Disclaimer: I do not own Doctor Who or Torchwood, both belong to the BBC and their respected writers. But I do own Gaia! :b
Gaia stood by the railings as River ran round the console. She assumed she was in the Tardis and boy it had had a makeover, and so had the Doctor. He was running around following River, demanding how she knew how to fly the Tardis and where they were going and what not. It was quite amusing to watch. Gaia smiled at the sight, she had only known this woman a mere 10 minutes and she already knew more than the Doctor. Being a Planet-keeper did have its bonus'.
"And I've parked her right beside it." River announced, her heels swinging off the bottom of the Tardis monitor.
"Parked? How could you have parked her? She didn't make the sound!" The Doctor argued pouting like a child.
"What sound?" River asked.
"You know..." The Doctor began and then made a wheezing sound that could very faintly resemble that off the Tardis.
"It's not supposed to make that sound. You leave the hand break on." River said smiling. The Doctor rolled his eyes.
"Yeah well I like it." The Doctor argued.
During this domestic Gaia had decided to go and see where they had landed. So very sneakily she walked to the door and took a step outside.
She was shocked to see that the space cruiser she had been on minutes ago, crashed and up in flames on top of an ancient temple. River came up and stood next to her. Even just by looking at the crash they could both tell that there were no survivors.
"What caused it to crash? We didn't." River asked as the Doctor as he stepped out of the Tardis, followed by a ginger girl whom Gaia had failed to notice when she landed in the Tardis. Her name was Amelia Pond and oh... Gaia's hearts broke at the sight of a 7 year old girl fast asleep in her backgarden waiting for her Doctor to come. And wow River was, or should she say Melody, was her...
Gaia didn't realise that the Doctor was asking her a question. "What?" She asked, snapping out of it.
"You sweetheart, what are you doing here? We just dropped you off in the USA to visit Jack." The Doctor stated.
"USA? Why would Jack be in America? He's in Cardiff and I don't think pissed off would cover how he feels about you right now. And what are you talking about, dropped me off? I just came from Cardiff myself. " Gaia asked, hand on hip. The Doctor's face dropped and he put his left hand into his pocket.
"Gaia when was the last time you saw me?" He asked a hint of desperation in his voice.
"Royal Hope Hospital with Martha was the last time I saw you. Have to say though loving the new regeneration? Is it just a habit that you get younger and younger or is it the same with every Timelord?" Gaia asked, not seeing the Doctor's hearts break. The Doctor put on a fake smile and pulled his left hand out of his pocket, his hand considerably lighter than it had been in a long time.
"Well you know, still not ginger." The Doctor joked, his acting skills as good as ever.
River rolled her eyes. Amelia had stayed decidedly quiet during this conversation, deciding to question the Doctor later about, what she though to be, Gaia's sudden amnesia. River's communicator broke the silence.
"Song, this is cleric. Do you have it? We've just seen the ship crash, we need to get moving." A muffled voice said from the communicator.
"Yes I know we saw it land..." River said pulling the communicator up to her mouth. She then started to make her way across the uneven ground in front of her, stilettos in hand.
Gaia felt something vibrate in her bag. She dug her arm in and pulled out her mobile. It was a text from Jack. "Where are you?" It read. "Complicated. X" Gaia replied quickly, 17 years on Earth had made her record of sending a ten word text only several seconds. This text was sent in a blink of an eye. She then put her phone on silent and put it back in her bag. She looked up to see Amy and the Doctor talking in hush tones.
Half way across the landscape, River turned back to the Doctor and held up her communicator. "Can you sonic me love? They need to lock onto my location." River called the Doctor. He reluctantly got out his sonic and pointed it at River. She curtsied in thanks and continued to walk on.
"Oooo... Doctor you soniced her!" Amy said mischievously. The Doctor rolled his eyes and let out a huff. Amy then turned back to Gaia. "Sorry about that."
"Sorry for what? You took the words out of my mouth." Gaia replied with a grin. She then turned her attention to her shoes, changing them into her converse in her bag. She didn't notice Amy's expression turn to worry, or the way she turned back to the Doctor who looked heart broken.
The Doctor then stormed over to River. "What have you dragged us into? I can't be their every time to catch you." He said through gritted teeth as Amy and Gaia followed quickly behind him.
"That's where you wrong sweetie." River said with a wink. The Doctor didn't look amused; River rolled her eyes, but not before looking at Gaia. "There's a creature in the belly of that ship that can never die." River continued. The trio all looked up at her. "Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?"
Gaia was now sat in a cavern. She had changed into some clothes River had given her, a pair of combat trousers and a vest top, and had discarded the, albeit lovely, potentially dangerous party dress. She had put it in the depths of her bag and had very cleverly managed to place her gun around her lower leg, so it was easy to get to if need be.
Surrounding her at the moment was a small makeshift base, with soldiers rushing around everywhere. Amy and the Doctor were sitting a few metres away at a table talking intensely about a topic Gaia didn't either bother listen about. Her ears were burning so that was indication enough for what they were talking about. She was studying the soldiers instead. She knew only a few of their names; very few had stepped on Earth. Which wasn't surprising, they were quite a distance away from the planet. But they acted so...different to soldiers on Earth. They were soldiers yes, trained to kill in some of the cruellest ways, but these men were also clerics, members of the church. They showed compassion and asked for forgiveness. Something, she was sad to say, many 21st century humans were not doing as often as they should.
River's call broke her concentration. "Sweeties, in here please." Gaia ignored her for a while, presuming she meant the Doctor. The Doctor ignored her presuming she meant Gaia. Amy didn't move because the Doctor didn't. River came storming back out. "Oi you 3, in here now!" She said pointing at the Doctor, Amy and Gaia. They all quickly made their way to the small office that had been set up.
"So what do you know of the Weeping Angels?" River asked as the trio stepped into the small office type area.
"Weeping Angels? What's a weeping angel?" Amy asked.
"A deadly race, who move at the speed of light. They have the power to send you back in time and absorb the energy of your what if's. Yet if they are looked at by any living thing they turn to stone." Gaia answered. River and the Doctor nodded in agreement, Amy stood their mouth agape.
"Okay so not good." Amy uttered.
"Yep defiantly not good, bad, big bad." The Doctor said running his fingers through his hair.
"We've managed to get the CCTV footage of the brig of the ship where the angel was being held. I think you may want to have a look." River said picking up the remote off the desk and pressing play. The far wall of the office turned into a screen and played a loop of a 10 second clip of the angel.
"It's dormant." Gaia said eyebrows raised, she couldn't help but feel like she was at work. Watching CCTV in an office, figuring out what it wanted and why it was here. All that was missing was Ianto's coffee.
"Or waiting." The Doctor murmured, breaking Gaia's train of thought. The Doctor ran outside, River quickly followed.
Gaia and Amy remained within the office, feeling no need to go outside. Amy's eyes remained fixed on the screen whilst Gaia turned to face Amy. "Soooo... How long have you been travelling with the Doctor?" Gaia asked.
"Not that long. Although, I met him when I was 7, he crashed into my garden with... someone." Amy went quiet.
"Someone?" Gaia asked, she could see the memory of that evening when the Doctor crashed into young Amelia's garden, but parts were missing, blurry. Some thing or someone else had been there, but whom.
"...it's complicated." Amy finished. "Wait, did that thing move?" Amy said pointing at the angel on the screen. It had in fact moved forwards. Its hands were no longer over its eyes and it was closer to the camera.
"But that's impossible it's just a recording." Gaia said walking over and touching the screen. The clip looped again and the angel was right up to the screen, eyes wide, mouth agape. Gaia jumped back in shock.
"Okay this is seriously weird." Amy said watching Gaia, whilst Gaia kept her eyes on the angel.
"Amy, keep an eye on the angel I'm going to go over to the door and call the Doctor." Gaia said walking back towards the door.
Half way across the office the bolt on the door locked, causing both girls to turn around. They both ran up to the door and started to bang on it. "Doctor!" Amy shouted drumming the door.
"River!" Gaia yelled as she banged on the door along with Amy.
After a few seconds of banging Gaia's eyes opened wide in realisation. "Amy, who's looking at the angel?" She gulped. Their eyes crossed over room and back to the screen. They stopped abruptly at the sight of a half formed angel in the room. It had come out of the screen.
Gaia could hear the Doctor's sonic screwdriver on the other side of the door. "It's deadlocked, I can't get in." The Doctor announced. River argued that it was impossible and that the door didn't have a deadlock.
"Doctor what do we do?" Amy asked sternly, trying and failing to hide the fear in her voice. There was no reply.
"I don't know..." Came a response a little later. "Just don't look into the eyes. Keep your eyes on it but don't look into its eyes." The Doctor finished.
Gaia walked over to the desk where the remote sat, here eyes fixed on the angel. "What are you doing?" Amy whispered.
"Something clever... hopefully." Gaia responded. She picked up the remote and pointed it at the screen. When the loop came and the screen went blank Gaia paused the recording. The angel disappeared in that instant and the door unlocked.
River and the Doctor came running in, the latter swooping up Gaia and pulling her into a bone crushing hug. "Okay... bit tight their Doctor." Gaia said her chest constricted by the Doctor's tight grip. The Doctor blushed and put Gaia down. Gaia couldn't help but notice the put on smile on his face.
"Are you 2 okay?" River asked. Amy and Gaia nodded. "Good. Very good." River said, her cryptic answers confusing just about everyone in the room.
Then there was a bang from outside. "Doctor we're through." One of the clerics shouted.
Gaia dropped down the rope as she made it to the bottom of the drop. As soon as her feet touched the ground she could hear it. The painful sorrow of a mistreated planet and it was shouting, yelling to be looked after. It broke her hearts to hear a planet in such pain and anguish.
The Doctor walked over to her. "Hey, what's wrong?" He asked, handing her a tissue out of his pocket. She hadn't even noticed she was crying, but she didn't wipe the tears away.
"Can't you hear it?" She asked, so softly, so innocently, she sounded the age she looked.
"Hear what?"
Gaia raised her hand and put it on the side of his temple. She could see his expression shift when he heard what she could hear. "I'm so sorry." He said to no one in particular. Gaia wasn't sure if it was to her or the planet.
Father Octavian broke the moment. "Sir we need to get moving." He said, although not in his usual dominating tone, it was still said in a commanding manner. Gaia's hand dropped from the Doctor's temple and he couldn't hear the cries anymore, but he knew Gaia could.
"Yes Father in a minute. Come along Gaia." He said pulling Gaia close to him and walking onwards up the slope.
Gaia thought it weird that the Doctor was behaving in such a manner. Although she had only met him a few times, she had known who he was most of her life. He played a big part in many events of the Earth's history, how could she not know him. But throughout all the time she had known him he had never been a touchy feely person. Especially after the time war, he had never allowed himself to get close to someone after that. An occasional hug here and there, but nothing like this. What had gotten into him?
Amy let out a yelp. Gaia turned her head to see that River was giving her an injection, probably some metabolism thing. Thank god she didn't need it. She was actually petrified of needles.
"Are we there yet?" Amy grumbled, she was joking of course. Well Gaia hoped she was joking.
"We're 4 levels up, 2 to go. The 6 levels represent the ascent of the soul. 6 was a very important number to the Aplans, with the 2 heads and 3 way marriages you have 6 people in relationships. It could get a bit messy." The Doctor rambled.
"I could imagine." Gaia said raising an eyebrow. "Seems Earth missed that memo though, several cultures believed 6 to be the number of the devil." Gaia said absent mindedly, for the first time since entering the maze she looked at the statues.
"And where did they get that notion then?" The Doctor asked, eyebrows raised and a trying to stop a grin spreading on his face. Gaia retorted by sticking out her tongue. She then turned back round to look at the statue. Her face drops in realisation.
"Doctor, you said the Aplans have 2 heads right?" Gaia asked, nervously.
"Yep." The Doctor replied now fiddling with River's scanner.
"Then why do the statues only have one?" She asked; everyone looked up simultaneously.
"How could we have not..." River murmured keeping her eyes on as many statues as possible.
"Low level perception filter." The Doctor replied, taking out his sonic out of his pocket whilst still keeping his eyes on the angels. He scanned it up and down.
"Then how come Gaia didn't notice it?" Amy asked inquisitively. Gaia questioned how Amy knew about the fact that perception filters didn't work on her, she didn't say it aloud though.
"Because, Pond, she's got an upset planet's subconscious broadcasting in her mind. It's all `Flesh and Stone` and a low level perception filter could easily be missed with that going on." The Doctor said bring the sonic close to his eyes. "Okay defiantly angels. How far is it to the crash sight?" He asked, starting to back away towards River and the group who were slightly ahead, dragging Gaia with him.
"Not that far. We've just got to go through that alcove and we'd be right under the ship." River said pointing at the small hole in the wall. The torches started flashing.
"Okay on the count of 3 run towards the alcove. Try and keep an angel within your sight at all times. River take the lead. Okay?" The Doctor asked. Everyone nodded in response.
"Good, 1..." People's feet started to scuff across the dry path. "2..." The soldiers tightened their grip on their guns, thinking of the 3 soldiers that had already been lost to the angels. "3!" Everyone ran in the direction of the alcove.
They made it through to an open area; several other passages led to the area, each of them slowly being filled with the deformed angels. "Doctor, they're coming!" Amy yelled.
"Yes I know, now shh... I'm thinking." The Doctor retorted. Gaia slapped him on the arm.
"No need to be rude!" She said. The Doctor looked up at her in shock. Gaia gave him `the look`.
"Yes right, sorry." He said then muttered something incoherent, the words women and slapping could be heard. He started to pace the open area, whilst the guards lined the passageways, the lights flickering at the angels got closer.
"Now is really when you usually come up with a brilliant idea." River said, craning her head to face the Doctor, her gun aimed at the angels. The Doctor didn't respond. Gaia looked up at the underside of the ship. Making sure no one was looking at her; she grabbed a small stone and threw to up towards the ship. She smiled when she saw it stuck there. She then spied the floating gravity sphere.
"Okay, don't ask why but on my signal jump." Gaia said. The Doctor turned to face her, one eyebrow raised.
"What's the signal?" River asked, not doubting Gaia.
"Don't worry you won't miss it." Gaia said, she swung down and got the gun out of its holster from her leg. Then she swung her body around and shot at the sphere. It exploded and they all jumped.