There was a gentle tap on her shoulder so she turned, expecting to see the Doctor.
"Yeah?" She asked, a confused expression on her face when she saw no one was there. "Doctor?"
There was no answer.
"Dear God, I got taken didn't I?" Elise whispered to herself, gazing around the now full room. There were angels everywhere, some of them decaying and some of them resembling actual things but none of them had those defined features the first angel she encountered did. Not even all of them had their eyes covered, they just stood there in their places. Following her as she walked, but not coming near her.
"Why aren't you moving?" Her face was close to one of them now, examining an older one. "You move, you want me to live out and die. But I haven't gone back far have I? I'm in the same museum, and this place couldn't have been built along time ago. When I was in there before it looked new."
The statue didn't move, until she blinked. The head that was once looking away was now staring at her. Elise backed up a few feet.
"They said they'd been trapped for a day, a single day this has been going on. So you sent me back, as far as you could send me- maybe not you in particular- but someone did. Hour one, first hour of the time loop yeah?"
Elise was almost happy with herself, for figuring it all out on her own, but then she realized she was stuck in the past. Away from the TARDIS. Away from the Doctor.
"I'm gunna leave, yeah?" Elise walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her. They were starting to move now, one of the angels only feet for the door before she closed it and locked it. The door handles were long and thin, making it easier to shove a metal plank between it to keep the door shut. Once she turned around she realized she wasn't alone in here, there was a soft sobbing in the corner. Following the noise she discovered a man in a uniform, curled in a ball.
"Are you alright?"
"Elise? Elise Racker?" The voice was recognizable, and she dug through her time loop affected brain for the answer and finally dug one out.
"Jeff…? No Andrew?"
"Andrew," He stood up, and held out his hand for her to shake which she gladly did. "Excuse me for that, the last thing I remember was being cornered by an angel and then ending up here."
"Pretty scare then, huh?"
"Oh yeah. Do you know when we are?"
"When," She smiled at him. "You're catching on. But besides that I think we're back in the first hour of the time loop, the first proper hour. They can't send us back any further, but they can try. We need to find the people, do you think that's what happened to them? Stuck in the past?"
"We can look,"
"Yeah, look," She nodded and they walked off the check more rooms.
In the present the Doctor stood face to face with the same angel that took Elise. The hard stone eyes staring, claws for hands reaching out to grab him, and it's teeth baring for him. He slid back slowly, careful not to blink. He backed out of the room slowly, quickly shutting the door and locking it behind him. No people in the room, not even Elise.
Looking up at a clock on a wall he realized it was almost to the hour, and quickly wrote down The Byzantium on his arm. Making his way back through the halls, something caught his eye.
There was a paper strapped to the door, some black words scribbled down in female handwriting. Reading it had the same list inked down on his arm but with about eight more names added, and in small writing at the bottom was a "take me."
He grabbed it, and behind the paper was apparently another smaller piece. The same hand writing on it as the list had. He couldn't read it, the writing was smudge and faded from what looked like water but he could make out something- what looked like a date reading 3/5/6078.
The Doctor looked around, hoping to find someone who wrote it but saw nothing. He could hear the others in the next room, and made a mental note to check with them to see if they wrote it and hopefully remembered to do so. He hadn't expected the time loop to have an effect on him so quickly only after a few hours. And no one seemed to remember calling in, so he was checking rooms that were probably already checked. The Doctor grabbed the marker from his pocket once again and wrote the date on the back of his hand.
"Hello," Elise said cheerfully as she walked into a room full of people. They had to be in one of the offices based on the big space, lace of displays and laptop sitting on top of a desk along with other things.
There were about nine of them spread throughout the room, none of them seemed phased by what was going on. There was one man who looked thoroughly worried though, his grey hair only covering the sides of his head and an ugly red sweater on his torso. Besides those few there were some soldiers littered throughout the room, picking up books off of shelves, spinning around in a chair and they were only turned when Elise's voice rang out.
"My name's Elise, Elise Racker. And I know what happened to all of you, although some of the soldiers may know." She nodded towards one of the women they saw earlier and a ginger haired man standing next to her.
"Why didn't we go back further?" The women asked, stepping forwards.
"Time loop I suspect, I don't actually know. But we're stuck here, we went in another one of the rooms on the way over and were touched. Nothing happens." Elise explained.
Andrew continued on for her, stepping in front of the small girl. "We think that, uh, we can't go back any further. You're all the tourists I assume? Here for a private tour and your tour guide disappeared and all that good stuff? I assume you found him?"
"You didn't tell us that," Elise murmured from behind him, crossing her arms.
A little girl stepped forwards, no more than eight years old, her blonde hair in pigtails and pointed to a suited man reading a book in the corner. "That's him, I saw him go away. Like magic, is he magic?"
"No one explained?" Elise leaned down to her level and continued talking. "Ever heard of weeping angels?"
"They're stuff of nightmares, bad guys in fairytales."
"Well, maybe, but they're real. But don't worry, we're going to keep you and your family safe. Fairy Tales always have a princess right? You can be the pretty princess."
"But I don't have a crown!" She exclaimed, flopping her arms up in the air and then down as she sighed.
"Well," Elise looked around and located a vase of fake flowers in the corner. She quickly picked them up and began to fasten a flower crown out of them and handed it to the little girl. "Princess, what's your name?"
"Rosemaire,"
"That's such a nice name! Do you have a nickname? Like Rose or Rosie?"
"My mummy calls me Rosie,"
"Which one's your mommy?" In response the girl lifted her arm to pointed to a blonde women standing in the corner next to a thin man. Apparently their names were Diana and Ross, and besides Rosie they had another daughter named Cayla, and two sons, Matthew and David.
They sat there for ten minutes, only speaking in hushed voices to each other. The adult tourists all had worried looks on their faces now knowing what was out there, but the kids played happily. Elise had fastened another crown out of paper for the other little girl, and created paper swords for the boys. She assumed they were all close in age by the way they acted around each other, the boys clearly being twins. Elise sat on the edge of the desk smiling at them when the red sweatered man came over.
"Hello, can I help you?"
"Do you know the Doctor?" He whispered to her, coming in close.
Elise hesitated before answering. "Yes,"
"He has done horrible things,"
"We all do horrible things," She jumped off to walk away from him, but he grabbed her arm tightly. "Let go,"
"He will do horrible things to you in that box of his,"
"What?"
"You aren't like them,"
"Like who? What are you talking about?"
"He will kill you,"
She stopped trying to pull her arm away, and he let her go. Her face paled, but soon she shook it off. How could the Doctor kill her? He was kind, she had seen in it his eyes. But she had also seen the pain there, something dark she couldn't quite put her finger on. But he couldn't- could he?
"Elise," Andrew tapped her back and she jumped up. "I think that's all of them,"
"Yeah," She breathed, looking at the floor before back up at him. "The Doctor will get us, time travel and everything."
"But he doesn't know where we are,"
"Oh yeah," Elise turned back to the desk and grabbed a few pieces of paper and began to ask questions to the soldier around her. She scribbled down the rooms they had visited along with the ones on her arm. On a smaller sheet she wrote a letter to him.
Doctor,
It's me Elise, don't worry I'm fine. We're stuck in the past. Attached is a list of places that were already checked out. There are about ten soldiers her, and they gave me eight more rooms. Check the last few for anyone who wasn't touched and come to the big round office on the west side of the building. It's 3/5/6078 at 12:00 that's when I landed here. It's only been a day, there's some water and snacks here but not enough. Hurry.
She wrote the letter twice more, planning on sticking it to various places in case something happened. Grabbing some tape and Andrew's hand they walked out the door- right after they spilled some water on one of the letters but they took it anyways.
The Doctor walked around, his head starting to hurt when he came across another piece of paper taped to the door. It had the same handwriting as before, on the other note. looking down at the pieces of paper he had in his hands he recognized the same date from before. And began to read from the beginning.
Once he had finished he sighed in relief. She was okay. Elise was safe- or safe-ish somewhere hidden in the past along with other people. May 3rd, 6078 he had to go to. Remember that. Finish checking the other rooms, remember that too. He already had most of them done, no thank to anyone else who couldn't remember the last time they ate. He just hadn't searched that Round office Elise was apparently hidden in somewhere in the past and Exhibit H, the exhibit right down the hall from it.
He made his way through the corridors and searched out both rooms, almost glad he hadn't found someone. If he didn't have his trusty arm and the paper he wouldn't remember the first ten or so rooms he visited, and he'd be trapped here forever. The time loop starting to affect him. The Doctor wasn't worried much anymore, and therefore gathered up the rest of the group and walked out without saying a word, and walked straight in the TARDIS.
The were a round of protests coming from them, saying they had barely looked an hour when they had been in there at least four or five, he began setting the coordinates when he got a call on the phone now attached to the console. Lifting it up he almost instantly pulled it away, a screaming coming from the other end.
"Oh good, it worked." It was Elise. "Yeah right, are you coming?"
"May 3rd, yes?" He asked pushing the buttons. "Who's screaming?"
"March, I'm from america, get used to it." He heard a series of mumbles from her and a loud scream on the other end before she began talking about. "Angels, can they snap necks?"
"Get out of there now," He said firmly, undoing the latest coordinates and typing in the new ones. "Elise, get out."
"Don't blink, christ stop hiding!" She screamed to someone on the other end. "Do you know how annoying it is when people don't listen?"
"Yes, I do, now leave." He said sharply.
"I can't there's like ten of them all blocking the door."
"Don't blink, I'm setting the coordinates to land around you alright? Don't blink, do not take your eyes off of any statue at any time do you understand?"
"Doctor," She breathed into the phone.
"Do you understand?"
"Doctor!"
She apparently hadn't noticed the whooshing sound and neither did the others because suddenly there was encased in a blue box and Elise was falling to the floor bum first.
The Doctor caught her swiftly and pulled her up to her feet. She was leaning against him as he looked down on her with a soft smile.
"Never been so glad to see anything in my life," She said softly before tearing from his grip and spinning around smiling. "Such a beautiful ship!"
The Doctor pouted but it faded as soon as Elise turned her head towards him smiling, humor buried in the blue irises.
"Impressive, yeah?" The Doctor immediately began to pull buttons to bring them back when the TARDIS started to shake. Elise slipped down along with many other confused people, not getting a chance to regain her balance when it shifted over to the other side.
"Angels have the phone box," the Doctor whispered. Tripping and falling he went over to lock the door, but it was too late at that point. An angel was already inside, flickering the lights. He ducked behind it and locked the door anyways, to minimize the moving statues to one. The lights were still flickering, and he knew he didn't want to send them back in time now. It didn't need their time energy if it had the TARDIS to live off of. It wanted to kill them, not nicely, actually properly kill them. And there were children on board.
"Elise, be smart. Big ship where to go? Where can it see itself? Somewhere close, think." The Doctor was already edging around the statue quickly, hoping the lights wouldn't flicker when he did. He soon stood near Elise. "Big, lots of water."
"Oh, oh! The pool, the reflection it'll see itself in the pool yeah?" She started to move her head to look at him, be he grabbed it and kept it straight.
"Smart Elise, you're very clever. Be clever. Is looking at me clever? No. Very daft, don't be daft. Don't blink either. What are you going to do? Tell me. Where else can you go beside the pool, somewhere with reflection."
"Storage room." She whispered, backing up. The lights were flickering more now, the tourists huddled near an entrance to a hallway while the soldiers stood pointing their guns at the angel.
"Why would you go to the storage room?" He asked puzzled.
"It's close, big covered mirror yeah? Right near that entrance. Get in front of the mirror, pull it off. Frozen, yeah?"
"That's being clever," He picked up her hand gently and squeezed it before letting it fall back to her side. "I'm taking the tourists alright? Stay with the soldiers. Go to the storage room, it's closer."
"What if it follows you, what about the kids? They're scared, don't blame them though."
"I have a few tricks up my sleeve,"
"Does it know what we're going to do?"
"Stones can't hear, more or less have a thought process. Go,"
Elise nodded roughly, her eyes were starting to water as she backed up into one of the walls next to the corridor. She felt around for the edge, gently moving herself backwards. The soldiers stood behind her.
"Someone, look at it. No one knows where they're going, but me."
"I will," Andrew stepped forwards, gun raised at the statue progressively coming towards them. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back, she blinked and turned away, walking swiftly down the hall until she spotted the door. They weren't moving fast enough, there was too small of a distance between them and the angel and she knew if the lights went out….
Crack.
The lights flickered back to life and there in the hallway, lay a dead Andrew. His necked snapped, eyes still looking forwards. A pang of sorrow shot through her, but she shook it off and kept moving.
"Faster!"
Elise reached her hand in to turn on the light switch in the room, and quickly located the mirror. Walking towards it she called for them to follow, which they obliged.
"Over here, follow my voice." They backed up quicker now, them standing in three rows. Two people in the front, three the next row and the rest after that. Their guns were all raised toward the weeping angel.
She waited for the lights to flicker before pulling down the sheet. As soon as they came back on the angel was only a foot or so away from one of the first soldiers, but it was staring at it's reflection. So as long as the light stayed on, it was okay.
"Good, good job." Elise breathed as she walked out of the room.
In the hall Andrew was still laying on the floor, eyes staring out forever. It really adding a sick meaning to "don't blink." She bent down over his body and closed his eyes and turned him over so he didn't look so broken anymore. His body fell at some weird angle that probably would have hurt a lot if he was still alive. Elise was still staring at his face when the Doctor rounded the corner. She looked up.
"Kids alright?" She asked quietly.
"Yeah, you alright?"
She chuckled sadly and glanced back down and up again. "Me or him?"
"Andrew, yeah?"
"Died so I could blink, doesn't that sound so stupid? All because a piece of stone can move. And now it's stuck looking at it's reflection. How are you gunna get it off anyways?" Elise stood up from her bending position and now stood parallel with the Doctor.
"I can program the TARDIS to only take humans and Time Lords on board. She'll dematerialize, angel stays here stuck in the time loop and time energy field. And then we go into the future and build this amazing field since I already looked into the parts and how it worked before. Don't want angels running amok." He tapped her nose before glancing down. "I'll bring him to his family, Elise."
"Yeah?"
"Yes."
The Doctor extended his hand to hers which she gladly took and they made their way back to the control room. A mixture of confused and scared faces were sitting there, Rosie was looking around in awe while her siblings cried. Elise admired how brave she was with her little flower crown on her head.
They left, the angel disappearing as promised and dropped of the tourists outside of the museum. They returned Andrew to his family, which they had a service a few days later. Elsie and the Doctor stood in the background near some trees in the cemetery. It was rainy. Oh the irony.
They returned on the TARDIS and they took trips to wonderful places. Planets and cities she had never seen. Thursdays were their lazy days now, and they had fallen into quite the routine. Usually they watched movies together (after hours of nagging from Elise's part) or sometimes the Doctor would float the TARDIS around the space and let Elise draw them. They were always different since they never landed in the same spot. It was a regular thursday, about three weeks from the angels. She had decided she hated them, and dreamt about them and their neck snapping on more than one occasion. This dream was different, not good, not bad.
In front of her stood a tall structure, she had to be in some type of museum. The structure upon inspection turned out to be marble, and the carving in it turned out to be… her. Her neck her face her eyes her ears except all preserved in perfect white rock.
She woke up.
Summary time! Yay! So Elise get's taken by weeping angels but is only thrown back to the time the time loop started and cant go back any further. She soon figures this out, finds Andrew and find the rest of the people that were taken. She checks in with the other soldiers to see where they've been and what room people aren't in and writes a list and letter to the Doctor telling them that and their coordinates. The Doctor finds this and checks the remaining rooms and leaves. The soldiers left there complain they've only been in there an hour and they barely even looked, he ignores them and goes off anyways. On the TARDIS Elise manages to call him from her mobile. She says that weeping angels are snapping people's necks and to get there quickly. The TARDIS soon materializes around them, leaving the weeping angels outside. However, one weeping angel gets in before he has a chance to lock the door and since it can live off of the time energy emitted by the TARDIS it's only mission is to kill the people there. Elise and some soldiers go to a storage room with a large mirror and uncover it leaving the angel to stare at itself. In the process Andrew gets his neck snapped while getting the angel there. Things return to normal, but then Elise had a dream about seeing herself carved in marble in some museum somewhere.
So how was that chapter? Part I and II? Good? If you have any ideas at all you can comment or PM it and i'll be sure to give you credit if I like it and wish to use it in the story. Please review, favorite and follow :) Love you
