Gods
"Howie? Howie…Howie, you're next." The Doctor glanced at Adelaide to ensure she was fine with him speaking, but she seemed to be willing to observe the reactions while he asked the questions. "We're all dead jealous. So, tell us. How do we get a piece of the action? Why isn't he possessing all of us?"
"You guys have got all these distractions, all these obstacles." He tapped his head. "It'd be so much easier if you just let it go, you know? Clear the path."
Amy frowned. "You want it to find you even though you know what it's going to do?"
"Are you kidding? He's going to kill us all. How cool is that?"
The entire group moved away from the table, leaving Howie sitting there, so that they could talk without him hearing. "It's as I thought," the Doctor said, rubbing his eyes. "It feeds on fear. Everything, the rooms, Lucy's note, even the pictures in reception, has been put here to frighten us. So we have to resist. Do whatever you have to. Cross your fingers, say a prayer, think of a basket of kittens, but do not give in to the fear."
"Okay, but what are we actually going to do?"
He grinned. "We're going to catch ourselves a monster."
Adelaide touched the Doctor's arm. "May I speak with you?" He nodded and they stepped back. "I don't think it just wants to frighten us. That's too simple."
"Then what?"
She shook her head. "I haven't decided yet. Just…be careful, Doctor, please."
He grinned. "Aren't I always?"
She just raised her eyebrows at him.
|C-S|
"Bring me death! Bring me glory!" Howie shouted. "My master, my lord, I'm here! Come to me. I'm waiting here for you!"
The Doctor gave a thumbs up to Adelaide as he spotted her repositioning a mirror.
"He promised me a glorious death. Give it to me now. I want him to know my devotion. Praise him!" they could hear something scraping along the beams. "Praise him!"
The door opened and the monster, a minotaur according to the Doctor, stepped inside, though the door slammed shut a second later and Amy and Rita jammed it shut.
"Rory, he's in!" Amy called.
The Doctor turned off the light, making the minotaur stumble through the room.
"Let his name be the last thing I hear. Let his breath on my skin be the last thing I feel. I was lost in the shadows, but he found me."
The minotaur growled as it realized Howie wasn't actually in the room, instead speaking through a speaker.
"His love was a beacon that led me from darkness to light, and now I am blinded by his majesty. Humbled by his glory! Praise-"
"That's quite enough of that," the Doctor soniced the speaker off.
"…him."
He turned to the minotaur. "Nothing personal, I just think we should take things slowly. Get to know each other. You take people's most primal fears and pop it in a room. A tailor-made hell, just for them. Why?" the minotaur growled, and the Doctor frowned, glancing at Adelaide, but she could only shrug; she didn't know that language off the top of her head. "Did you say…'they take'? Ah, what is that word? The 'guard'? No, the 'warden'? This is a prison."
She raised her eyebrows. "Joe said that we weren't ready. Is that what you do? You…" she looked at the Doctor for a translation.
"'Replace'."
"Replace what? Fear?"
"You have lived so long, even your name is lost? You want this to stop…because you are just instinct. Then tell us. Tell us how to fight you."
"My master, my lord!" Howie shouted from the hallway. "I'm here! Oh, bring me death!"
"No, no, no, no, no!" the minotaur shattered the glass, moving towards the door. "Rory, watch out!" Amy and Rita ran into the room behind them. "Stay back!" the minotaur shattered the door and ran from the room. "Pond, bring the fish!" the Time Lords ran from the room. "Where'd he go?"
Rory rubbed his head as he woke, grimacing. "Somebody hit me. Was it Amy?"
The Doctor ran off through the hotel, leaving Adelaide to ensure the rest of the humans returned to the reception.
Rita knelt beside Rory. "Rory, are you alright?"
Amy looked to Adelaide. "We should find the Doctor."
"You're not going to get lost in this hotel." But Amy didn't seem to hear her since she turned towards one of the rooms and opened it, just a crack, before Adelaide snatched her back. "Don't open doors," she reminded Amy, but then frowned. "What did you see?"
Amy shook her head. "Nothing. Nothing. I don't know. It was weird."
|C-S|
Adelaide walked up to the Doctor as he looked at a picture of Howie that had appeared, the Doctor having found his body. "Have you found your room yet?" he asked her.
"I don't intend to."
Rory came up on the Doctor's other side. "Is it good or bad that I haven't found mine yet?"
The Doctor shrugged. "Maybe you're not scared of anything."
"Well, after all the time I spent with you two in the TARDIS, what was left to be scared of?"
Adelaide frowned at him. "Past tense."
"What? No, I didn't." He looked at the pictures again. "You know, Howie had been in speech therapy. He'd just got over this massive stammer. What an achievement. I mean, can you imagine?" he shook his head. "I'd forgotten not all victories are about saving the universe."
|C-S|
The Doctor and Adelaide had just reached the stairs when Rita walked up to them, making the Doctor grin. "Rita! Brilliant! How are you? Not panicking, are you? Good, good. Because we are literally an otter's toenail away from getting us out of here."
"Why?"
"Excellent question. Excellent question." The Doctor kept walking and then paused. "Why what?"
"Why is it up to you to save us? That's quite a God complex you have there."
The Doctor looked down. "We brought them here. They'd say it was their choice but offer a child a suitcase full of sweets and they'll take it. Offer someone all of time and space and they'll take that, too. Which is why you shouldn't. Which is why grown-ups," he gestured at Adelaide, "were invented."
"I'm not a grown-up," she reminded him.
"Slightly more than I am."
Rita studied them. "All of time and space, eh?"
The Doctor grinned. "Oh, yeah. And when we get out of this, we'll show you too."
"I don't know what you're talking about but, whatever it was, I have a feeling you just did it again."
Adelaide, who'd been looking around the room, touched the Doctor's shoulder. "Found it." They, after nodding to Rita, moved up the stairs, not hearing what Rita said as they walked away.
She looked towards the camera. "Praise him."
|C-S|
The Time Lords hurried through the corridors, attempting to find the security room, when the Doctor pause. Adelaide stopped a few steps ahead of him, turning to look back, and watched as his gaze turned to the door beside him, Room 11.
"Doctor…" she said. "Don't."
He took a step closer. "Just a quick look."
"No."
He rested a hand on the doorknob. "Just a peak."
"Please. It's not worth it."
"Just a look."
She grabbed his arm. "Doctor, I don't care if that creature doesn't want to do this anymore; his instinct is more powerful than his will. If you open that door, it's highly possible, almost guaranteed, that you will become his next target. And I am not about to stand back and watch that happen."
"You never promised."
She sighed. "We are not going to discuss this right now, Doctor. Don't abandon me."
"Then don't abandon me."
Adelaide tensed her jaw, but she didn't let go of him. "I am not going to let you open that door."
"I'm not going to let you go to Lake Silencio."
"Then we have agreed. I'm not going to let you open that door and you're not going to let me go to Lake Silencio. So step away."
The Doctor didn't move away. "Aren't you curious?" he whispered. "About what's in your room?"
"I have a guess. And we both know my guesses are usually right." She nodded towards Room 11. "I also have a guess about what's in your room, so, if you'd like, I'd be happy to tell you."
He, without breaking eye contact, slipped a 'Do Not Disturb' sign on it. "Let's go find the cameras."
Adelaide stepped back, finally letting go of his arm. "Let's find the cameras."
The Doctor nodded and they continued down the hallway, though the moment before they turned the corner the Doctor glanced back at the room, even if he didn't walk back to it.
They found the door marked 'Security' and walked in to see a wall of monitors. "Oh, you beauty," the Doctor said, grinning. "Come on, big fellow, where are you?"
Adelaide frowned. "What is Rita doing?" Rita paused as she walked and looked into one of the rooms, glancing at the camera before walking inside. She picked up the phone, calling the room, and watched Rita pick it up. "What are you doing? Can I presume the phone is long enough to reach into the corridor?" Rita walked back into the corridor and Adelaide put the phone on speaker.
"You started to praise it, didn't you?" the Doctor asked. Rita nodded. "Rita, come back, please. We'll find a way to stop it, we swear to you."
Rita knelt. "No, I need to get as far away from you all as possible."
"The creature only wants the one praising it."
"And then one of you will put yourself in its way."
The Doctor shook his head. "We're coming to get you. Block out the fear and stay focused on your belief."
"The hotel will keep us apart. I could be fifty miles away by now." The creature growled, and they could see the creature in another monitor. "I want you to do me one last favor, Doctor, Adelaide. I can feel the rapture approaching, like a wave. I don't want you to witness it. I want you to remember me the way I was."
"What's going on?" Amy said, her and Rory entering the room. "Rita's disappeared." She frowned at the monitor. "What's she doing there?"
The Doctor gripped the side of the table. "Rita, Rita, please. Let us find you."
"You stay where you are. Please, let me be robbed of my faith in private."
"Look, Rita, Rita, go into the room. Lock the door."
Rita shook her head. "I'm not frightened. I'm blessed, Doctor. I'm at peace. I'm going to hang up."
"No, no, no, Rita."
"Goodbye."
"Rita!"
"Thank you for trying."
"Rita, please! Please! Please!" Adelaide touched the Doctor's shoulder as he shouted, but he shook her off, stepping away from her and sonicing the monitor from a distance.
|C-S|
Adelaide winced every time the Doctor smashed another thing as she stood near the bodies. He was angry, she knew that, she was angry too, she just wasn't smashing anything because of it. Eventually, she did stand and attempt to get him to calm down, though that only resulted in him shouting at her.
She waited until he was done, leaning against a table and breathing hard - an image that reminded her far too much of his last regeneration - before she stepped forward again.
"There are still three other living people here, Doctor, that we still need to save. Now, either I am going to do it alone or you're going to help me. Which one would you like to choose?"
The Doctor swallowed hard, straightened, and walked past her to where the other three were waiting. Adelaide followed without saying anything.
"Okay," the Doctor said, rubbing his hands together. "It preys on people's fear and possesses them. But Rita wasn't afraid. She was brave and calm. Maybe it's something to do with the people, some connection between the four of you that'll tell us how to fight it."
Gibbis rolled his eyes. "Yes, you keep saying that, but you never do. And while we wait, people keep dying. And we'll be next."
"Look, they'll work it out," Amy told him. "They always do. Just let her think and move anything expensive out of his way."
Adelaide's eyes widened and she touched the Doctor's shoulder, making him turn to her as he seemed to have the same idea. "Oh no," he breathed. "Oh, no, no."
"What's wrong?"
"It's not fear," he began. "It's faith. Not just religious faith, faith in something."
Adelaide nodded. "Howard believed in conspiracies, something controlling the world. Joe believed in luck; he was a gambler, so a force that helped him win or lose. Gibbis has lost all personal autonomy and just wants someone to tell him what to do. But they all believed there was something guiding them and that's what it was replacing. When confronted with a primal fear, people fall back on their fundamental faith."
"And all this time, I have been telling you to dig deep, find the thing that keeps you brave." The Doctor looked around the group. "I made you expose your faith, show them what they needed."
Rory frowned. "But why us? Why are we here?"
"It doesn't want you. That's why it kept showing you a way out. You're not religious or superstitious, so there's no faith for you to fall back on. It wants her." The Doctor pointed to Amy.
"Me? Why?"
"Your faith in us," Adelaide explained. "More specifically, your faith in the Doctor. It's why we were brought here."
"But why do they lose their faith before they die and start worshipping it?"
"It converts the faith into the specific emotional energy the creature needs to live."
"Which is why, at the end of her note, Lucy said…"
"Praise him."
"Exactly."
Rory shook his head, standing. "No. Oh, please, no."
The creature roared.
|C-S|
The creature chased them through the hotel, even if Adelaide knew that running, in the end, wouldn't do anything to stop the creature from finding them.
Especially when Amy stopped and turned to face it.
"Amy?" the Doctor asked. "What are you doing?"
The creature appeared at the end of the corridor. "He is beautiful."
"Leave her! Just leave her!"
The Doctor and Rory grabbed Amy's arms and pulled her after them, leaving Adelaide to lead the way, directing them into a random room.
Only she immediately regretted it, since inside a young Amelia Pond sat on a suitcase staring out the window, watching the stars. Rory moved to hold the door shut, and Amy fell to her knees.
"Doctor, Adelaide, it's happening. It's changing me. It's changing my thoughts."
The Doctor knelt beside her, with Adelaide standing on the other side. "We can't save you from this. There's nothing we can do to stop this."
"What?"
"I stole your childhood, and now I've led you by the hand to your death. But the worst thing is, I knew. I knew this would happen. This is what always happens." The creature burst into the room, and the Doctor grabbed Amy's hands. "Forget your faith in us, in me. I took you with me because I was vain. Because I wanted to be adored. Look at you. Glorious Pond, the girl who waited for me. I'm not a hero. I really am just a madman in a box. And it's time we saw each other as we really are." The creature stumbled back into the hall. "Amy Williams, it's time to stop waiting."
The lights flickered, and Adelaide walked to the creature's side, kneeling next to it, though the Doctor followed and went to its other side. "We've severed the food supply by sacrificing their faith. We gave you the space to die."
The room dissolved and left them in a dark room with an instrument panel a few steps away.
"What is it, a minotaur or an alien?" Amy asked, standing. "Or an alien minotaur? That's not a question I thought I'd be asking this morning."
"Technically, it's both." Adelaide stood, moving to the database and leaving the Doctor by the creature's side. "Distant cousin of the Nimon. They descend on planets and make themselves gods to be worshipped, which does work, for a time, until the inhabitants get advanced enough to build prisons."
"Correction," Rory said, having gone to look out a window. "Prisons in space."
"Where are the guards?"
The Doctor shook his head. "No need for any. It's all automated. It drifts through space, snatching people with belief systems and converts their faith into food for the creature." He stood, walking over to read what Adelaide was looking at, and Amy walked over too.
"It didn't want just me, so you two must believe in some god or someone, or they'd have shown you the door too. So what do Time Lords pray to?"
He cleared his throat. "According to the in-flight recorder, the program developed glitches. It got stuck on the same setting, the fears from the people before us weren't tidied away."
The creature growled and the Time Lords turned back to it, though Amy jumped. "What's it saying?"
"'An ancient creature,'" the Doctor translated, "'drenched in the blood of the innocent, drifting in space through an endless, shifting maze. For such a creature, death would be a gift.'" He reached out and put a hand on the creature's arm. "Then accept it, and sleep well." He stood, turning to Adelaide, but the creature growled again.
That time, even Adelaide could translate it. "'I wasn't talking about myself.'" She looked to the Doctor, nodded, and walked towards where the TARDIS was, sitting a bit away.
"Could I have a lift?" Gibbis asked as Rory walked to Amy, embracing her, and walked to the TARDIS. "Just to the nearest galaxy would do."
|C-S|
The Time Lords stepped out of the TARDIS onto the suburban street, Amy and Rory right after them, and forced smiles.
"Don't tell me," Amy said, sighing. "This isn't Earth, that isn't a real house, and inside lives a goblin who feeds on indecision."
"Nope. Real Earth, real house," the Doctor threw keys to Amy, "real door keys."
Amy's eyes widened. "You're not serious?"
Rory's mouth dropped open and he pointed to the car sitting in front of the home with the TARDIS blue door. "The car too? But…that's my favorite car. How did you know that was my favorite car?"
"You showed me a picture of it once and said 'this is my favorite car'," he threw Rory some keys.
"Rory, can you give us two minutes? Two minutes?"
Rory wrapped an arm around the Doctor, pulling him away for a moment. "She'll say that we can't accept it because it's too extravagant and we'll always feel a crippling sense of obligation." He glanced back at the car. "It's a risk I'm willing to take." He hurried off towards the house, leaving the time Lords and Amy.
Amy leaned against the bonnet of the car, patting spots on either side of her, and the Time Lords took them. "Hey. So…you're leaving, aren't you?"
"You haven't seen the last of us. Bad Penny is my middle name!" He shook his head. "Seriously, the looks I get, mainly from Adelaide, when I fill in a form, it's-"
"Why now?"
Adelaide sighed. "Because you're still breathing."
"Well, I think this is about the washing up, personally."
He laughed and pushed off of the car, moving back towards the TARDIS, with Adelaide moving in unison. "I mean, you're right, there's still heaps of stuff out there to look at. Do you know, there's a planet whose name literally translates as Volatile Circus? Or maybe, there's a bigger, scarier adventure waiting for you in there." He nodded back towards the home Rory had gone into, and they stopped at the entrance to the TARDIS.
Amy glanced over her shoulder. "Even so, it can't happen like this. After everything we've been through…you can't just drop me off at my house and say goodbye like we've shared a cab."
"And what's the alternative? Us standing over your grave? Over your broken body? Over Rory's body?"
Amy nodded and, after a moment, gave the Doctor a hug. "If you bump into my daughter, tell her to visit her old mum sometime." She turned and hugged Adelaide too.
"And look after him."
She raised her eyebrows. "Look after you." The Time Lords opened the TARDIS, and Amy waved, crying. "Bye."
They stepped inside, and left, saving the humans.
And soon, Adelaide was going to save the Doctor.
Even if he didn't want her too.
A/N: Always wondered exactly what the Doctor prays to. And what was in his room. If only Adelaide were real and could tell us ;)
Starangel5593: Sadly, we won't, but she clearly has some guesses.
lautaro94: They really do need to talk, but they always have. I'm glad you're looking forward to the Night Season; I might post a sneak peak soon, but what I'll say now is that it starts with Dalek and someone's keeping a secret ;)
Lizzy B: Glad you like her!