Title: Every Starry Night Shines For You
Author: leonsalanna
Disclaimer: You brilliant, brilliant men of the BBC. Vincent and the Doctor was one of my favorite Season 5 episodes and I gladly cede all credit for its characters to you.
Ship: One-sided Amy/Vincent, Amy/Rory
Summary: Before he leaves this world, Vincent van Gogh left behind a gift for Amy Pond. Here is the story of the only three people in the universe to see his last masterpiece. Takes place immediately after the end of 5.10. Part 1 of 2.
Notes: Spoilers through 5.13: The Big Bang. Trigger warning for mention of suicide.
The Doctor dropped his arm from around her shoulders so Amy replaced it with her own and she just stood there, hugging herself as if from cold, as she stared at the sunflowers Vincent never really liked. And at the words: "For Amy. Vincent." But while she stood there, the Doctor had more wandering to do. At the other end of the gallery, behind an obscure wall one might not notice if they didn't look closely, he found a framed letter. Always inquisitive, he stepped close and leaned in to read it.
"Doctor. I tried to hold onto the hope that you might come back for me some day. Take me across the skies in your wonderful ship. I know it isn't to be so. I know you will be disappointed it came to this, but I think you will not be surprised. Do not get me wrong, you and she were like burning beacons in the night. But you of all people know that sometimes even the brightest light can be swallowed up by the darkness and the Silence.
"The fits of madness come and go, like you saw that morning, but I know the sadness will last forever. Does she still cry? She should not be under the sadness like I am. Tomorrow, I want you to go to the window you saw nothing in. Make sure she gets it. It is my gift to her, one that she can keep with her in life as, I hope, in her heart.
"As I told you that night, the things I see are wondrous. But I had never seen anything as wondrous as the two of you and no color on a palette could ever show that. To this day, I love you both. Vincent."
The Doctor stared at the letter. Tomorrow? That would most likely be the day after he shot himself. In the church, where Vincent saw the Krafayis and the Doctor could not.
"Van Gogh left us many mysteries after his death." Mr. Black appeared at the Doctor's elbow and nodded towards the letter. "Acquaintances heard him speak occasionally of the one doctor who ever made a difference, but no one knew where he came from, how long he was with him for, or why he left. It has been assumed that this doctor had an assistant that Van Gogh fell in love with, but no one ever knew a name. Amazing how one letter could contain so many riddles."
The Doctor nodded sagely. "This note was written before his death?"
"The day he went out to the field to shoot himself," Mr. Black replied. "He says for the doctor to go somewhere 'tomorrow', which seems to say he was nearby that he would see the note in time. Yet no one heard of anyone different showing up during the two days he lay in his apartment, dying."
The Doctor thanked the man and went off to find Amy. Her fingers hovered in the air before one of Vincent's self portraits, as if she wanted to touch him. "He never did shave the beard," she said, with a sad smile.
"Actually," her companion replied. "In another museum there does hang a self-portrait of him clean-shaven. Trust me, he was better off with the beard." She laughed. The Doctor put an arm around her again and steered her slowly from the gallery, trying to not notice the tear slipping down her cheek.
"Does she still cry?"
Amy's face was dry by the time they reached the TARDIS, but her eyes were still sad. "Why don't you go lay down? I just have to make a quick stop and pick something up. Not very exciting. Just plain, old Earth." Amy nodded and walked off towards her room. When he figured she had reached her door (a difficult estimate to make, with the rooms always shifting around), the Doctor set the coordinates for the chapel at Auvers, the day after Vincent shot himself. He hesitated over the date, knowing that at the moment they landed, Vincent would be dying somewhere and they should not go to him.
But the Doctor landed the TARDIS where and when Vincent told him and went to pick through the chapel. He noted it had been cleaned up since they fought the Krafayis, but was still as gloomy as before. He counted over windows until he stood under the one the beast had initially been painted in and then he began to search. He sifted through the rubble, looking for a spot that might have been disturbed recently. After a long, futile search, the Doctor sat in a nearby chair and sighed. His foot was starting to be pinched by his shoe. Sometimes, he really missed his old trainers. He looked down at that foot and stopped. Slowly, he bent over and slid a discarded curtain away from its spot next to the chair. The material slithered over the floor and then, inch by inch, began to reveal a canvas. "Oh Vincent."
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Amy awoke from her nap and stumbled into the TARDIS kitchen to fix herself some tea. She would ask the Doctor if they could find a florist and get some flowers for the table. Maybe some exotic, alien flowers from another planet. Or maybe some simple sunflowers. With English Breakfast steam warming her insides, Amy meandered into the console room, hoping the Doctor was back from his stopover and ready to go somewhere else.
She found him in one of the seats, with his shoulders hunched and looking rather dusty. "Where've you been?" she asked. "Half the antique shops in Scotland?" She sat beside him and then noticed a canvas by his feet. "Doctor?"
"He left this for you. As a gift."
Amy picked up the canvas and caught her breath. First glance at the sky made her think it was Starry Night, with the same swirling winds and shining lights. And the scene was of a town at the base of a hill, but this town was lit and looked alive. It was a far cry from the sad and sleepy town in his most famous painting. And up on the hill there was…a blue box? A blue box with a star sitting on top. Next to the box stood a figure, turned away from the viewer (or was it the painter?) Her long red hair blew out from the hill, curling with the spirals of wind and light above until red became just another color of the night sky.
"Oh Vincent…" she said, as soon as she could speak, unknowingly echoing the Doctor's words.
"Oh no you don't," the Doctor said, snatching the canvas out of her hands. The tear fell harmlessly on Amy's hand. The Doctor took another look at it and said, "The 23rd century, when you lot rediscover art, are masters of preserving paintings. We'll take a visit there, see if we can get this protected."
Amy didn't move, but craned her neck to see the painting better. "Do you- should I give this to the museum or something? It's Vincent van Gogh, I shouldn't keep it."
Before she finished speaking, the Doctor was shaking his hand. "Oh Amy Pond. He wanted you to have this. Because he knew you'll know your name is on a painting in the museum, but he wanted you to have something that you could look at whenever you wanted."
Amy slowly took the canvas from the Doctor's hand and ran her fingers over the edge of it. "Thank you, Vincent." She looked up at the Doctor. "Think we can hang it in my room? Somewhere it won't get knocked down when you take a wrong turn?"
"Hey!" he protested, hair flopping as he shook his head. "I pilot this just fine!"
"Except for the times when you miss your mark by two or fourteen years, yeah?"
In the end, the painting was hung on Amy's wall next to her bed. As she and her Raggedy Doctor journeyed on, the sting faded and she was left with a small smile when she looked at her painting.