the view." He teased, his fingers stroking down the small of her back, definitely not meaning the view of her hair or her back from behind, even though he did appreciate that quite a bit. No, his eyes were set on something much lower and much more curvier. For a split second, she wondered if his fingers would go lower and her stomach clenched at the thought.
"Bless you, Bishop." The Doctor remarked and looked at the door that the Angels were trying to get through.
Rhea narrowed her eyes at the soldiers. "Combat distance, ten feet. As soon as the lights go down, continuous fire. Full spread over the hostiles. Do not stop firing while the lights are out. Shot gun protocol, you don't have bullets to waste." She called out, blithely, crossing her arms over her chest.
Octavian and the other clerics, as well as Amy, turned to look at Rhea with surprise, while River and the Doctor exchanged knowing smiles.
The Doctor cleared his throat. "Boys, you'll find that she's right." He winked at the clerics and Octavian nodded at his soldiers in agreement. The Doctor turned to Amy. "Amy, when the lights go down, the wheel should release. Spin it clockwise, four turns."
Amy nodded. "Ten."
Rhea frowned and turned to Amy. "No, four," She corrected. "He said four turns."
Amy raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, four, I heard you." She said, taking her position by the door.
"Ready!" The Doctor placed the sonic into the circuit, pulling Rhea behind him, ready to slip through the door as soon as it was opened.
"On my count then. God be with us all. Three... two...one." The lights went out. "Fire!" Octavian shouted.
The clerics opened fire on the Angels as they stormed the corridor. The Doctor, Rhea, Amy and River tried to get the door open.
"Turn!" The Doctor shouted at Amy.
"Doctor, quickly!" Rhea shouted.
"It's opening, it's working." Amy cried out and Rhea pulled her and River through the opening, her in the lead as her blaster slipped into her hand, pointed at what was to come, just in case.
"Fall back!" Octavian shouted.
The clerics moved through the doorway followed by Octavian and the Doctor. They moved down another similar corridor to another door. The Doctor held the door open with the sonic screwdriver as the other went through.
Rhea cursed, realising that the Doctor hadn't entered the second corridor yet. "Doctor, quickly!" She called out, helplessly.
"Doctor!" Amy shouted.
The Doctor ran to join them just as the door closed quickly behind them.
"What the hell was that!" Rhea shrieked, punching him on the chest, ignoring his wince. "Don't ever do that again." She hissed at him.
"Sorry." He said, giving her an apologetic kiss on the cheek to soothe her.
They turned around to see the flight deck of the Byzantium in utter ruins. It was in major disrepair with large, exposed wires strewn all over the console, panels ripped off the controls and debris lying as far as the eye could see. The Doctor immediately went over to one of the controls.
"Doctor!" Amy called out, worriedly. The hatch lock of the door behind them spun shut and Octavian placed a small, round device above the wheel on the door. Amy turned to face him. "What are you doing?" She asked.
"Magnetized the door. Nothing could turn that wheel now."
"Yeah?" The Doctor raised an eyebrow, scoffing, and the wheel began to turn behind them.
Octavian's eyes widened. "Dear god!" He breathed.
"Ah, now you're getting it! You've bought us time though, that's good. I am good with time." The Doctor mused.
"Bullshit." Rhea snorted. "You suck at time, honey. You never manage to go anywhere at the right time and you always sulk when I point it out to you." She said, teasingly. And just as the words were spoken, the Doctor started to sulk, stopping when Rhea patted him on the cheek, affectionately.
"Doctor!" Amy shouted as another door wheel started to spin.
"Seal that door. Seal it now!" Octavian ordered a cleric, who placed a magnetic device on the second door.
Rhea looked around, spotting the wheel of the only other door starting to turn. "We're surrounded!" She called out to the Doctor.
"Seal it, seal that door." Octavian ordered and a second cleric placed another magnetic device on the door. He turned to the Doctor. "Doctor, how long have we got?"
The Doctor shrugged, his eyes intent on the console in the flight deck. "Five minutes, max."
"Nine." Amy nodded.
Rhea's eyes snapped to Amy just as the Doctor turned to look at her. "Five." The Doctor corrected, warily.
"Five, right, yeah." Amy nodded.
"Why'd you say nine?" Rhea asked, carefully, stepping closer to Amy.
"I didn't." Amy said, slowly, as if Rhea were going insane and hearing things.
"We need another way out of here." River commented, looking around.
"There isn't one." Octavian said.
"Yeah, there is, course there is. This is a galaxy class ship, goes for years between planet-falls. So," The Doctor snapped his fingers. "What do they need?"
Rhea's and River's eyes widened. "Of course." They breathed in realisation.
The Doctor snapped his fingers again.
"Of course, what?" Amy asked, looking between the three. "What do they need?"
"Can we get in there?" Octavian said, as he too realised what the Doctor meant.
"Well," The Doctor drawled. "It's a sealed unit, but they must have installed it somehow. This whole wall should slide up." He pressed himself against the large, shuttered door behind the console. "There's clamps. Release the clamps!" He knelt down beside the edge and used the sonic screwdriver on the clamps.
"What's through there? What do they need?" Amy asked again, a little irritated that no one was answering her question.
"They need to breathe." River said, giving Amy a quick, searching look, before her attention was stolen by the Doctor.
The door started to slowly rise and the Doctor started smiling, while Amy and Rhea were awestruck.
"But that's... That's a..." Amy was lost for words.
The door fully slid up and revealed a large, seemingly natural forest, with trees and dirt and varying types of vegetation.
"It's an oxygen factory." River explained.
"It's a forest." Amy breathed.
"Yeah, it's a forest. That's what an oxygen factory is." Rhea said, rolling her eyes.
"And, if we're lucky, an escape route." The Doctor finished.
"Eight."
River frowned and took a step forward towards Amy. "What did you say?"
"Nothing." Amy said, shaking her head.
"Is there another exit? Scan the architecture, we don't have time to get lost in there." The Doctor ordered.
"On it!" Octavian stepped into the forest. "Stay where you are until I've checked the Rad levels."
"But trees! On a space ship?" Amy said, shaking her head.
"Oh, more than trees, way better than trees. You're going to love this." The Doctor crowed, stepping into the forest as well. "Treeborgs…" He peeled away the peat moss to reveal circuitry and glowing wires underneath. "Trees plus technology. Branches become cables, become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight, breathing out air. It even rains. There's a whole mini-climate. It is an eco-pod running through the heart of the ship. A forest in a bottle, on a space ship, in a maze." The Doctor turned to look at Rhea with a smug grin.
Rhea shook her head in dismay. "You think you're so impressive, bow-tie boy." She teased, fondly.
"I am so impressive." The Doctor teased back, repeating the same words his Ninth self had uttered when they were on course to Platform One.
Rhea patted him on the cheek, affectionately.
"Okay, enough, lovebirds." River said, impatiently.
Amy chuckled. "Seven."
"Seven?" The Doctor and Rhea frowned and joined Amy back on the flight deck, staring at her, concernedly.
"Sorry, what?" Amy asked, confused.
"You said seven." The Doctor explained, studying her face, carefully.
"No. I didn't." Amy said, slowly.
"Yes, you did." Rhea said, taking a step forward.
"Doctor! Dr. Adwani!" Octavian called out from the oxygen factory. "There's an exit, far end of the ship, into the Primary Flight Deck."
"Good," The Doctor nodded. "That's where we need to go."
"Plotting a safe path."
The Doctor was still studying Amy. "Quick as you like!"
"Doctor? Dr. Adwani? Excuse me. Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir, ma'am."
The Doctor slipped into the command chair, raising the communicator to his lips, as Rhea moved to stand behind him. "Ah. there you are, Angel Bob. How's life?" The Doctor stopped, realising what he had just said and who he had just said it to. Rhea shook her head at his tact. "Sorry, bad subject." He said, sheepishly.
"The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve."
"Achieve? We're not achieving anything. We're just hanging. It's nice in here, consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?" The Doctor's voice was light and easy.
"The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world, and all the stars and worlds beyond."
"Well, we've got comfy chairs, did I mention?" The Doctor said.
"We have no need of comfy chairs."
The Doctor laughed and looked at Rhea, triumphantly. "I made him say comfy chairs!"
Amy laughed too. "Six."
The Doctor stood up, quickly. "Okay, well, enough chat. Here's what I want to know: what have you done to Amy?"
"There is something in her eye."
The Doctor narrowed his eyes. "What's in her eye?"
"We are."
"What's he talking about? Doctor, I'm five." Everyone stared at Amy in disbelief. "mean, five. Fine! I'm fine."
"You're counting." River murmured.
"Counting?" Amy frowned.
"You're counting down." Rhea added. "From ten. You started back in the first corridor of the Byzantium. You've been doing it for a few minutes at the most."
"Why?" Amy asked, feeling scared all of a sudden.
"I don't know." The Doctor said, shaking his head.
"Well, counting down to what?" Amy asked, worriedly.
"I don't know." The Doctor said, angrily, grinding his teeth.
"We shall take her. We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all time and space."
The Doctor took a seat back in the large chair. "Get a life, Bob." The Doctor's eyes widened and he sat up. "Oops, sorry again. There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much."
"With respect, sir, there is more power on this ship than you yet understand."
There was a loud, horrible screeching sound coming from above them, chilling every single person in the room's blood.
"Madre di Dio," Rhea breathed, looking up at the ceiling, warily. "What the hell was that?"
"They're back." Octavian said, hoarsely.
"It's hard to put in your terms, Dr Adwani, but as best I understand it, the Angels are laughing." Angel Bob explained over the radio.
"Laughing?" The Doctor clarified.
"Because you haven't noticed yet. The Doctor and his Golden Girl in the TARDIS haven't noticed." Angel Bob said.
Rhea's eyes widened. Those words… I've heard them before. Somewhere…
"The Doctor and his Time Goddess in their TARDIS don't know, don't know, don't know."
"Doctor!" Octavian shouted.
Rhea turned on her feet and her eyes widened when she saw a very familiar, glowing crack on the wall.
"Fuck." She breathed, her hand reaching out behind her and tugging on the back of the Doctor's suspenders, trying to get his attention.
The Doctor stood up, abruptly. "No, wait, there's something...I've..." He noticed Rhea's insistent tugging and turned, slowly, to see the glowing crack high in the wall. "Missed." He finished.
The Doctor and Rhea ran to that wall, the Doctor's fingers stroking up the wall.
Amy joined them, holding onto one of Rhea's hand in her terror. "That's... That's like the crack from my bedroom wall from when I was a little girl." She whispered.
"Yes."
"Two parts of space and time that should never have touched."
"OK, enough, we're moving out!" Octavian growled.
"Agreed. Doctor? Rhea?" River stepped forward and placed a hand on Rhea's shoulder.
"Yeah. Fine!" The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started to scan the crack.
"What are you doing?" Rhea asked, sliding her hand down his arm and joining him.
"Right with you." The Doctor said, trying to usher her away while he worked.
Rhea raised an eyebrow. "What, no!" She protested. "I'm not leaving without you."
"We're not leaving without either of you." River corrected.
"Oh. yes you are. Bishop?" The Doctor called out, not taking his eyes off the crack.
"Miss Pond, Dr Song, Dr Adwani, now!" Octavian gave River a threatening look, expecting her to come with him.
River grabbed Amy and pulled her to the forest, knowing that there was no way that Rhea would leave the Doctor alone.
"Doctor, Rhea, come on!" Amy shouted, before she was dragged away.
The Doctor looked at Rhea. "You are so stubborn." He growled, annoyed, wondering why she was choosing to stay with him. It wasn't like she was his Rhea, the future Rhea. There was no reason for her to choose him now. She's just being reckless. Stupid girl.
Rhea narrowed her eyes at him. "You're crazy if you think I'm going to leave you here. Alone. With a mysterious glow-y crack in the wall that's entirely too suspicious and a horde of murderous angelic statues." She paused.
The Doctor spun around to face her, his face frighteningly furious and worried. "You don't have a reason to do this." The Doctor shouted, glaring at her. "It's too early for you to care." He muttered, more for himself rather than to tell her.
But Rhea heard him and she recoiled. "Wow." She whispered. "You could have just punched me in the face. That would have hurt less, you fucking jerk." She snarled, her hands shaking. She felt as if he had just kicked her when she was down with freaking steel-toe boots. "You think," She swallowed hard, her mouth dry. "You think I have to experience everything you've experienced with your Rhea to be a good person." She spat out the words "your Rhea", feeling a stupid sort of jealousy for a woman who could inspire that sort of respect and trust in a man like the Doctor. Immediately, she felt like a moron. That woman is you, idiot. "I can't believe you think that less of me." She chuckled.
She felt it as a sort of surprise, but it really shouldn't have been. Of course he doesn't want you. Of course he doesn't care about you. You stupid bitch. He doesn't even know you. And he doesn't want to. He's just waiting until you miraculously turn into the Rhea he wants. And that's not you. Don't you dare forget that.
The chuckle was a pained little thing that pierced straight into his hearts. He knew exactly how and why she was able to provoke this sort of remorse in him, tearing him apart from the inside.
"I'm sorry." The Doctor murmured, reaching for and pulling her into a hug. She tried to resist as hardest as she possibly could, but instead, she kept her hands by her side, while he wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry, beautiful. I didn't mean it." He whispered, repeatedly, but she didn't hear a word.
The whole time she was thinking about how stupid she had been, starting to care for him beyond what was practical. And she hadn't cared. She might have pulled away a lot of the time, but she had accepted the fact that he might come to mean more to her than anyone else in the universe. But now she found out it was all a lie. He's not interested in you. None of them are. Not him, not 'matchstick man' and not 'biker boy'. They're just settling for you until they get their Rhea back. You're a placeholder as far as they're concerned. Now, what would she do? Would she ignore it and brave the storm like she usually did? Or would she demand he take her back to her real time and try her hardest to get on with her life, bar any more jumping-in-space-and-time incidents?
"Rhea?" The Doctor called out, carefully, his voice low and worried.
But she didn't hear a word. She was too busy hitting herself for trusting him. Always and with everything, huh? You fucking moron.
The Doctor swallowed hard, cursing himself for even thinking those words, let alone allowing her to hear them. He stroked a comforting hand down her arm and climbed back onto a ledge on the wall. "So, what are you?" He looked at the readings from the sonic screwdriver. "Oh, that's bad. Ah, that's extremely very not good." He pressed his ear against the wall.
"What is it?" Rhea asked, suddenly, her voice hoarse and careful, but bland, not giving anything about her emotions away.
"The end of the universe." The Doctor said, blithely, and turned around.
The two halted in their spots when they saw that they were surrounded by the Weeping Angels.
"Do not blink." The Doctor ordered Rhea, pulling him behind her. He dragged her away, the two climbing over the console to get past them and they were both grabbed by the collars of their jacket, yelling in dismay.
Octavian and his clerics were walking slowly through the forest, keeping River and Amy safely in the centre for their own protection. Amy, suddenly, started to walk slower, a strange, almost sickly look forming on her face. River paled when she noticed that something was wrong was Amy.
"Amy?" River walked over and gripped Amy's arms to steady her. "Amy, what's wrong?" She asked, worriedly.
The Doctor and Rhea were still in the grip of the Angels, both desperately searching for an escape route.
"Why are we not dead then?" The Doctor asked and they turned around, seeing that the Angels had their hands reached up towards the crack as if worshipping it. "Good, and not so good. Oh, this isn't even a little bit good." He muttered to Rhea. "I mean, is that it? Is that the power that brought you here? That's pure time energy, you can't feed on that. That's the power, that's the fire at the end of the universe. I'll tell you something else..." There was a loud rumbling.
"Never let him talk." Rhea finished and they ran like hell into the forest, leaving his jacket and her blazer in the hands of the Angels.
"Amy, what's wrong?" River asked, worriedly.
"Four." Amy murmured, curling up into a ball on a moss-covered rock.
"Med-scanner, now!" River snarled and one of the clerics, immediately, handed it over to her.
"Dr Song, we can't stay here, we've got to keep moving." Octavian said, impatiently, glaring at her and Amy for slowing them down.
"We wait for the Doctor and Rhea." River said, simply, her eyes not leaving Amy, as she used the scanner on her.
"Our mission is to make this wreckage safe and neutralise the Angels. Until that is achieved..." Octavian was interrupted.
"Father Octavian," River looked up, her eyes sharp and dangerous, and he was reminded of why exactly this woman was in Stormcage. "When the Doctor or Rhea is in the room, your only mission is to keep them alive long enough to get everyone else home. And trust me. It's not easy, especially with Rhea. Now, if they're dead back there, I'll never forgive myself, and if they're alive, I'll never forgive them. And, Rhea, Doctor, you're standing right behind me, aren't you?" River finished with dread.
"Oh, yeah." The Doctor said, smirking.
Rhea's feelings warred between jealousy of the Doctor's reaction to River's emotional outburst and wonder at the fact that her insides seemed to turn into mush when she heard River's words herself, amazed that she was included in such a sentiment. If the blonde had spoken only about the Doctor, she would ignored her and accepted the statement, but River obviously felt just as strong about her as she did about the Doctor. That was a foreign concept for her. Even she could see that she was an afterthought for most of the Doctor's companions, except for maybe Donna and Martha. And she didn't mind helping out when they needed her. But it was nice to see someone who thought of her just as much as they did the Doctor. The jealousy came with the Doctor's quick acceptance of River, even if he didn't seem to know much about her or her future with them. A silly, envious thought occurred to her. If he can accept her, why the hell can't he accept me. If she were being honest, it hurt to know that River could be trusted above her.
River gasped and turned to face them. "I hate you." A sly grin played on her face, making Rhea smile.
"No, you don't." Rhea stalked over to her, kneeling beside River and on one side of Amy. "Who are you, River Song?" She asked, playfully and seriously. Who the hell is this woman that she trusts me so much? Not even the Doctor can do that.
River smiled, sadness touching the corners of the smile. "I don't even know when you find out." She half-laughed.
Rhea pursed her lips and reached out, patting her on the hands, comfortingly.
"Bishop, the Angels are in the forest." The Doctor said, making his way to Amy's side, facing the opposite way as Rhea and River.
He watched Rhea, intently, noticing her guarded expression when she looked at him, and since he had known Rhea for so long, he knew all of her tells. He knew when she was upset with him, when she was angry at him, when she wanted to punch him in the face, when she wanted to thrown him down on the bed and have her way with him, he knew everything about her. And she was hurt. Really hurt. The kind of hurt that had her questioning herself and her worth. And that hurt him. Because she was worth everything in the universe to him. She was his Rhea. His wild, sexy, gun-slinging, stiletto-wearing, green-eyed psychologist. And he had hurt her.
"We need visual contact on every line of approach." Octavian told them.
River looked at Rhea, then at the Doctor, noticing Rhea's suddenly tense form and the Doctor's sad eyes. Something's happened between them and it's not good. "How did you get past them?" She asked, carefully.
"Found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe." The Doctor said, shrugging, nonchalantly.
"What was it?" Amy murmured, her voice pathetically weak.
"The end of the universe." The Doctor, abruptly, turned to Rhea. "Let's have a look then." He checked the med-scanner that River had just been holding.
"So. What's wrong with me?" Amy asked, weakly.
Rhea reached out and stroked Amy's shoulder-length ginger locks, comfortingly.
"Nothing. you're fine." River said, softly.
"Everything, you're dying." The Doctor said.
"Doctor!" River chided.
"Yes, you're right, if we lie to her, she'll get all better!" He said, incredulously. "Right. Amy! Amy. what's the matter with Amelia? Something's in her eye. What does that mean? Doesn't mean anything."
"Doctor." Amy whimpered.
"Busy."
"Scared!"
"Course, you're dying, shut up!"
Rhea sighed. "Let him think, Legs." She said, soothingly.
The Doctor leapt to his feet. "What happened? She stared at the Angel, she looked into the eyes of an angel for too long..."
"Sir! Angel, incoming!" One of the clerics shouted, seeing that an Angel was watching them from the trees.
"And here." Another cleric called out.
Octavian cursed. "Keep visual contact, do not let it move!"
The Doctor continued to pace around the clearing, slapping the side of his head. "Come on, come on, wakey, wakey! She watched an Angel climb out of the screen. She stared at the Angel and… and..."
"The image of an Angel is an Angel." Rhea finished, closing her eyes.
The Doctor nodded. At least she's talking to me. "A living image in a human mind. We stare at them to stop them getting closer, we don't even blink and that's exactly what they want, 'cause as long as our eyes are open, they can climb inside. There's an Angel in her mind." His eyes widened when he realised what he had just said, his hand slapping against his mouth in horror.
"Three. Doctor, it's coming. I can feel it. I'm going to die!" Amy sobbed out.
"Please just shut up, I'm thinking." The Doctor scolded, gently. "Now counting, what's that about?" He raised the radio up to his lips. "Bob, why are they making her count?"
"To make her afraid, sir."
"Fine, but why? Why would you want her to be afraid?" Rhea called out, standing up as well, fury coursing through her.
"For fun, ma'am."
Rhea growled in frustration and rage and snatched the radio from the Doctor, chucking it as hard as she possibly could into the foliage afar. One of the clerics watched the Doctor and Rhea and turned back to look at the Angel, when he heard a branch snap.
"Rhea, Doctor, what's happening to me? Explain!" Amy cried out.
"Inside your head, in the vision centres of your brain, there's an Angel." The Doctor took a seat beside Amy. "It's like there's a screen, a virtual screen inside your mind, and the Angel is climbing out of it, and it's coming to shut you off."
"What does she do?" Rhea asked, quietly.
The Doctor stood up again. "If it was a real screen, what would we do, we'd pull the plug. but we can't just knock her out, the Angel would take over!"
"Then what? Quickly!" River snapped, looking at the med-scanner readings, nervously.
"We've got to shut down the vision centres of her brain. We've got to pull the plug, starve the Angel."
Rhea sneaked a peek at the scanner. "Doctor, she has seconds." She whispered, hurriedly.
"How would you starve your lungs?" The Doctor asked.
"Stop breathing." Rhea said, immediately, and her eyes widened as she looked down at Amy. "Amy, honey, close your eyes!" She demanded.
"No, no, I don't want to." Amy looked as if she had just curled in further into the rock.
"Good, because that's not you, that's the Angel inside you, it's afraid! Do it! Close your eyes!" The Doctor commanded.
Amy hesitated for a moment before closing her eyes, when she saw the Doctor nod his head. The scanner started to beep and the readings turned from red to green.
"She's normalising." River sighed. "You did it! You did it!"
"Sir? Two more incoming." A cleric called out.
"Three more over here." Another cleric informed everyone.
River put away the scanner. "Still weak, dangerous to move her."
Amy moved into a sitting position. "So, can I open my eyes now?"
The Doctor grimaced and knelt in front of Amy. "Amy, listen to me. If you open your eyes now for more than a second, you will die. The Angel is still inside you. We haven't stopped it, we've just sort of...paused it. You've used up your countdown. You cannot open your eyes."
"Doctor, Dr Adwani, we're too exposed here. We have to move on." Octavian insisted.
The Doctor straightened up. "We're exposed everywhere, and Amy can't move, and anyway, that's not the plan."
Rhea raised an eyebrow. "Since when do you have plans?" She asked, incredulously, her and River sitting next to Amy and comforting her.
"I don't know yet, I haven't finished talking." The Doctor shrugged. "Right! Father, you and your Clerics will stay here, look after Amy. If anything happens to her, I'll hold each of you personally responsible, twice, and Rhea will kill you."
Rhea nodded. "I really will."
"River, you, me and Rhea, we're going to find the Primary Flight Deck which is..." He licked his finger and held it up to test the air. "A quarter mile straight ahead. We'll stabilise the wreckage. stop the Angels, and cure Amy."
"Wait, I should stay with Amy." Rhea protested. "If you and River are going to find the Flight Deck, someone should be with her."
"No, you're coming with me." The Doctor shook his head.
"Doctor, it's better if I stay here…"
"I need you to come with me!" The Doctor snapped, reaching for her and cupping her face in his hands. "Please, Rhea." He whispered. "I need you to be with me. Where it's safe."
"How is it safe?" Rhea scoffed, her icy-walled hard melting just slightly and the choked up feeling in her stomach lightening just a bit. Fuck, you deserve to get hurt, you fucking airhead. You're incredibly weak. I thought we got past this.
"It doesn't have to be safe. I just don't trust anyone else to protect you." Rhea opened her mouth to argue, but he cut her off. "Please, Beautiful, stay with me." He murmured, endearingly, stroking her cheek with the tip of his finger. "Please." He took her hands in his and lifted them up to her mouth, placing the most meaningful of kisses on her knuckles.
"Fine." Rhea relented, grudgingly, pulling away from his grip, but allowing him to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her into his side.
"How are we going to do all of that, exactly?" River frowned.
"I'll do a thing."
"What thing?" Rhea asked, suspiciously.
"I don't know, it's a thing in progress. Respect the thing. Moving out!"
"To be fair, he is good at 'things'." Rhea commented to River, who chuckled.
"Doctor, I'm coming with you. My Clerics can look after Miss Pond. These are my best men, they'd lay down their lives in her protection."
The Doctor shook his head. "We don't need you."
"I don't care. Where Dr Song goes, I go."
River and Rhea joined the two men.
"What?" The Doctor looked between River and Octavian, disbelievingly. "You two engaged or something?"
"Yes, in a manner of speaking. Marco, you're in charge till I get back." Octavian said, before starting off with River.
"Sir!" Marco saluted.
"Doctor, Rhea... please, can't I come with you?" Amy whispered.
"You'd slow us down, Miss Pond." Octavian shook his head.
Amy scowled and Rhea glared at him. "I don't want to sound selfish, but you'd really speed me up."
The Doctor sat beside Amy while Rhea stood in front of her. "You'll be safer here. We can't protect you on the move. We'll be back for you soon as I can. I promise."
"You always say that." Amy grumbled.
"I always come back." He pointed out and then stood. "Good luck everyone. Behave. Do not let that girl open her eyes. And keep watching the forest. Stop those Angels advancing. Amy, later!" He patted her on the head. "River, going to need your computer." He and Rhea left.
"Yeah. Later." Amy muttered and fidgeted, nervously, with her hands.
Suddenly, a masculine pair of hands gripped hers and she felt a weight settle next to her on the Doctor.
"Amy. you need to start trusting me, it's never been more important." The Doctor murmured.
"But you don't always tell me the truth."
The Doctor smiled, wryly. "If I always told you the truth, I wouldn't need you to trust me."
"Where's Rhea?" Amy murmured.
The Doctor ran his hand through his hair. "She's not here." Amy could hear the pain in his voice. "Isn't that horrible?"
"Doctor," Amy whispered. "The crack in my wall, how can it be here?"
The Doctor pursed his lips. "I don't know yet, but I'm working it out. Now, listen. Remember what I told you when you were seven?"
Amy shook her head. "What did you tell me?"
The Doctor rested his forehead against hers. "No, no... That's not the point. You have to remember." He pressed his lips to her forehead and he was gone.
"Remember what? Doctor? Doctor?"
Octavian was leading River, Rhea and the Doctor through the forest. There was a beeping and the Doctor checked the device, suspiciously.
"What's that?" Rhea asked.
"Readings from a crack in a wall." The Doctor replied.
"How can a crack in the wall be the end of the universe?" River asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Here's what I think. One day there'll be a very big bang, so big every moment in history, past and future, will crack."
"Is that possible? How?" River asked.
"How can you be engaged in a manner of speaking?" The Doctor asked, looking at River, suspiciously.
"Well," Rhea drawled. "You can be married in a manner of speaking." She murmured, nonchalantly. She felt the Doctor rub her back, comfortingly, and she smiled, softly, up at him. He kissed the side of her head as an apology for what he had said near the crack in the wall, tightening his arm around her.
"Well…" River trailed off. "Sucker for a man in uniform." She smiled, shyly.
Octavian grimaced and walked over. "Dr Song is in my personal custody. I released her from the Stormcage Containment Facility four days ago and I am legally responsible for her until she has accomplished her mission and earned her pardon. Just so we understand each other." He growled.
The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "You were in Stormcage?" The device started to beep.
"Is that a prison?" Rhea asked, carefully, noting the words 'Containment Facility', and the Doctor nodded.
"What? What is that?" River said, successfully drawing away the topic of conversation away from herself and drawing attention to the readings that were coming on the scanner.
"The date! The date of the explosion where the crack begins." The Doctor said, his eyes intent on the scanner.
"And for those of us who can't read the base code of the universe?" Rhea said, dryly.
The symbols started to shift, madly, before settling on a very Gregorian date: 26/06/2010.
"Amy's time!" The Doctor breathed.
"But Doctor," Rhea's lips parted and she swallowed hard in horror. "When we took Amy with us, it was the night of the 25th of June." She whispered to him. "That means that the end of the universe happens tomorrow as far as Amy is concerned."
Madre di Dio – Mother of God
A/N: I actually broke my promise about not updating until the end of June. Only because TODAY'S MY BIRTHDAY! I'm officially a legal adult! I probably won't update this story until the 31st. Sorry, guys. But, to make you all feel better, I promise that this story will be updated and my new Time Lady story will start on the 31st of June, like a six-month anniversary for this story.
What a nice place to end Part 1 of Flesh and Stone. I hope you all liked the chapter and the angst that came with it. I know, I know, it does seem like a lot of angst in this story, but I can promise it does get better and angst does go hand in hand with Rhea, unfortunately. I didn't change much to the storyline in these episodes. Amy is still the one who has the Angel inside of her, but I now wonder what will happen to Rhea in The Pandorica Opens/The Big Bang. Will she be with the Doctor inside the Pandorica or will she wake up in 2014? Who knows.
Oh, and I hope you did like the angsty bit. I feel like Rhea has been putting herself down for awhile, I thought it would be interesting to see the Doctor make a careless comment and Rhea feel bad after it. Poor Rhea, it's gotta be hard, feeling second best to yourself :( But we did get some flirting and some sweet stuff between them as well, so I suppose that's good, and the Doctor does feel bad about it and we got to see how this Doctor feels about Rhea.
Next chapter we find out why River's in Stormcage, I wonder how Rhea will react? Will she be on River's side or the Doctor's side?
Anyway, hope everyone liked the chapter and don't forget to leave a review!