Hello dear readers! Thank you to GeniusBoy for the faves and follows and as usual to Lily and OtakuWhovian1224 for their support!
I've been asked why the little flag on my profile was the French one when I'm publishing in English and if it was a mistake. It is not a mistake it's just because I am French ^_^ and no, I don't use a translator.
So here comes chapter 11! As promised, it's longer than the previous one and is an episode rewrting. This time, as it's not Melody's first time anymore, she will interfere a bit more.
As always, I hope you will like it :)
Enjoy!
Melody - x.
Chapter 11
They walked down a staircase that seemed to never end.
"'Let's go to Ravan-Skala' he says, 'The people are 600 feet tall, you have to talk to them in hot air balloons and the Tourist Information Centre is made of one of their hats' he says." said Amy. "I'm sorry but I don't see any huge hats."
"Amy. Beaky. Misty." the Doctor said, looking at each of his companions.
"Oh I'm 'Misty' now?" Melody asked, teasing him.
He only gave her a wink before speaking again: "This could be the most exciting thing I have ever seen!"
"You're kidding." Rory said, already annoyed.
"How can you be excited about a rubbish hotel on a rubbish bit of Earth?" his wife asked.
"Because, Ponds, this is not Earth!" Melody said, following the Doctor. She remembered this episode a little. It seemed to her it was "The God Complex" but she could hardly tell what was happening, her memory seemed to be a little fuzzy lately.
"Exactly!" he said, pointing his fingers at her. "This has been made to look like Earth. The craftsmanship involved… Can you imagine?"
"What? Then where are we?" Amy asked, getting back to the TARDIS.
"I don't know, something must have yanked us off course. Look at the detail of that cheese plant!"
He was like a child going to Disneyland for the first time except it was a 80s-like hotel. Melody couldn't help but finding him utterly cute at that moment.
"Right, but who would mock up an Earth hotel?" Rory asked.
"Colonists maybe, recreating a bit of home, like when ex-pats opened English pubs in Majorca." he answered before crunching a bit of a red apple he took on a table. "Whoever did this, I am shaking his/her hand/tentacle."
Rory and Melody were looking at the walls, full of pictures of people, humans and aliens.
"Have you seen these?" the blonde called. "Look at the labels underneath...'Commander Halke, defeat.'..."
"They're all dead…" Melody whispered. "Tim Heath, having his photo taken… Lady Silver-Tear… Daleks…"
The Doctor came closer. She knew he would do so by hearing the word "Dalek". Daleks were always making him react.
"Paige Barnes, other people's socks... Tim Nelson, balloons… Novice Prin, sabre wolves… Royston Luke Gold, Plymouth… Lucy Hayward, that brutal gorilla… Doctor what does it mean?" Amy asked.
"I don't know, let's find out." he answered, before heading to the reception counter and ringing the bell.
A loud scream echoed and they all jumped back, the Doctor quickly pulling Melody behind him as a group of people came out, threatening them with various objects.
"Blimey, that was quick!"
"It's ok we're… we're nice!" Rory exclaimed.
"She threatened me with a chair leg!" said the Doctor, incredulous.
"Who are you?" an Indian woman dressed as a nurse asked.
"Oh we're back in the reception!" a young boy stated.
"We surrender!" a man, definitely alien exclaimed, waving a white cloth.
"I've never been threatened with a chair leg!" the Doctor exclaimed. "No, hang on, I tell a lie."
Everybody was speaking at the same time, making a hell of a noise.
"Everyone shut up, now!" Melody shouted. She stepped forward, between the two groups. "Look, we are as surprised as you are, we're not a trick, you know it. And we're not armed."
Everybody shut up, listened and calmed down.
"Oh that's my girl, you're good!" the Doctor said, stepping at her side. He kissed her forehead before putting an arm around her shoulders. "I take it from the pathological compulsion to surrender you're from Tivoli."
"Yes, the most invaded planet in the galaxy." the alien man looking a bit like a mouse said. "Our anthem is called Glory to 'Insert Name Here'."
"You, Howie, that's right? You said you were surprised to be back in reception." Melody said, remembering his name.
"The walls move, everything changes."
The Doctor frowned.
"You, Rita yeah? what is he talking about?" she continued.
"How comes you know our names? Who are you?" Rita, the Indian woman, asked.
"She knows everything, well sort of. Her name's Melody, I'm the Doctor and this is Amy and Rory."
The woman nodded, satisfied. "The corridors twist and stretch, rooms vanish and pop up somewhere else. It's like the hotel's alive."
The Doctor stretched his hand and turned off the music that was playing in reception since the beginning. It was such a background music that nobody really noticed it until it seemed to become louder. "That's quite enough of that."
"Yeah and it's huge" Howie spoke up. "With, like, no way out."
"Have you tried the front door?" Rory asked.
"No, in two days it never occurred to us to try the front door. Thank God you're here!" said Rita with sarcasm.
The Doctor left Melody to go scan the front door with his sonic before opening it to reveal a wall.
"They're not doors, they're walls, walls that look like doors. Door-walls if you like, or "dwalls", "woors" even…"
"Doctor!" Melody called him, seeing him starting to ramble.
"Yeah, sorry. And the windows are…" he continued, pulling the red curtains apart, revealing another wall. "Right! Big day if you're a fan of walls."
"It's not just that." Rita continued. "The rooms have... things in them."
"Things? Hello!" the Doctor cut in, his curiosity waking up. "What kind of things? Interesting things? I love things, ask anyone."
Rita seemed to hesitate a bit before answering "Bad dreams."
"Well that killed the mood." he said. "How did you get here?"
"I don't know." Rita answered. "I had started my shift and I must have passed out, because suddenly I was here."
"I-I was blogging, next thing, this" Howie said.
"I was at work, I'm in town planning. We're lining all the highways with trees, so invading forces can march in the shade. Which is nice for them." the alien from Tivoli said.
"People snatched from their lives and dropped into an endless shifting maze that looks like a 1980s hotel with bad dreams in the bedrooms." Melody summed up.
"Well." the Doctor started, pulling out a Rubik's cube from his pocket. "Apart from anything else, that's just rude." he said. He grabbed Melody's hand and started to climb the stairs, followed by all. "We'll pop back to the TARDIS, I'll do a planet-wide diagnostic sweep, then we'll have a sing-song…"
His voice faded as he saw the TARDIS had disappeared. He waved his hand before him, trying to touch her in case she turned the invisible mode on herself.
"Where's the TARDIS? You parked it there, didn't you?" Amy asked.
He climbed more stairs with Melody, dragging her.
"What's a TARDIS?" Howie asked.
"Our way out." Rory answered. "And it's gone."
At this moment, the music turned itself back on. The Doctor gave a questioning look at Melody, as if he were asking her if he had heard well. She nodded, confirming that yes, it turned itself back on.
"Okay… This is bad… At the moment I don't know how bad, but certainly we're three buses, a long walk and eight quid in a taxi from good." he said, coming back near the others. He rubbed his forehead, trying to think of a solution.
Suddenly Melody remembered something. She frown and she said: "Four…" They all turned to her."We're four, you used to be four… where's… Joe! Yeah, that's his name, where's Joe?"
"He's… a bit tied up right now." Rita answered, uneasy.
"Doing what?" the Doctor asked.
"No, Doctor she means he's tied up right now." Melody said.
Rita and the others led them into the dining room where many puppets were sitting around dining tables, moving like they were chatting. It seemed even the sound of laughs came out of their mouths. Among them was a man, Joe, who was looking at them as though he was listening to them. As they entered the room, the puppets all stopped laughing and turned their heads around to look at the newcomers. They almost seemed alive. That was scary, really scary. Melody discreetly stepped next to the Doctor and feeling her close behind him, he grabbed her hand and squeezed it a little.
They walked towards Joe.
"Hello, I'm the Doctor."
"You're going to die here." Joe simply answered.
"Well they didn't mention that in the brochure." the Doctor said. "Is Joe there? Can I have a quick word?"
"It's still him Doctor." Melody informed him.
"But I've seen the light." Joe cut in. "I've lived a blasphemous life, but He has forgiven my inconstancy, and soon, He shall feast."
The Doctor grabbed a chair and sat down, pulling Melody in to make her sit on his lap. She frowned a bit: that was unusual. She looked over his shoulder to give a questioning look to Amy but she only shrugged in answer.
"You've been here two days, what's he waiting for?" the Doctor asked to Joe.
"We weren't ready. We were still raw."
"But now you're what? Cooked?" he said while, Melody could see it, noticing the pin on Joe's tie and his cuff-links: an horseshoe and dice, all symbols of good luck.
"If you like" Joe answered. "Soon you will be too. Be patient. First, find your room."
"My room…"
"There's a room here for everyone, Doctor. Even you."
"You said you'd seen the light now." The Doctor started.
"Nothing else matters any more. Only him." Joe cut in. "It's like these things. I used to hate them!" he said looking at the puppets all around. "But they make me laugh now. Gottle o'geer! Gottle o'geer!" he said with a mad laugh. And all the puppets started laughing and moving again. "You should go. He'll be here soon."
The Doctor and Melody got up. He ordered Rory to take Joe tied on his chair and put it on a sort of carriage and they went out of the room, back to reception.
"Why you four?" the Doctor mumbled. "That's what I don't understand. Aside from all the other things."
He turned the music off again.
"What does it matter?" the mouse-face-like alien asked. "Sooner or later, someone will come along and rescue us. Or enslave us."
"First we find the TARDIS." the Doctor said, tapping the counter. "Quick thing before we go: if you feel drawn to a particular room, do not go in. And make sure someone else can see you at all times."
"Joe said 'He' will feast." whispered Rita. "Is there something else here with us?"
Joe started to laugh again like a mad man.
"Something to add Joe?" Melody asked.
"Here comes a candle to light you to bed, here comes a chopper to chop off your head. Chop, chop, chop, chop." Joe said, looking at everyone.
"Can we do something about him?!" suddenly asked Howie, afraid.
Walking along the corridors they searched for the TARDIS. The man from Tivoli pushing Joe who got his mouth shut with duct tape so he would cease his mad laugh.
"Personally, I think you've got the right idea." he said to Joe. "Times like this, I think of my old school motto: "Resistance is exhausting."
While Howie was explaining to Rory is theory about everything being made up by the CIA, a man, clearly being a PE teacher, walked out of a room and started to scold the Doctor:
"Have you forgotten you PE kit again?"
Rita, Amy and the alien pushing Joe ahead turned around while Rory and Howie behind stopped walking. The Doctor slowly put Melody behind him.
"That's it! You're doing it in your pants!" the teacher said. And he got back into the room.
Melody then remembered: she turned around but it was too late, Howie was already opening the door of his room.
"No Howie don't!" she shouted. She ran as he was watching his fear and closed the door. "Howie you ok?"
"Th-th-this is just some m-m-messing CIA stuff, I'm t-t-telling you." he stammered.
"Right, keep telling yourself that, it's a CIA thing, nothing more." the Doctor said to him.
They kept walking down the corridors, still searching when they saw deep scratches in a door frame. Amy knelt down and picked up some papers on the floor while Rory was doing the same but for lacing his shoe.
"Hum...Guys?" he asked, looking at a fire exit. But nobody answered.
"Look." said Amy, showing the papers.
Suddenly, a roar echoed in the corridors and Joe started to shake. The Doctor took Melody's hand and pulled her closer.
"Whatever that is, it's not real, yeah?" Amy asked to the Doctor.
"No, no I'm sure it isn't." he answered, stepping back. "But just in case, let's run away and hide in here."
They rushed into a room while Rita dragged Joe into another room.
"No! This way!" called Rory. "I've found a…" but he stopped when he turned back to the fire exit… which had disappeared.
"Rory come on!" the Doctor yelled.
"There was a…"
"Come on!"
Rory finally ran into the room where Amy, Howie, and Melody were facing a bunch of weeping angel. The alien from Tivoli was hiding in a cupboard.
"Don't blink." Amy said to the others.
"What?" asked Howie, not understanding.
The light started to flicker and the angels started to move each time the light went out, stretching their hands that looked like claws and showing their fangs.
"Amy get back!" Rory exclaimed.
"Melody come here!" the Doctor called, grabbing her wrist and pulling her behind him. "Why haven't they got us yet?" he asked himself. He stepped forwards and dared to touch the chest of one of them.
"They're not real. They should have got us by now." He stepped back to Amy and looked into her eyes. "Look at me, focus on me. It's your bad dream that's all."
"I don't even think they're for us." said Rory, nodding to the man from Tivoli, hiding in the cupboard, threatened.
He squealed and closed the door, sealing himself in.
They heard heavy footsteps in the corridor and the Doctor came closer to the door. He was on the point of opening it when Amy asked:
"Doctor what are you doing?"
"Sorry, I just have to see what it is, I have to see." he said, leaning in to see through the door thanks to the peep hole. "Oh look at you… You are beautiful." he whispered before a thud was heard. He got back. "Oh dear. I think he's going after Joe."
Melody let out a heavy sigh. She couldn't save him. She could save the others but not him, she knew it, she felt it.
They got out of the room, the Doctor first.
"Leave him alone!" he shouted when he saw at the end of the corridor Joe's body being dragged. He ran and ran down the corridors when he finally found him. Dead.
I hope it was good, let me know and see you next chapter! :)