The Dread of Tomorrow and Yesterday – Chapter 41
A/N: Okay, so today is officially the six-month anniversary for this story! HALLELUJAH. I never actually I thought I'd end up writing 41 chapters of this story and over 300K words. But it's still going strong and I'm still very much in love with it. As an anniversary present for all of you today, today is also the day that I finally post my Time Lady story, Dream Weaver, which will be up tonight as well. So, go and check it out. That story and this one will be updated once a week each, that way you all get two chapters a week from your truly!
Here's the final part of Flesh and Stone and we'll see how Rhea reacts to knowing that River killed someone. Will she be angry or is she still not over the thing the Doctor said to her in the previous chapter?
Oh, and thank you all for your lovely birthday wishes!
Replies to Reviews:
lil'hawkeye3: Haha, yeah, I just realised.
grapejuice101: I'm so glad you liked the chapter. I haven't actually watched most of Classic Who yet. Anything I get from Classic Who comes from the TARDIS Wiki. If I ever end up watching Classic Who, I might write those episodes with Rhea in them, but again, that would have to wait until I've watched it.
lostiesgirl: You'll just have to see whether this part of the episode stays the same or not ;)
Marmalade1512: I was trying to finish at least one story of mine before I updated, not to mention, study for exams. I wanted to wait until today to post a chapter, but I couldn't pass my birthday without updating. It is really hard for Rhea, but it's hard for the Doctor, so go easy on him (just a little bit, though!). He's been faced with a Rhea who knows everything about him and their relationship and he meets this Rhea, who knows absolutely nothing, he has to get used to her :(
swimmingtears: Yep, she's cursing herself for feeling something for the Doctor! I'm not sure what you meant by her not being with the future Doctor. She's definitely with him.
J: Thank you so much! I'm glad you ship Rhea and River. I spent a lot of time thinking of what I was going to do with Rhea and River, I think I'll go for an unrequited thing, to be honest. Doctor/Rhea/Rose. I think they're just friends. I wouldn't call them romantic, because Rose has never actually said anything about being bisexual, but Steven Moffat has said that River is, so I thought she would mesh well with 11 and Rhea as a romantic pairing. Rose is just like the little sister to Rhea, but they make a good trio.
Beulah2013: Thank you so much and it was really fun. 18ths are usually fun in my experience, had my first ever drink last night ;) I'm so glad you like the chapter. And I have no problem with episode requests, most of the time, I really wish I could fulfil them, but I've got a schedule for some of the episodes, at least until the first season finale I attempt. But after that, I am totally blank, so I might use some of your suggestions. So, first one you asked about, that's New Earth and I haven't put it down in my schedule yet, so you never know, that might be the first episode after the first season finale. There will be a Clara episode before the first season episode, but that still won't be for awhile :( Sorry. Vincent and the Doctor won't be for awhile either, sorry. But School Reunion should be coming up soon. That's for sure. I'm glad you like that Rhea changes the dynamic. I still want the companion to have some stuff to do without Rhea taking it all away. I do plan on doing an OC that replaces Rose as the companion, but she'll be totally different and do things differently.
Warnings: Sexual innuendo, flirting more or less, a lot of swearing.
Flesh and Stone: City of Angels
"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."
Bored, Amy was still sitting with her eyes closed.
"So, what's happening? Anything happening out there?" She called out to the clerics.
"The Angels are still grouping." Marco informed her. One of the Angels reached into a tree and pulled at the wires, causing the lights to flicker. "Are you getting this too?"
"The trees? Yeah." Another cleric called out.
"What's wrong with the trees?" Amy asked, desperately wanting to open her eyes to see what was going on herself.
"Here too, sir. They're ripping the Treeborgs apart."
"And here. They're taking out the lights."
"What is it? What's happening? Tell me. I can't see." Amy snapped.
"It's the trees, ma'am. The trees are going out." Marco said, flatly.
The Angels took advantage of the flickering lights and began to advance.
The Doctor was still taking readings from the handheld, while Octavian looked for a way inside the Primary Flight Deck. Rhea and River stood guard, each pointing their guns at the forest looming in front of them. They both knew they would be useless on Weeping Angels, but they felt safer knowing that they had some weapon in front of them.
"It doesn't open it from here, but it's the Primary Flight Deck. This has got to be a service hatch or something." Octavian asked, shoving the door with his shoulder.
"Well, hurry up and open it." Rhea said, impatiently.
"Yeah, time's running out." River agreed.
"What?" The Doctor looked up at River, a little startled and annoyed by the remark. What did you say? Time's running out, is that what you said?"
"Yeah. I just meant..."
"I know what you meant." The Doctor snapped. "Hush!"
"Doctor!" Rhea chided. "Don't be mean."
The Doctor huffed. She always has to take everyone else's side except for mine. Oh, never mind that River's a prison inmate, let's trust her. "But what if it could?" The Doctor said, moving closer to Rhea.
"What if what could?" Rhea said, not taking her eyes off the forest.
"Time. What if time could run out?" The Doctor said, urgently.
And she looked at him with surprise and horror, wondering how he of all people could say something like that.
"Got it!" Octavian exclaimed.
"Angels advancing, sir."
"Over here, again."
"Weapons primed. Combat distance five feet. Wait for it!" Marco warned.
Amy stood up, abruptly, sick of being kept in the dark. "What is it? What's happening, just tell me!"
"Keep your position and, ma'am, keep your eyes shut!" Marco growled, as the Angels advanced on them. "Wait!"
A bright light appeared and spread across the vegetation. Marco looked away towards the light.
"The ship's not on fire, is it?" He asked, warily.
A cleric shook his head, turning to the light. "It can't be. The compressors would have taken care of it." He turned back to Marco. "Marco, the Angels have gone. Where'd they go?"
Amy frowned. "What, the Angels?"
Another cleric stood. "This side's clear too, sir."
"The Angels have gone?" Amy murmured.
Marco read the readings on his handheld scanner. "There's still movement out there, but away from us now. It's like they're running."
Amy narrowed her eyes. "Running from what?"
"Phillip, Crispin, need to get a closer look at that." Marco ordered and the two clerics head towards the light.
"What are you all looking at? What's there?" Amy asked, nervously.
Phillip and Crispin disappeared behind some trees.
"Cracks in time, time running out..." The Doctor muttered to himself. He turned to Rhea. "No, couldn't be. How is a duck pond a duck pond if there aren't any ducks?" Rhea frowned, remembering the question from back in Leadworth when they had first met Amy. "And she didn't recognise the Daleks! Okay, time can shift. Time can change. Time can be rewritten. Ah! Oh!" His eyes went wide as he rubbed his head.
"It's like, I don't know... a curtain of energy, sort of shifting. Makes you feel weird, sick." Marco explained to Amy.
"And you think it scared the Angels?" Amy asked.
One of the clerics scoffed. "What could scare those things?"
Amy turned on her feet, shifting nervously.
"What are you doing?" Marco asked her, confused.
"Point me at the light." She ordered.
"You can't open your eyes." He reminded her.
"Not for more than a second, that's what the Doctor said. Still got a bit of countdown left." Amy explained.
"Ma'am. you can't." Marco said, urgently.
"I need to see it." Amy insisted. "Am I looking the right way? I have to be quick."
Marco growled in frustration and pointed her in the right way. "Very quick!" He commanded.
"Okay." Amy's eyes snapped open and widened, comically. "It's the same shape! It's the crack in my wall."
"Close your eyes. Now!" Marco ordered.
"It's following me! How can it be following me?" Amy whispered to herself.
She fell to her knees and Marco caught her before she hit the ground, supporting her. He held his hand over her eyes, forcing her to close them.
"Are you okay?" He asked her, concernedly.
"Yeah. It was the same shape!" Amy exclaimed.
"Marco, you want me to get a closer look at that?" The other cleric asked.
"Go for it. Don't get too close." Marco warned.
"Hang on, what about the other two? Why not just wait 'til they're back?" Amy asked.
Marco frowned. "What other two?"
"The ones you sent before." Amy said, slowly, trying to jog his memory.
Marco shook his head. "I didn't send anyone before."
"You did. I heard you. Crispin and Phillip."
"Crispin and who?"
"Dr Song, get through, now." Octavian ordered, helping River through the hatch he had managed to open. "Doctor? Dr Adwani?" He called out, realising that they weren't coming in just yet.
Rhea watched as the Doctor's fingers twirled in the air as he did calculations. "Time can be unwritten." She heard him mutter to himself.
"Amy, there never was a Crispin or a Phillip on this mission, I promise you." Marco said, slowly, to the blind woman.
"No, I heard you." Amy insisted. "Before you sent Pedro, you sent Crispin and Phillip, and now you can't even remember them. Something happened. I don't know what, and you don't even remember!" Her voice started to become hysterical in her fear.
"Pedro?" Marco frowned.
"Yeah, before you sent Pedro."
"Who's Pedro?"
"It's been happening and I haven't even noticed!" The Doctor muttered to himself.
"What has?" Rhea said, impatiently, her blaster still pointed at the forest, unwilling to join River inside the Primary Flight Deck until the Doctor had moved from his spot.
"Doctor, Dr Adwani, we've have to move." Octavian insisted from behind them.
"The CyberKing!" The Doctor exclaimed. "A giant Cyberman walks over all of Victorian London and no-one remembers."
Rhea frowned, confused. "There was a giant Cyberman in Victorian London?" She raised an eyebrow.
The Doctor looked at her, briefly. "Spoilers." He muttered to assuage her.
"We have to move it! The Angels could be here any second." Octavian growled, his hand falling onto one of the Doctor's shoulders.
The Doctor shrugged of Octavian's hand, impatiently. "Never mind the Angels. There's worse here than Angels!" He snarled.
The lights went out, briefly, and the Doctor and Rhea turned to see that an Angel had its arm wrapped around Octavian's neck, effectively trapping him.
"I beg to differ, sir." Octavian half-chuckled.
The Doctor pulled out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it at the Angel, flashing it, while Rhea did the same with her blaster, her finger on the trigger. "Let him go." The Doctor ordered, harshly.
"Well, it can't let me go, sir, not while the two of you are looking at it."
"If we stop looking at it, it'll kill you." Rhea said, quietly.
"It'll kill me anyway. There's no way out of this. You have to leave me!"
"Can't you wriggle out?" The Doctor said, helplessly.
"No. it's too tight. There's nothing you can do."
"Something's happening!" Amy shouted, hysterically. "Pedro was here a second ago and now you can't even remember him!"
"There never was a Pedro. There's only ever been the two of us here!" Marco insisted.
"No," Amy shook her head. "There were five of us. Why can't you remember?"
"Listen, listen. I need to get a closer look at that light, whatever it is. Don't worry, I won't get too close."
Amy reached out, blindly, and curled her hands in his shirt, trying to yank him back. "No, you can't. You mustn't." She said, urgently.
"Here, spare communicator." Marco pressed the device into Amy's hand. "I'll stay in touch the whole time."
"You won't. If you go back there what happened to the others will happen to you!" Amy exclaimed.
"There weren't any others!"
Amy snorted. "There won't be any you if you go back there."
"Two minutes, I promise." Marco said, before walking away.
"Please, just listen to me!" Amy shouted, but it fell on deaf ears as she was left alone in the clearing.
"Sir, ma'am, there's nothing you can do." Octavian insisted, choking slightly as he shifted in the Angel's grip.
"You're dead if we leave you." The Doctor growled.
"Yes, yes, I'm dead. And before you go..."
"We're not going!" Rhea shouted.
"Listen to me. It's important! You can't trust her."
The Doctor frowned. "Trust who?"
"River Song. You think you know her, but you don't. You don't understand who or what she is."
The Doctor swallowed. "Then tell us."
Octavian shook his head. "I've told you more than I should. Now, please, you have to go. It's your duty to your friends."
"Why was she in Stormcage?" Rhea asked, quietly, a million thoughts racing through her head.
"She killed a man, a good man, a hero to many." Octavian replied.
"Who?" Rhea gritted her teeth.
"You don't want to know, ma'am. You really don't. It will hurt you a great deal." Octavian said, meaningfully, knowing how she would feel if she knew the identity of the man that River Song had killed.
"Who did she kill?" The Doctor asked this time, his own worry and anxiety coming into play.
Octavian sighed. "Sir, ma'am, the Angels are coming. You have to leave me."
"You'll die." The Doctor insisted.
"I will die in the knowledge that my courage did not desert me at the end. For that, I thank God and bless the path that takes you to safety."
The Doctor swallowed hard. "I wish I'd known you better."
"I think, sir, ma'am, you know me at my best."
Rhea bit her lip. "Ready?" She did something strange for her and reached up and kissed him on the forehead, a benediction for a man who was willing to die for them.
Octavian smiled, gratefully, at her and closed his eyes. "Content." He replied.
The Doctor grabbed Rhea's hand and ran for the hatch, the two closing it behind them.
Inside the Primary Flight Deck, they walked in to see River working on a few wires.
"There's a teleport! If I can get it to work, we can beam the others here." River looked up, frowning. "Where's Octavian?"
"Octavian's dead, so is that teleport. You're wasting your time." The Doctor said, harshly, obviously affected by what he had just learnt about River from Octavian. "I'm going to need your communicator." He snatched the device from her.
"Hello, are you there? Hello? Hello?" Amy said, softly, into the radio.
"I'm here. I'm fine. I'm quite close to it now." Marco replied over the radio.
"Then come back! Come back now, please." Amy begged.
"It's weird looking at it. It feels really..." All Amy could hear now was static.
"Really what? Hello? Really what? Hello? Hello? Hello? Please say you're there. Hello? Hello!" Amy shouted, desperately, feeling even more lost than she was before.
"Is that you?" The Doctor's voice came over the radio.
"Doctor?" Amy called out, hesitantly.
"Doctor?" They could suddenly hear Amy's voice coming over the radio.
"Where are you? Are the Clerics with you?" The Doctor demanded.
"They've gone. There was a light and they walked into the light. Doctor, they didn't even remember each other." Amy murmured, worriedly.
"No. They wouldn't." The Doctor muttered into the radio.
Rhea narrowed her eyes at him. "What is that light?" She asked.
"Time running out." He said, flatly. He turned his attention back to the radio. "Amy. I'm sorry. We should never have left you there."
Rhea scoffed. "Now he regrets it." She shook her head in dismay.
"Well, what do I do now?" Amy asked, her voice going all high-pitched in her hysteria.
"You come to us. Primary Flight Deck, other end of the forest." The Doctor explained, wishing with everything he had he didn't have to.
"I can't see! I can't open my eyes." Amy protested, loudly.
The Doctor clucked his tongue and used his sonic screwdriver on the communicator. "Turn on the spot." He commanded.
"Sorry, what?" Amy asked, confused.
"Just do it. Turn on the spot."
"When the communicator sounds like my screwdriver, you're facing the right way. Follow the sound." The Doctor ordered.
Amy turned in a circle, hesitantly, and, listening to the whirring sound from the communicator, waited for the sound that she would recognise as humming from the Doctor's sonic screwdriver. She paused when she could hear the high-pitched humming.
"You have to start moving now." The Doctor said, urgently.
"There's time energy spilling out of that crack and you have to stay ahead of it." The Doctor explained.
Amy paused, horrified. "But the Angels, they're everywhere." She said, quietly.
"I'm sorry, I really am, but the Angels can only kill you." The Doctor insisted.
"What does the Time Energy do?" Rhea asked, grimly.
"Don't worry." The Doctor waved her off.
Rhea growled, determined to not be brushed off, resisting the urge to kick him. She walked over to him. "Tell me, goddamnit!"
"If the Time Energy catches up with her, she'll never have been born. Is that what you wanted to hear?" The Doctor snapped, glaring at her, furiously, a far cry from the man who had been determined not so long ago to keep Rhea by his side at all costs just so he would know she was safe. "It will erase every moment of her existence. She will never have lived at all." He finished, his voice hard and his eyes angry and terrified. He turned his attention back to the communicator. "Now, keep your eyes shut and keep moving!" He growled at Amy.
"It's never going to work." River muttered, not taking her eyes off the wires of the teleport.
The Doctor spun around and glared at her, furiously. "What else have you got? River, tell me!" He shouted.
"Stop!" Rhea growled, placing a hand on the Doctor's chest and shoving him back, slightly, more worried for River and the Doctor than she was for herself. She had never seen the Doctor so chaotic before. She had experienced his anger, of course, but not directly and definitely not so frenzied. She exhaled, slowly, calming herself down before deciding to speak. "Don't shout at her, it's not her fault." She said, calmly.
"I am not shouting!" The Doctor roared. He took a frightening step forward to her, leaning beside her ear. "You know what we just…" The Doctor said, furiously.
"I don't care!" Rhea snapped. "I honestly don't care."
"She killed someone!" He shouted.
Rhea tensed, marginally, and suddenly felt the urge to take her blaster out and shoot him just on principle. She took a slow, careful step forward, her hands trembling with the force of her sudden fury and disappointment in him. "It must be fucking tough to see us from so high on your pedestal, you fucking hypocrite." She growled, her voice low and guarded.
The Doctor recoiled from her venom-filled words, taking a few steps back from her, realising exactly what he had just said, what he had just implied and who he had just implied it do. I am so in the dog-house after this. He ran a hand through his hair and made to reach for her, but she spun on her feet and joined River, kneeling beside the woman and taking a few of the wires from her and listening to her instructions, completely ignoring the Doctor.
The Doctor cursed himself, resisting the urge to smack himself on the head. His hands dug into his scalp. He had no idea how he was going to make this up to her. She had just been simmering before, when he had questioned her morality, but now, she was practically fuming with anger.
They could all hear Amy walking along a dirt path, her sneakers crushing against the fine dirt. Suddenly, there was a loud whooshing and clanging.
"What's that?" River asked, carefully, noting the guilty expression on the Doctor's face and looking at Rhea's cold eyes, nervously. It was hard for her to see them fighting. But it made River feel warm inside, knowing that, despite Rhea knowing she was Stormcage for murder, she was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. Of course, she wondered if that would change in the future. Maybe Rhea was just using her as an excuse to blow up at the Doctor.
"The Angels running from the fire. They came here to feed on the time energy. Now it's going to feed on them." The Doctor explained, quietly. He exhaled and turned his attention back to the communicator. "Amy, listen to me. I'm sending a bit of software to your communicator. It's a proximity detector. It'll beep if there's something in your way. You just manoeuvre till the beeping stops. Because, Amy, this is important." He breathed, uneasily. "The forest is full of Angels. You're going to have to walk like you can see."
"Well, what do you mean?" Amy asked, confused.
"Look, just keep moving." The Doctor snapped.
"That time energy, what's it going to do?" River asked, quietly.
"Er, keep eating." The Doctor closed his eyes.
"How do we stop it?" River asked.
"Feed it."
"Feed it what?"
"A big complicated space-time event should shut it up for a while." The Doctor muttered, not looking at River.
"Like what, for instance?" River's voice was cold, making Rhea looked at her and the Doctor in dread, wondering exactly what was considered as a "big complicated space-time event".
"Like me, for instance!" The Doctor shouted, glaring at her, stretching the truth, slightly. There was someone else missing in that sentence, but he would be damned if he put her in danger. He'd rather jump into the crack himself than let that happen.
Rhea grit her teeth and glared at him. Despite her own anger, she was still worried that he might do something stupid like throw himself into the crack, a sharp pain echoing through her at that thought. The idiot would probably do it. "What did I just say about shouting, sweetie?" Rhea said, lightly, making his mouth snap shut.
A high-pitched beeping echoes throughout the flight deck.
"What's that?" Amy murmured.
"It's a warning. There are Angels 'round you now." The Doctor rolled her eyes. "Amy. listen to me. This is going to be hard but I know you can do it. The Angels are scared and running and right now they're not that interested in you. They'll assume you can see them and their instincts will kick in. All you've got to do is walk like you can see."
"Easier said than done." Rhea muttered under her breath.
"Just don't open your eyes. Walk like you can see. You're not moving. You have to do this." The Doctor insisted. "Now." His hand banged against the control panel. "You have to do this!" He growled.
The communicator beeped slowly. As Amy turned, unknowingly, towards an Angel, the communicator beeped quickly and she turned to face the way she had been before. She slowly walked forward and turned again only to hear the beeping speed up once more. She changed direction and moved forward until she tripped over a tree root and fell onto her hands and knees on the dirt, dropping the communicator somewhere as she did so. Her hand felt around the dirt, searching for it, desperately.
"Doctor, I can't find the communicator! I dropped it! I can't find it. Doctor!" Amy's hand kept sliding over the dirt, coming up with nothing. "Rhea…" The Angels started to move all around her, their heads turning to face her, jerkily. "Rhea!" She called out, helplessly. "Doctor..." Amy stood and turned only to come face-to-face with an Angel as its stone arm reached for her.
Just then, Amy was engulfed in a bright white light and she disappeared from the forest, appearing inside the Primary Flight Deck of the Byzantium, held up by Rhea and River.
"Don't open your eyes. You're on the Flight Deck, the Doctor and Rhea are here. I teleported you." River explained to Amy, sternly. She turned to the Doctor, a smug look on her face. "See? Told you I could get it working." She said, proudly.
A smile formed on the Doctor's face. "River Song, I could bloody kiss you." He exclaimed, thoughtlessly, not noticing Rhea's momentary wince.
River snorted. "I'm pretty sure there's someone else you'd rather be doing that to." Her head nodded at Rhea, a gesture only the Doctor saw, making him blush brightly.
Rhea shook her head, ignoring the Doctor's comment. "I can definitely do it." She said, lightly. She reached out and cupped the side of River's hand, crushing her lips against the blonde woman's, licking River's lips once she was done, leaving the blonde a little dazed as she pulled back. The Doctor glared at her, fiercely, which she ignored. "Nice. Very nice." She hummed, licking River's taste off her lips.
River swallowed hard, still a little thrown by the kiss. "Wow." She breathed. She looked over at the Doctor. "Sometimes I forget how good she is at that." She shook her head, disbelievingly.
An alarm started to blare. "What is that?"
"The Angels are draining the last of the ship's power, which means... the shield's going to release!" The Doctor shouted. The shield to the forest slid open and they were confronted with an army of Angels. The Doctor stepped forward, his entire form tensing.
"Angel Bob, I presume." The Doctor said, lightly.
"The Time Field is coming. It will destroy our reality."
"Yeah, and look at you, all running away. What can I do for you?" The Doctor asked.
"There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you or Dr Adwani throw yourselves into it, it will close and they will be saved."
Rhea paled and took a step forward. "I'm enough for the crack?" She looked up at the Doctor, but received no answer from him. Instead, he did not take his eyes off Angel Bob and the others behind him.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could do, could do that. But why?" The Doctor crossed his arms over his chest.
"Your friends would also be saved." Angel Bob pointed out.
"Well, there is that." The Doctor grimaced.
Rhea clucked her tongue and River walked up to him, worriedly. "I've travelled in time. I'm a complicated space/time event, too. Throw me in instead." She snapped.
"Don't you dare, River Song." Rhea growled, but River ignored her.
"Oh, be serious!" The Doctor scoffed. "Compared to me," Or Rhea. He thought, but dismissed the idea after a nano-second. This was his problem and Rhea was not going to get caught in the crossfire. "These Angels are more complicated than you and it would take every one of them to amount to either of us, so get a grip." He said, lightly.
Rhea frowned and took a step closer to him, stepping up to his side. "Doctor, I can't let you do this." She said, sternly. "I can do it instead."
"Beautiful, get a grip." The Doctor sighed. He looked down at her. No way in hell I'm letting you sacrifice yourself for me, beautiful. You stay right here. By my side. Always.
"I am not going to let you die here!" Rhea growled.
"No, I mean it. Get a grip." The Doctor said, meaningfully, and grabbed her hands, tightening them around a railing to the side.
She looked down at her hands and then back at the Doctor, seeing the challenging smirk on his face. She looked her head. "I don't know whether you're a genius or an idiot." She muttered. River stared at her, confused, wondering why she had suddenly abandoned her attempt to convince the Doctor to do otherwise. Rhea raised an eyebrow when looking at River. She let go off the railing. "Get a grip, River." She said, lightly, motioning to the railing and walking over to Amy.
"Oh, I hate you both." River muttered, but did exactly what Rhea asked her to do.
"Sir, the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now." Angel Bob said.
"Thing is, Bob, the Angels are draining all the power from this ship, every last bit of it. And you know what? I think they've forgotten where they're standing. I think they've forgotten the gravity of the situation. Or to put it another way, Angels..."
Rhea grabbed Amy's hands. "You grab on tight and don't you dare let go for anything." She said, sternly, and placed Amy's hand on a handle attached to the panel, before taking her place at the railing next to the Doctor and holding onto the metal.
"Night-night." The Doctor finished.
As the gravity failed due to the loss of power, the Doctor casually turned to grip the same railing as Rhea himself. The deck turned onto its side and the Doctor, Rhea, River and Amy hung on for dear life, even though the latter was thoroughly confused by the situation, as the Angels dropped down through the forest and were sucked into the crack. There was a burst of light and the crack in the secondary flight deck closed.
Amy was sitting on top of a rock, wrapped up in a blanket, while Rhea sat next to her and the Doctor stood in front of her, a cleric behind them. They had managed to climb back up out of the Byzantium and back onto Alfava Metraxis, walking to the beach until they had found clerics waiting for them, obviously worried about what had happened to their compatriots.
"Ah, bruised everywhere." Amy moaned.
"Me too." The Doctor agreed.
Rhea rolled her eyes. "Weaklings." She muttered, shaking her head.
"Hey," Amy protested, glaring at Rhea. "You didn't have to climb out with your eyes shut."
"Neither did you if you had bothered to listen to us." Rhea shot back. "The Angels all fell into the time field. The Angel in your mind never existed in the first place."
The Doctor nodded. "It can't harm you now." He explained.
"Then why do I remember it at all? Those guys on the ship didn't remember each other." Amy asked, still feeling uneasy about that.
"You're a time traveller now, Amy. Changes the way you see the universe forever. Good, isn't it?" The Doctor grinned, smugly, at her.
"And the crack." Rhea looked up at the Doctor, warily. "Is it gone? Or is that another plot device we should keep an eye out for?"
"For now." The Doctor said, grimly. "But the explosion that caused it is still happening... somewhere out there, somewhere in time." The Doctor looked as if he were in another place and time, thinking about something or another.
Rhea looked over at River standing by herself, waiting for something, while the Doctor looked out onto the ocean. She pursed her lips and walked over to the woman, needing that last chance to talk to River, the Doctor following her.
"You, me, the Doctor... handcuffs." River held out her hands, encased in metal cuffs, her red-painted nails contrasting against her pale skin. "Must it always end this way?" River asked, playfully.
Rhea shrugged, her lips quirking into a smile. "Knowing my track record, probably." She mused.
"I don't mind." River purred, nudging her in the side, making her laugh, which was exactly what River was aiming for, seeing the despondency in Rhea's eyes.
"What now?" The Doctor asked, quietly, both irritated and heartened by their flirting, more because Rhea hadn't properly talked to him in ages and it was making him antsy. He knew he had to apologise and soon, if possible. Hopefully, everything would be better after he did, but knowing Rhea, probably not.
The smile grew on River's face briefly. "The prison ship's in orbit. They'll beam me up any second. I might have done enough to earn a pardon this time. We'll see." River explained, shrugging, sadness touching her lips as the words were spoken.
"Octavian said you killed a man." The Doctor said, pointedly, wanting, no, needing her to explain what had happened. He had his own suspicions, but he was hoping that River could confirm them. But knowing everything that he did about River up til now, he knew she would be tight-lipped about everything.
River's smile fell, slightly, and Rhea could practically see the pain and the regret in her eyes. "Yes." She hesitated, a haunted look spreading across her face. "I did."
"A good man?" The Doctor asked, quietly.
"A good man. A very good man. The best man I've ever known. And that hurt someone who's very important to me." River murmured, swallowing hard as the grief threatened to take a hold of her.
The Doctor paused. "Who?" From the corner of his eye, he could see Rhea coil in worry and reached out to hold her hand for comfort, which she, of course, shrugged off, annoyed.
The smile re-formed on River's face. "It's a long story, Doctor, can't be told. It has to be lived. No sneak previews. Well," River drawled. "Except for this one," The Doctor started to grin in anticipation. "You'll see me again quite soon, when the Pandorica opens." She turned to Rhea. "Don't know when it'll be for you, but I look forward to seeing you again." She said, quietly.
Rhea smiled, sadly, at the woman. "I'm very glad I met you today, River Song." She took River's hands in her own, grasping them, tightly and meaningfully, before letting go.
"The Pandorica, ha!" The Doctor laughed, incredulously. He leaned into River. "That's a fairy tale." He whispered into her ear.
Rhea snorted. "This coming from the nine-hundred year old Time Lord who travels back and forth in time in a police box?" She raised an eyebrow.
River laughed, long and hard. "Oh, Doctor, aren't we all?" She said, playfully, nudging Rhea in the side. "I'll see you there."
"I look forward to it." The Doctor nodded, a little soothed by the spoiler she had given. He didn't trust her by any means, but he knew she probably meant well and Rhea liked her, which was tick for her in his book.
"I remember it well." River said, slyly, making Rhea and the Doctor chuckle in response.
Rhea walked away, staring out onto the ocean, her heels sinking into the sand as she shoved her hands into her pockets. She felt even more worse than she did after they had escaped from the Angels back in the Secondary Flight Deck of the Byzantium. She supposed this adventure was a real eye-opened for her. She finally realised exactly what the Doctor thought of her. It was sufficient enough to bring out of the fairytale she had allowed herself to become a character in. What, did you think that a centuries-old alien with a time machine would miraculously fall in love with you and you'd live happily ever after. You know better than that, Rhea.
"Take my advice, kitten, avoid attachment. It'll keep you alive in the end."
Rhea closed her eyes. God, I miss you.
"She's upset." River commented, looking at the Doctor, warily.
"She is." The Doctor nodded, sadly. "It's quite interesting how someone's trust could go from absolute to non-existent in a matter of minutes." A sad smile touched his lips, remembering how earnest she had been back in the catacombs when he had asked her if she trusted him. He had honestly felt warm inside when she had said she trusted him with everything. To get someone like Rhea admit that she trusted him was a feat in itself. And he had managed to mess it all up in a matter of ten minutes. He really was a genius.
"She's really young, isn't she?" A sad smile played on River's lips, eyeing Rhea with something akin to grief and anxiety.
The Doctor stared at River, carefully. She was probably the only one who would understand what he was going through with Rhea. It did hurt to know someone so well and to have them look at you like a stranger. He almost felt bad about the way he had treated River in the past.
"You should apologise." River scolded, her voice stern and worried.
The Doctor nodded. "I will. Hopefully." He never knew when she was going to jump. Sometimes, she'd stay with him for months before she jumped, others, she'd barely be with him for an entire adventure and she'd be gone in a blaze of light and blinding headache.
"She thinks you meant her." River said, quietly, remembering Rhea's fury back in the flight deck of the Byzantium. River had been surprised when she had heard Rhea's zealous defence of her, despite knowing that she had imprisoned in Stormcage for murder. "Back in the flight deck. She thinks you look down on her for everything she's done."
"Us tomb raiders gotta stick together, huh?"
"I don't." The Doctor growled, his hand digging into his scalp.
"She doesn't know that." River protested.
The Doctor shook his head. "That's not the only reason why she's been so closed off." He admitted, quietly. "I might have unintentionally implied that, because she's so young, she didn't care enough about me to stay with me even if I might die." He said, sheepishly, hating to tell River what he had thoughtlessly done.
River stared at him. "You didn't." She breathed. It were times like this that she admired Rhea's restraint. She was surprised that the woman hadn't pulled out her blaster and shot the Time Lord.
"I did." The Doctor said, mournfully. "I was shocked and I was angry that she was staying with me. I didn't mean for it to come out that way. Not really."
"Now you really need to apologise to her." River said, pointedly.
"I know." He said, gruffly, turning to look at the stoic, beautiful figure, who was now approaching them again, having finished her reflection.
Just as soon as Rhea reached them, Amy walked up to stand next to River, joining the three. "Bye, River." She said, softly, a smile on her face. She liked the woman. She reminded her of Rhea, both giving the Doctor as much trouble as they possibly could. She had noted the tension between the Doctor and River and the Doctor and Rhea, thinking that something must have happened between the trio, while she had been trying to return to them from the oxygen factory.
River chuckled and turned to grace Amy with a blinding smile. Rhea watched the softness in River's gaze with concealed interest. "See you. Amy." The handcuffs beeped and flashed red. "Oh! I think that's my ride." She looked down at the handcuffs with equal amounts of dread and anticipation.
The Doctor looked up at River, just as Rhea turned around and made her way to his side. "Can we trust you, River Song?" He asked, warily, looking down at Rhea to see a blank look on her face as she looked at River.
"If you like," Rhea smiled, sweetly. "But where's the fun in that?" She laughed and disappeared in a cloud of beige smoke.
The Doctor turned to look at the sea, while Rhea watched him, carefully, determined to not give anything away.
"What are you thinking?" She asked, noting his contemplative look.
"Time can be rewritten." The Doctor looked down at her, softly, and Rhea turned away, uncomfortably.
Rhea had barely stepped inside the TARDIS when she crumpled like a stack of blocks onto the glass floor, the Doctor catching her by the waist at the last minute. Her fingers went to her temples as she shook from the pain, feeling it practically sliver through down from her head to her limbs and torso, clawing at every inch of her.
In her agony, she didn't recognise the Doctor yanked her up, lift her into his arms and carry her, bridal style, practically running to the captain's chair and placing her on it. She resisted the urge to dig her nails into her eyes and gouge them out in a sick, twisted urge to relieve her pain. Her skin felt hot and itchy and clammy, her limbs felt heavy and ached and she felt as if someone were taking sharp steak knives and strategically slicing into her head. Her eyes fell shut, despite all of Rhea's attempts to keep them open, and the bright white light began to rise from her heated skin, enveloping her and momentarily blinding the Doctor and Amy, who simply stared at Rhea in wonder, shock and worry.
And she was gone.
A/N: I know, this is a shorter chapter than most. Sorry about that. Anyway, I hope you all liked the chapter. I know you're all probably getting sick and tired of the angst, but sorry, Rhea needs a lot for her character to develop. This was a really sad episode. Unfortunately, Rhea was getting better in the beginning and the Doctor just had to put his foot in his mouth. More so than the end of The Lazarus Experiment, Rhea's thoughts in this chapter and the last one seem very final in regard to her relationship with the Doctor. His words really hurt and now she's trying to convince herself that the Doctor doesn't feel anything for her.
But we do understand a little bit more about Rhea's past. I wonder who gave her that advice about emotional attachment and I wonder who she misses. River and Rhea are definitely close in this story, I mean, she kissed her in this chapter. I wonder how that will develop in Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead? Will Rhea still be nice to River? Or will she defend the Doctor this time? And now we have to wonder what happens in The Impossible Astronaut.
Oh, and I hope you all weren't too disappointed that I didn't do the Doctor/Amy kiss in this chapter. I will do that scene with The Vampires of Venice, I promise. I just want Rhea to have a better relationship with the Doctor when that happens.
Anyway, hope you all liked the chapter and don't forget to leave a review!