A/N: Don't ask me why I'm updating at 4am. Can't sleep. Think it was the weather that woke me up - I decided to go for a cigarette in the garden in my pyjamas and it's fucking cold outside. Oh, and the tub of Ben and Jerries that I consumed an hour ago probably didn't help either! Curse my bad habits.
Anyways! Happy New Year to you all! Tiny bit late, but there ya go!
Hope this chapter doesn't depress you all. You might be the ones who need a cigarette afterwards. I'm kidding. If you're underage kids, stay awayyy from those things.
Enjoy!
The Doctor had expected his usually temperamental wife to kick up a fuss about going to visit Vincent Van Gogh feeling as ill as she was, but to his relief, her sickness had passed, and she was eager to see their old friend.
Not wanting to spoil her sudden good mood, the Doctor neglected to tell her that River Song would be waiting for them at his house, a move that proved to be extremely very not good.
The moment Amy saw River waiting for them, she let rip into the Doctor, ranting about how he would always follow River to the end of the Universe, or something along those lines. The Doctor could barely make out what she was saying; when Amy worked herself up, her words tended to run into each other, becoming a Scottish blur to his normally excellent hearing.
Before the Doctor could say anything to calm his wife down, River spoke up. "Your future self was right, you really are a grouchy Madame during your first pregnancy." She remarked, stopping Amy's tirade.
"I beg your pardon?" Amy spluttered, and the Doctor used her shock to finally reach out and touch her, as she'd kept pushing him away when he'd tried to reach her during her fuming.
River ignored her, and turned her gaze on the Doctor. "We need to get inside. Vincent's having a fit."
Nodding, the Doctor took Amy's hand, and they hurried after River into the small cottage.
To their horror, they could hear Vincent screaming as they entered, and they burst into the living room of the house to see the artist curled up on the stone floor, clutching his head. Now that they were closer, they could just about make out his words.
"No…no! Not…not…no!"
"What's wrong with him?" Amy whispered to the Doctor, her eyes filling up with tears, terrified for her friend.
But the Doctor couldn't answer her, or even look at Vincent. His eyes were fixed on a painting hanging up to dry on the right side of the wall.
Both River and Amy followed his gaze, and while Amy just looked confused by the painting, River knew exactly why the artwork had caught the Doctor's attention.
"This is what you had to show me?" He asked her quietly, without removing his eyes from the painting.
River looked just as saddened as him, much to Amy's bewilderment. "I'm afraid so Doctor."
"What?" Amy demanded, darting her gaze between the painting and them. "What's going on?"
"Vincent has drawn a painting of my TARDIS exploding." The Doctor told her softly, releasing her hand and approaching the painting. Raising his hand slowly, he traced the outline of his exploding TARDIS in the air with his index finger. "Of course."
Confused, Amy looked at River, but she wouldn't meet her gaze.
Before she could question either of them, Vincent cried her name, and she immediately knelt on the floor to hold his hand.
"It's okay, I'm here." She whispered to him soothingly, rubbing his back with her other hand. "It's going to be okay Vincent, I promise."
Vincent just continued to wail.
Knowing Amy was distracted by Vincent's distress, the Doctor beckoned River over with his hand, and she quickly joined him at the painting.
"The cracks in time." He whispered, ensuring his voice was quiet so that Amy couldn't hear him. "They're caused by a colossal explosion, and what else could cause that except for my TARDIS?"
River nodded grimly. "Exactly. That's why I called you. The TARDIS isn't safe."
Frowning slightly, the Doctor turned away from the painting and looked over at his wife. "Amy, we're just going to check on the TARDIS. Do you want to—"
He didn't even need to finish his sentence; he knew Amy would go with him. "Yes." She said instantly, rising to her feet.
However, the moment she stepped away from Vincent, he reached out with his hands and latched onto her leg. "Amy…no!" He rasped, his voice hoarse from his cries. "Don't leave me!"
Amy shot the Doctor an apologetic look, and she resumed her position on the floor. "Of course I won't Vincent. I'll stay right here, okay?"
Vincent only looked relieved for a moment, before his illness claimed him once more, and he began to sob again.
Not wanting to upset Vincent, Amy decided to speak to the Doctor through her mind. Hurry back. I can't deal with him alone. He needs you too.
Nodding, the Doctor crouched down next to her to cup her face in his hands. I'll only be a few minutes, you know I could never leave you for long.
Good. Amy gave him a satisfied smile. Could you bring me back some toast by the way? I'm starving.
Slave driver. Allowing himself to smile back at her, the Doctor kissed her softly, before rising to his feet. "Come on River, let's go."
After casting one more look at Amy, the Doctor whirled around and headed out of the house, now focused on fixing his TARDIS. River quickly caught up with him, and together, they entered the TARDIS.
They were silent as they descended down the stairs to the space underneath the console, and the Doctor immediately sat down on his swing to examine the security of his TARDIS. He knew it had been altered when Jack had fiddled with it, but that had been harmless; it only allowed him to use a vortex manipulator to pop in whenever he felt like it. The Security should still be intact, and there was no possibility of the TARDIS exploding.
So why had Vincent drawn a painting of it? The Doctor knew well enough that to an extent, there were some historians that believed that Vincent's madness was caused by a prophetic side to his nature. Maybe this was one painting that could come true.
And speaking of the painting…
"River, how did you find about Vincent's painting?" The Doctor demanded, briefly looking at her over the knot of cables he was examining.
River gave a weary sigh, and she sank down on the steps. "Do you remember, at the space base, when I went off to explore the chamber by myself, while you stayed to try to unlock the door?"
"Of course I do, but that doesn't answer my question."
"If you would let me finish—"
"—Sorry."
"I found some papers, that all contained a sketch of a box-like prison: the Pandorica."
The Doctor instantly scoffed. "Fairytale River. It doesn't exist."
River's brow furrowed. "Maybe so, but I took the drawings to be examined at an Art Museum in London, so I could find out the identity of the artist who drew them. And the Art Expert recognised Vincent Van Gogh's drawing style immediately."
Now she had the Doctor's full attention. "So you came to 1890 to confront him?" He guessed, frowning. "And then you saw his painting. Did he say anything to you about the drawings, or anything about the painting?"
"No, he was having a fit when I arrived, and he's still having the same one now. I tried showing him the drawings of the Pandorica, but it made him worse."
The next question the Doctor asked, River wasn't prepared for. "River, why are you here?" The Doctor asked her, setting the knot of cables aside to fix her with a steely glare.
Although she was shocked by his question, she didn't show it. "Because you sent me here, from the future. I can't leave this time period until this situation is resolved. My orders are to help you and Amy in this period of time, and I know just as much about this as you do."
Shaking his head, the Doctor rose abruptly from his swing, and darted up the console room stairs, with River hurriedly following after him. "So, is that it, or do you have anymore questions?" She called after him as they walked through the TARDIS corridors towards the direction of the kitchen.
The Doctor didn't even glance at her over his shoulder as he replied. "Of course I have questions River. I have a lot of questions, but most of them concern the danger my wife is in. And as you're just as clueless about that as I am, I can't ask for answers from you. So no, I have no questions."
River nodded to herself, understanding his predicament, and she sat down at the kitchen table as the Doctor wandered over to the bread cupboard, muttering under his breath about how disgusting bread was and why his wife expected him to make her toast when she could have asked for custard instead.
As she watched him prepare Amy's toast, River suddenly realised that something was wrong. There was something too…easy…about Vincent's painting, about it being the answer to their solution. One thing she had learned about being with Amy and the Doctor was that nothing was resolved quickly. One always had to search for more hypothesis's first.
"Doctor, we're not right about the cracks in time." She whispered through numb lips, feeling her face grow ashen.
"What? The Doctor said distractedly, taking out the toast from the toaster and tossing it onto a plate. "Of course we are."
"No, we only found an answer to a problem, and we took it without questioning a thing. We've taken the easy way out."
"You call my exploding TARDIS forming cracks in time that have wiped my wife's life from existence easy?" The Doctor hissed, glaring at River.
"Losing your TARDIS is much easier than losing Amy and your unborn child." River reminded him harshly, and he flinched. "The TARDIS isn't going to explode Doctor. You know just as well as I do that the security your ship has is impenetrable. She's invincible."
The Doctor could only stare at her wordlessly.
~I~
River and the Doctor had been gone for ten minutes, and all Amy had done in those ten minutes was listen to Vincent's chanting and sobbing of the word, 'No', and rub his back rhythmically. She didn't know what else she could do for him.
Suddenly, she felt Vincent's shaking body still, and she began to smile. "See Vincent? I knew you'd feel better eventually. Do you want me to make you some…"
But she trailed off when Vincent sat up, and turned his wild eyes on her. Before she could ask him what was wrong, she felt her ears begin to ring, and she clamped her hands over them. Vincent mirrored her gesture, his face contorted as if he could hear the ringing too.
"Vincent? What is that?" Amy bellowed, as the noise in her ear grew louder. Not even her hands over her heads silenced the ringing.
And then she realised. The sound was in her mind.
"They're coming Amy!" Vincent cried, staggering to his feet. "You need to run! Go!"
Amy managed to pull herself up too, though the noise in her mind was crippling her, blurring her vision. "I…Vincent…"
He latched onto her arm then, and began to haul her towards the door. Amy could only stumble beside him, panicked by what was happening. "Vincent! Vincent, what's going on?"
"They don't want me, they want you!" He yelled, ignoring her completely. Before he could reach for the door handle, he crumpled to the floor, his hand over his eyes.
Amy couldn't comfort him; she had to get them both out of here. Trying her hardest to ignore the pain in her head, she tried to open the door, but it was locked. Panicked, she fumbled for her sonic screwdriver, her movements growing more frantic as the pain in her mind increased.
At last, her fingers pulled her sonic out of her pocket, and she aimed it at the door. But it refused to open.
Suddenly, a bright white light formed behind her, blinding her sight, and she covered her eyes. Desperately, she used the explosive setting on the sonic, hoping to explode the door off, but nothing happened.
And then her hands no longer protected her vision. Her mind was filled with white light, and she felt her body crumple to the floor, joining Vincent with his sobs.
She vaguely heard the whisper of her name before she was dragged into unconsciousness, finally escaping the glare of the white light.
~I~
The Doctor was still speechless, stunned into silence by River's sudden realisation.
"The TARDIS isn't going to explode Doctor." River repeated, rising up from her chair.
"You don't now that." The Doctor whispered, beginning to shake his head, refusing to believe her. "Vincent drew it, and it's been known that he possesses—"
"Think about it Doctor!" River cried, interrupting him. "Think about Vincent's fits! How he reacts so violent, and so fearfully. Remind you of anyone?"
Now the Doctor was trembling, and his state was affecting River. "Amy, Doctor!" She snapped, her anxiety for Amy causing her to lash out. "Vincent behaves the exact same way as Amy does when she sees a crack in time!"
The Doctor visibly flinched, but River wasn't finished. "And he's having a fit, right at this—"
The Doctor's cry of his wife's name interrupted her, and he suddenly bolted out of the kitchen, sprinting through the TARDIS corridors to the console room. River quickly caught up with him, and together, they raced out of the TARDIS, only to be halted in their tracks by the sight outside.
The ground beneath their feet was rumbling so furiously that the tiles on Vincent's cottage roof were smashing to the floor and the windows were cracking, rendering the framework of the house unstable, and unsafe.
But that didn't perturb the Doctor, and he flew into the cottage, throwing open the front door in his haste, sending more rubble to the floor. "Amy!" He cried over the noise, racing towards the closed living room door. To his horror, he could see white light in the gaps between the door and the frame, and he began to shove his weight against the door, trying to open it.
"Move!" River bellowed, knocking the Doctor out of the way as she placed a circular disc on the door. "And stand back!"
The Doctor obeyed, recognising the explosive device, and River activated it, splintering the wooden door enough so that they could kick it down.
But they were too late. The light had vanished, and the rumbling had stopped.
"Amy!" The Doctor yelled, looking around the room frantically.
And then they heard a sob from behind the recliner, and the Doctor raced over to see Vincent curled up on the floor. Instantly, he grabbed the artist by the collar, hauled him to his feet, and pressed him up against the wall. "Where's my wife?" He hissed threateningly, his grip tightening.
"Get off him!" River demanded, but the Doctor paid her no attention.
"Where is she?" He roared, his timeless eyes burning into Vincent's tear-filled gaze.
"They took her!" The artist sobbed, feebly attempting to push the Time Lord away from him. "I couldn't…they wanted her, and—"
The Doctor abruptly released him, and Vincent slid to the floor, his shoulders shaking with sobs. River immediately sank to the floor beside him to comfort him, and the Doctor caught sight of a large crack behind the painting of his exploding TARDIS.
With a loud cry, the Doctor flew at the painting, tearing it down to get to the crack. Without thinking, he aimed his sonic screwdriver and widened the crack, expecting the light to filter out and open a portal to get to his wife.
But all the crack revealed was the room next door. Whatever had been there, whatever had taken Amy, was long gone.
The sonic screwdriver slipped out of the Doctor's trembling hands, and he staggered backwards, horrified that he'd let Amy be taken so easily. Everything that she'd lost, everything that he'd cost her to lose, had meant nothing in his attempts to keep her safe. She had still been taken from him.
Tears were flowing relentlessly down his face now, and he crumpled to the floor, broken.
River found herself blinking back tears at the Doctor's distress, and she hesitantly reached out to comfort him. But he flinched away from her, not wanting her sympathy.
She understood how he felt, and when he rose to his feet moments later and stormed out of the room, she knew he needed to be alone. But she wouldn't let him wallow for long. They had to get ready to save Amy, and she had to prepare herself for when the time came for the Doctor to unleash his fury on the Universe.
The Oncoming Storm is on his way.
~I~
It could have been minutes, it could have been hours since Amy was taken, but the Doctor didn't care. Time no longer meant anything to him anymore. Nothing meant anything to him anymore.
His wife and his unborn baby had been kidnapped by his greatest enemies. He had no idea if they were both still alive. He'd lost his psychic connection with Amy the moment the crack had closed, losing half of his self in the process.
Now all he felt was sheer pain, and he sat in the console room, drowning in it. Not even reassurances from his TARDIS helped. He was lost, shattered.
Suddenly his TARDIS hummed, and the Doctor raised his head to see Jack appear in front of him, holding a gift.
"Sorry I took so long, but I was looking for the perfect gift for my godchild." Jack told him, carefully placing the gift on the floor.
At the Doctor's choked sob, Jack looked up, and saw his friend's tearstained face. "Doctor?" He whispered, his face paling. "Doctor, what is it?"
"Amy…she's gone."
Before Jack could react, the Doctor was on his feet, and his fingers were on Jack's temples, showing him all of the events leading up to Amy being kidnapped. The cracks in time, River, Vincent's painting, Amy's family being taken – but the Doctor kept the memories of Alonzo, Rory and Hannah from him, knowing that would endanger his friend.
Once the mind tirade was over, the Doctor collapsed onto the console room chair, his head in his hands.
"I'm sorry," was all Jack could say, his voice hoarse as he began to mourn for his best friend's wife. "I'm so sorry Doctor."
And then silence fell between the two men. More minutes went by, but neither of them moved, both still hurt and horrified by the events that had happened. The Doctor's tears continued to fall, but they stopped abruptly when River suddenly appeared in front of them, and he leapt to his feet, furious.
"How did you get in here?" He demanded, glaring at her. "You don't have permission to use a vortex manipulator to get inside the TARDIS!"
"I don't need permission, I'm family." River told him, pocketing her vortex manipulator. "Now, let's get to work."
Before the Doctor could say anything, Jack turned on River. "Who do you think you are, coming in here when the Doctor is like this? How dare you! You're the reason Amy is missing you conniving bit—"
"Jack, that's enough!" The Doctor snapped. "You can trust River. She's trying to help me."
Both Jack and River looked surprised, but she broke out of it first. "Thank you Doctor. Listen, I thought I should tell you that Vincent is no longer having a fit, which means Amy and the Daleks are long gone."
"Yes, thanks for that." Jack muttered, still unsure of River, especially from what he'd seen of her from the Doctor's memories.
"Our next tactic is obvious, we need as much as help as possible to try and locate them." River continued, ignoring Jack completely. "We need allies, lots of them, so that we can create an army."
"How is an army going to help me get my wife and baby back, unharmed?" The Doctor whispered brokenly, defeated.
"The more allies you have, the more help you have, which includes friends, weapons, and links to other galaxies. And it also means that there are a lesser amount of aliens likely to turn on you and defend the Daleks. Do I need to continue?" River demanded, and the Doctor looked at her for a long moment, before nodding.
"Well then, let's get started!" Jack exclaimed, and the three of them surrounded the console.
As River and Jack began to discuss the best alien colonies to visit first, the Doctor looked up at the scanner, to see an image of him and Amy. It was a photo taken shortly after they'd found out about her pregnancy so his hand was placed over her small bump, and she was looking lovingly up at him while he beamed at the camera.
I'm coming Amy.
With new determination, he reached out and yanked the green lever down, whisking the TARDIS off to another part of the Universe.
~I~
A low, thrumming sound awoke Amy from her unconscious state, and she opened her eyes blearily, to find herself lying in a bed.
But it wasn't the usual, TARDIS thrum she was used to, and she wasn't lying in her usual bed. Panicked, she bolted upright to see that she was in a glass-enclosed room. The bed she was in was the only object in the room, and she was the only occupant.
She tried to remember how she got here, but she could only recall glimpses. She remembered being at Vincent's home, before something had arrived, and the Doctor had been nowhere—
The Doctor.
Panicked, Amy stumbled out of the bed, crying her husband's name as she ran at one of the glass walls, banging on it with her fists.
But the sight she saw outside of her glass cage made her freeze.
Surrounding her prison were vacant rows of seats, though when she squinted, she could just about make out a couple of alien figures sitting there, watching her, as if she was a spectacle.
Stunned, Amy staggered backwards, when she caught sight of her appearance in the reflection from her glass. She was dressed in a baggy, white gown, and her hair had been scraped back into a loose ponytail.
Her panic returning, she flew at the glass again, attempting to shatter it with her fists. "Let me out of here!" She screamed, banging furiously against the glass. "Doctor? Help me!"
Suddenly, she saw movement in the corner of her peripheral vision, and she turned to see a familiar figure walking towards her.
Think some of you will guess who the figure is! Teehee. Smart cookies, aren't you?
So, now we've reached...well...chapter 60, which is a fucking milestone, who wants to review to get a preview of the next chapter? And hit me with some questions as well. 'Cause I like talking too much :D
Jesus, not writing these A/N's while sleep-deprived ever again. Sound like a loony. Ah well, I am an aspiring film-maker. You gotta be creative and kooky for that role!
xo